Skin

by Usagi Squared

Jonouchi Katsuya will always look out for his friends, no matter how weird things get. That means he will keep on fighting, whether facing maniacs with freaky powers, monsters from a childrens game, or the fact Kaiba's a girl. Wait, what? Warnings inside

51. Chapter 50

Azrael's Hand

---

-BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP-

It was the only sound that could ever possibly have both of them freeze like that. A single, long and crying tone that rang about the room with a haunting peal. Honda and Anzu had only barely been paying attention to what was on the screens for the past few moments to say the least; most of their energy was being spent with holding the barrier on the door, and there had been no sound or sign that anything was the matter. They'd been doing fine hadn't they? Cutting through the monsters in the skies, in a way that almost seemed worthy of video games...

And then it all ended. The screens went black, the 'battle theme' music cut short, and all they could see were sprites 'falling' through the air at top speed. And as the figures hit the ground, each one earning its own little cutscene, that one sound began in moments.

Yugi's sprite was moving within just a few seconds, pulling himself from a deep and rubble filled hole with what looked to be a buried white dragon just behind him. Mai's sprite was as well awake, dispelling the form of her large 'pet dragon' before apparently stumbling to her feet. In the dragon's absence, they could see the now motionless sprite beside her. A sprite with a draconic helm and an axe at his side... Oh god... "Jonouchi..." Honda swallowed, eyes wide with horror as he and Anzu stared at the screen. The sprite was completely motionless... There wasn't even the 'twitch' that the standard standing one gave, where the figure would shift somewhat second to second. They couldn't see his face... But they could hear the echoing, reverberating and constant tone of the heart monitor in the computer. "He can't..." Again he swallowed, shaking his head as they stared. "He can't be..."

Not... Dead..? Honda bit his lip, looking down at the ground and clenching his fists. No. No no no, god damn it all n-

-Beep-

The pair jumped, staring at the screen despite being jostled by the continuing pounding on the door behind them. "...That was..." Honda looked over at Anzu, the woman changing her words around as she stared. "That's..."

-Beep-

That was a heart rate... Honda broke into a grin, turning to Anzu as the woman did the same. The long tonal cry was stopped, starting up into a regular, stead heart rate that went...

-B-beep- -B-beep- -B-beep-...

"HAHA!" The teen pumped a fist into the air, ignoring the constant pounding behind them. "YES! YEA!" Anzu laughed somewhat, shaking her head as Honda shouted beside her zealously. "They aren't out of the game yet! Whoo!" But god damn if he did that again... Heh... Now he knew how the guy felt during Death-T he guessed.

Anzu sighed, grin fading to a small smile. "Got that right," she said with a relieved tone, before biting her lip and turning back to the screen. The sprites were now moving... Was it just them, or did Yugi's have the 'other Yugi's streaks in his hair now? Eyes seemed sharper too... ...Huh... They shook the thoughts from mind, continuing to stare. "I just hope that luck lasts..."

"Yea," Honda said with a swallow, nodding his head. "Me too..."

---

The forest's flames had died down rather quickly once they began moving once again. Despite the clearly flammable foliage around them, the fires seemed to be content with staying put... And as trees rose high around them, the trio passing the through the same piles of debris that Katsuya and Mai had been buried in, the darkness settled in all too fast. Shadows stood out from every side, the wind occasionally brushing past the branches alongside them. And in the darkness around them, there was no telling what could happen.

"Sheesh," Katsuya muttered with a swallow, looking around them as they passed through the dark path through the woods. Cobwebs the size of subway cards could be seen dimly hanging above, hives of presumably sleeping insects off to the size. Hihhhhh giant bugs... "'F all th' places f'r us t' fall in..."

The blond was answered mostly with silence, Yugi walking steadily ahead as the pair behind him shared a glance. Finding Eri dead had been... Disturbing, to say the least. Even with the knowledge that the personality was nothing but a computer code, that the dragon had only been a creation of pixels for a video game... It was still haunting, in a strange way. Something that had most of them fairly quiet for obvious reasons. "The castle landed a little to the north," Mai was saying, attempting to break the silence around them as she gripped her staff. "Yugi," she began, Katsuya coming up beside her.

It was too quiet... "...Yugi," he said with a frown, the boy not answering. ...Damn it... This really sucked. "We won' let her sacrifice mean nothin', alrigh'?"

Yugi turned somewhat, nodding before looking ahead. "I know," he said somewhat plainly, moving on down the path. "...How far do you think the castle is from here," he asked, Mai frowning somewhat before closing her eyes in thought.

A little bit to the North wasn't much to go on but... And since everyone else only saw a wave of dirt flying their way at the time... "Judging by the shadow in the distance," she said after a few moments, opening her eyes again to look at the others, "I would say it'll be a fifteen minute walk at the most. We aren't far," she added with a nod, adjusting her grip on her staff. "But I wouldn't say we're out of the clear yet..."

Yea... But they were getting close then weren't they? Katsuya also gripped his weapon tightly, the sound of their feet crunching the ground echoing about the air. Stones and pebbles clacked underfoot, the air sitting thickly around them without movement. He could hear something else though... Constant buzzing, like a swarm of cicada in the middle of the summer... 'nrrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrr....' The blond frowned, looking around somewhat nervously as the buzzing continued. Was it getting louder or... What, where was it coming from... 'nrrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrr nrrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrr'... "The hell is that noise," he finally muttered, eyes narrowing as he looked up at the trees above them. 'NRRRWHRRR NRRRWHRRR NRRRWHRRRR' Seriously, the hell..!

The other two stopped, looking around as well as the noise increased even further in volume. "...It sounds almost like... A swarm of locusts," Mai said with a swallow, eyes wide as the sound of beating wings came along with the noise. Locusts..? EH?

The buzzing increased still more, all three looking toward the north with wide eyes as the source of the sound became visible. "Insects," Yugi said with a frown, reaching for his deck as what looked to be a large cloud began to develop and move toward them. They could see the details of each one's form, the wings, the eyes, the mandibles... "Flying Mantis, Dragonfly, Bladefly..." Stop naming them, stop naming them stop naming them..!

"So hell is that noise then," Katsuya said with a somewhat sarcastic tremor, watching as the monsters began moving closer at top speed. "Great," he growled, drawing his card only to wince and watch it vanish. "Any ideas on how to take down a swarm this big, " he asked, holding his axe out nervously. "Y'know... B'fore it pulls a 'Return 'f the Mummy' on us?"

Mai shook her head, pulling her staff forward and taking a stance with a swallow. "No," she admitted, staring down the swarm as it flew toward them. "But given the looks of the cargo those things have, I'm pretty sure summoning monsters would be a bad idea..."

Cargo..? Bad idea? He squinted, before paling as a number of Man-Eater bugs growled from the backs of the mutant looking dragonflies in the distance. Those things looked fairly viscous... Particularly when they jumped to the ground and started running toward them. "Awwwww shi-" The blond was quickly thrown back by a charging insect, axe driving into the bug's skull in question as the monsters swarmed. "GOH!" 'NRRRWHHRRR NRRRWHRRRR NRRRWHRRR NRRRRWHRRRR' Katsuya swung his axe, flailing against the man-eater bug as it snarled in his face. 'NRRRWHHRRR NRRRWHRRRR NRRRWHRRR NRRRRWHRRRR' He pushed the monster off as the axe in his hands dug into its neck, turning as a second wave struck him from all sides. Damn it... Damn it, he couldn't even see past his face! "Agggghh!" Katsuya swung the axe blindly, slowly being pushed down by the wave with a growl. "Where th' hell are they all coming from!"

The buzzing continued to pound through the air, physically throwing them back under the pressure. He didn't get an answer to his question in the end... But he did like the next few words he heard. "Mirror Force," Yugi calmly shouted from the side as the monsters swarmed, the card in his hand vanishing into a clear and crystal like dust. The powder blasted forward, forming an immense shield around them as the monsters within instantly burned into ashes. Light swirled about them, rising up the moment the following wave of insects hit to do the same in response. In a chain reaction the destruction spread... Loud screeches filled the air as the bugs were pushed back, rebounding along each other and crashing down into the trees. The bladeflies were gone, the man-eater bugs, the dragonflies... The mantises, the blazewing butterflies...

Waaaaaiiit... The Blazewing Butterfli- Katsuya blinked as the flaming butterflies tore into the trees, setting the forest ablaze in moments as they died in their own attacks. "Er..." The blond swallowed as the flames continued to spread, the entire field bathed in reds and golds within seconds. "...That's one way t' do it," he said blankly, before Mai helped the younger blond to his feet as the shield dispersed. "Sheesh," he muttered with a laugh, hanging his axe back on his back. "I thought we were bug food f'r a sec there..." He looked around, before paling at the now brilliantly lit sky as shadows appeared in the air. H-Hang on... "What the hell," he said nervously, eyes wide as he watched the shadows rise and clear before them. "They're still alive!"

"No," Mai shouted with a swallow, gripping her staff tightly as the monsters in the distance unfurled their wings. "Those are Greater Moths..! We don't have time to fight that many," she continued, looking to the trees ahead on the path. "The fire will block our path by the time we're done... We'll be trapped..!"

Yugi narrowed his eyes with those words, before drawing a card with a scowl. "Then we'll finish this quickly," he stated, holding the card forward as two others materialized in his hand. He held the cards forward in an almost fan-like formation, staring at the monsters with narrowed eyes. "Catapult Turtle," he called loudly, the first card vanishing to form the familiar mechanized tortoise on the side. The monster slowly lowered its metal head, taking a steady grip on the ground as it readied its catapult. "Kuriboh," he continued, the small furry ball with eyes appearing on the catapult lift and giving a light 'kuriii' as it looked around.

"O-Oi," Katsuya muttered with a nervous laugh, staring at the small monster as it continued its small cry. "Kuriboh..?" Seriously..?

There was no answer, the catapult firing toward the swarm of moths in an instant as the third card was summoned into existence behind it. "And lastly... MULTIPLY!" From one Kuriboh came two as the catapult turtle behind them vanished into rusted scraps of metal, two becoming four, becoming eight within milliseconds as the Kuriboh continued to charge toward the moths with wicked grins. "Let's go," Yugi shouted, running beneath the swarm of Kuriboh as the fires began to topple the trees around. The monsters above began collapsing into the flames below, tree branches falling behind the three as they ran down the path. Burning limbs were either blocking their way or blocking their escape... Creating a constant maze as the three dodged about the charred wood falling to the ground. The trio ran, Katsuya holding his hands somewhat above his head in defense as he ducked under another pile of burning brush, shutting his eyes and wincing against the heat.

Come on... Somehow their clothes weren't on fire, somehow... They had to almost be through with this, come on... "There," Mai shouted, pointing toward a distant clearing through the arch of trees. Something was visible out there... A shadow of sorts, jutting out of the sand... "The castle!"

Indeed it was the castle they realized, bolting forward with renewed speed as it came within their sights. They charged past the arch of trees, skidding to the ground and looking back with labored breaths as the forest in question literally collapsed on itself behind them. Sparks flew past their faces as they stared, smoke filling the skies behind them and stinging their lungs. "Shit," Katsuya muttered, laughing somewhat as he realized what cause a majority of the latter half of the flames. There were no moths in the air now, that was for sure... "Man Yugi... R'mind me t' never underest'mate Kuriboh ever again..."

Yugi smirked, nodding in silence as they turned and moved toward the ruined castle. Despite falling from an impossible height, the building was almost completely intact, at least from the outside. Even the courtyard entrance was still in place, albeit lopsided thanks to the angled position the castle held. It looked as though a crater had formed around the castle at one point... However, in some weird... Relapse he supposed, the dirt had piled back, still leaving a path through the archway and into the courtyard. All in all, it looked more as though the building had always been built there, and had fallen to thousands of years of ruin rather than a few moments of collapse from the skies above.

"Well," Mai muttered under her breath as they walked through, onyx stone and charred garden decor meeting their eyes. "It's certainly 'black'..." Yea... That was one way to put it. Black leaves on the trees, equally dark stone gargoyles surrounding them... The woman looked forward, before tensing up and stopping in her tracks. "...Hold on," she said with a frown, pulling the boys back with her hands as her eyes narrowed.

The boys turned, blinking and frowning somewhat in response. "Eh? What th' heck is i-"

"Shh..." Shhh? What? Mai frowned, taking a small step forward after letting go of the other two and tapping the ground with her staff. A loud crumbling sound came over the air, the woman and the boys both jumping back as an immense trap hole opened up before them within moments. "Hn! Well," she muttered, shaking her head and leaning on her staff. "Isn't that a warm welcome," she said with wide eyes, the others staring in silence.

Er... Yea... ...Good thing she knew what to look for..? Katsuya leaned over the edge, shaking his head and pulling back with an audible swallow. "Sheesh," he muttered with wide eyes, stumbling back somewhat. "That thing's gotta be at leas' fifty meters down..."

"Actually," came a rather smug sounding voice from below, the three looking forward as a monster rose up from the hole to hover in place. "It's a hundred..." A... A hundred feet! Wasn't that a little overkill..? And hang on..! The three watched as the woman hovered before them, black-violet hair appearing to furl behind her as the others slowly drew their weapons or cards. The witch before them smirked, a series of cards appearing in her hand as she smirked. "Would you like to check..?"

No... No they wouldn't... The three narrowed their eyes, Yugi pulling a card from his deck only to allow it to mist into his hand with a slight grimace. Evidently it was a bad draw for once... He dropped the expression, before pulling off the boomerang on his back and looking forward. "...'Hibikime'," he muttered, the pale skinned witch twirling a scythe in her free hand. Hibikime..? 'Noisy Lady'? ...As in the one who supposedly destroyed opponents by screaming at them?

Hibikime smirked darkly, still hovering in place as she tossed three cards forward. "A good guess," the woman said with a sneer, cards evaporating to form thick clouds of black dust in the air. Trios of golden eyes opened from the dust, the clouds slowly materializing to reveal large and snarling sangan before them. Katsuya swallowed, narrowed eyes faltering for a moment as he stepped back. Ah hell... Sangan didn't look nearly this threatening on a duel table, that was for sure. Not when they weren't the size of small horses to say the least... "But you know," the witch drawled as her targets backed away somwhat, a grin still in place, "I don't think I'll be fighting for now... How about you play with my pets instead," she said with a giggle, moving back from above the hole to stand by the door with crossed arms. "A warning though," she said as she released the leashes that held the sangan in place from her free hand. "They can be really rough..."

He bet. Instantly the sangan snarled, lunging forward as the three before them threw their weapons up in defense. Shit shit shit things this 'weak' should not be this 'big'! Yugi ducked the first one as it leaped toward him, tossing the boomerang toward it before it could retaliate. Within a single moment the monster was ripped into two, boomerang spinning around through the air as the fight commenced. Catching it as a second jumped at him however, Yugi found himself watching as the monster was torn into shreds, ribbons of flesh and bone falling to the ground. Mai winked as the monster's torn body faded from existence, pulling her whips back and turning to watch for other attacks. So far so good... So far- ...Damn. It was only as Katsuya pulled his blade out from the third one's corpse, the monster's three eyes resembling a messy and bloody pancake, that he spotted it. The witch had something in her hand... "Gh- Shit!"

Across from them Hibikime growled, a fourth card in hand as she looked over the corpses of her 'pets'. "Oh," the woman muttered as she tossed it upward. "You know this card then," she snarled, 'Call of the Haunted' hovering just above her as she took a step forward. "Good. Because it's the last thing you're going to se-"

-BROUM!-

A sudden, thundering explosion came through the air, the castle behind the witch cracking into large car-sized slabs of stone. Chunks of rock fell to the ground, Katsuya and the others winced as a sickening squelch came through the air while Hibikime's blinding scream of terror was cut horribly short as she was crushed beneath the ruins. Stones continued to fall atop the wreckage as dust filled the air, the others coughing in an attempt to clear it before looking up. It was a fairly thick curtain to say the least... But something in the cloud... "H-Hey," Katsuya began, squinting for a moment before grinning. That shadow... "Ah! Se-"

"Kaiba," Yugi called out with wide eyes, watching as the woman slid off the side of her horse-sized dragon to walk through the clearing dust with a frown. She was alright..! "Then, Mokuba is-"

There was a laugh from above, a second Blue-Eyes landing atop the rubble as Mokuba slid off to run over as well. "Hahaha! Katsuya-nii," the boy shouted, bounding down the stones as the dragons stretched out for a break. "Yugi, Mai!" He grinned, arms crossed as the others slowly came over to where he stopped. "Heheheee... Took you three long enough," he said with a laugh, Katsuya shaking his head.

"Hah! Would've helped t' know you were doin' this," he said, shaking his head before looking at Seto. She seemed alright... As she ever was at least... Er... "Oi," he muttered, voice softening somewhat as the woman turned to him with her usual narrowed stare. "Seto- Er... Kaiba," he corrected after Seto in question sent a dangerous glare his way at the sound. "Y' alright? 'Sides any obvious things..." Like being stuck in a floating castle and such...

The woman merely snorted, arms crossed as she leaned back against her dragon as the monster in question lay on its back and yawned. "Trust me mutt," she growled almost testily, "I don't need someone like you to worry about me..." Sheesh!

He scowled, slinging his axe back into place. Well 'excuse him' then! "Tch! Jus' askin'," he muttered, shaking his head. Across from him Mokuba gave a slight shrug, the argument apparently nothing new to say the least. "Y' sure though," he added quietly, swallowing somewhat. "I mean, y' don't look too good," the blond continued with a shrug, before tensing as the woman narrowed her eyes.

"As I said," she growled, still leaning somewhat against her dragon's arms. "I don't need your help."

Mokuba sighed, shaking his head at the slight, half-hearted bickering. "Is this really the time," he muttered, Mai merely giving him a somewhat sympathetic smile in response.

It was about then that Kaiba apparently 'noticed' Mai actually, the woman looking the older blond over with a seemingly incredulous stare. "...What is she doing here," she finally said, growing rather pale for a reason beyond the others.

Again her brother sighed, shaking his head. "I told you nee-sama, Mai is the other beta-tester..." He looked over at the woman, somehow holding his rather casual posture as his sister 'glared' at the boy. "And before you say anything," he continued with a small frown, "Mai found things out on her own as well, right," he asked, looking to the woman in question.

Mai nodded rather furiously, bowing her head somewhat in response. "That's right," she quickly said in Katsuya's defense, the younger blond currently shifting awkwardly under the still steady glare. "Er... You don't need to worry about anything though," she added with a cough, laughing somewhat nervously as the glare was almost instantly turned on her. "Your secret is completely safe, it was a complete twist of fate that I found out actually!" Er... That was one way to put it.

There was no answer, save a muttered "I'll bet", as the younger woman momentarily sent the narrowed stare toward a cringing Katsuya. Awwwww, come on, it really wasn't his fault... Mostly. Er... The woman across from him adjusted her grip on her arms as Mai coughed, pulling a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Well," she said somewhat nervously before putting the staff back in the sling around her shoulders. "In any case... I suppose it's nice to meet you in person Kaiba..." Seto appeared to twitch somewhat at the attempts at conversation, Mai merely going on with another awkward cough as she looked away briefly. "Ah..." Yea, that was about what he felt every time they sat down for a meal. "Hn... I have to say," she muttered with a genuine tone, crossing her arms somewhat as she looked back. "You look very good in those robes..."

Seto again 'twitched', glare intensifying as she moved her arm again. Hey, not like they weren't telling the truth! Though he'd probably get beaned in the face if he said it himself. And... Now hang on, he thought with a frown, watching as Seto continued to glare. The way she was moving her hand to her sword looked more like she was hid... Ing... "Holy shit," Katsuya said with a swallow, eyes growing wide as he finally spotted the tips of the woman's right fingers. There was no skin, no flesh... "What the hell happened to yer hand..!"

The woman tensed somewhat, her brother looking at the limb in question before choking as well. "Are... Is that bone," he asked incredulously, Seto wincing slightly as she pulled her hand back and out of her brother's sight. As the woman held her wrist however, it was fairly clear that yes... It was bone, along with charred tendons however that worked; shouldn't those have snapped back against her palm or something? (S-Seriously, was she alright!) The others stared, the woman becoming visibly incensed by the attention. "N-Nee-sama," Mokuba said with a swallow. "...Is all of your arm..?" He steeled himself, looking at his sister with slightly less wide eyes as the woman looked over the limb in question. "...Nee-sama... Show me your arm," he asked, frown on his face.

Silence... It wasn't like Seto had to listen right? And yet Mokuba's stare seemed to have that effect of getting the woman to just go along with things, provided they weren't too serious. A few moments later and there was a groaning sigh, Seto looking down before roughly pulling off the gauntlet and pulling back her sleeve as the others held back their earlier virtual feast. Even she looked a little pale when the sleeve was pulled back... And he wasn't surprised to say the least.

"Holy shit," Katsuya muttered once again, ignoring the 'stop staring' glare that he was receiving at the moment. It was...Was... "How th' hell are you still moving that thing..?" The arm in question, which was now quickly being covered up again, was about the colour of a badly cooked steak... To put it lightly at least. Anything that wasn't black was a dark, angry red in colour, and while it was only the fingertips that had revealed bone, with a few bits of skin still clinging to the upper arm, the sight was truly... Nauseating... To say the least.

Seto merely glared in response to the question however, roughly pulling the straps of her gauntlet back in place with a slightly greener look. Guess it was worse than she'd expected... "...Nee-sama," Mokuba said as the woman did this, his sister looking down with a slightly softer gaze in response. A lot worse... "How did this..."

Happen? Seto continued to look at her brother, tightening the last of the straps on her gauntlet to the point where in the real world circulation would likely have been cut off. "I was restrained with ropes before," she muttered, staring somewhat absently at her fingertips before bringing them back down to the sword handle. "This isn't the first time I've escaped..."

"No," an echoing and rumbling voice from above called out, the others pulling back with wide eyes as the rest of the castle began to collapse. They hurried out from the courtyard as it continued to crumble, turning back to watch the entire structure become nothing but a pile of crushed stone and powder. The five looked up at the 'sky', swallowing as the dark clouds above began to swirl and part, an immense gold scaled dragon with five growling heads appeared. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Dark... The heads bared their teeth, rumbling voice continuing through the air as the beast hovered before them. "But it will certainly be your last!" The sound of a sword being drawn met their ears as Seto pulled her blade free, eyes narrowed dangerously while the others pulled their weapons out as well. The dragon was landing, coming to stand on all fours... The ground crumbled beneath the monster's feet, each head giving a monstrous roar as those behind the woman ducked under the blast, gusts of violent wind blowing from the pressure of its wings. This was it... The 'final boss'...

The 'Five God Dragon'... "Gh... I thought this thing was s'posed t' only show up if th' sacrifice went through," Katsuya muttered, eyes wide as he looked at the monster. Huge... It was huge, how the hell were they supposed to fight this thing...

"H-Hah... You didn't think that the Big 5 would think of that loophole," Mokuba asked incredulously, the blond merely shrugging as he continued to stare forward with wide eyes.

Well... Yea? "It was worth a shot," he found himself saying, pulling himself up against the wind.

There was a whooshing sound in the air, the others turning back momentarily as Yugi threw the boomerang forward to meet the dragon's necks. "Regardless," he said seriously, drawing a card and visibly scowling at his result. "This is the last step before the end of the game... We need to attack!"

Seto snorted, drawing a card nonetheless before pulling herself back on Blue-Eyes as the card vanished. "Hn! Is that an order," she growled, Yugi merely giving the woman a light glare in response. "I don't need you idiots to tell me how to fight. Blue-Eyes," she called, the second dragon turning to her as the dragon behind them dodged the boomerang the first time around. The monster's heads were long and snakelike, apparently acting just as flexible given that each of Mai's whips had been avoided thus far... She hadn't summoned anything though; if this thing destroyed them after all... "You're with Mokuba," Seto told the dragon, before taking off into the air as it gave a nod.

"O-O-Oi," Katsuya shouted, pulling out his axe and running forward on the rubble as the woman took off. "What th' hell's wrong with makin' a plan first!" Granted he was one to talk really but even so. There was no answer as they watched the first Blue-Eyes shoot a jet of white hot flames toward their opponent, eyes widening as the necks abruptly split down to the tail to avoid it. The Blue-Eyes as well appeared to tense, Seto only momentarily halting her assault as the beast repaired itself from it's snake-like state to reform a snarling dragon. "Er..." He blinked, the others staring over the beast with wide eyes as it continued to rage before them. "That was new..."

The others ran past him, the blond stumbling somewhat before Mai turned back. "Just focus on the fight," she shouted, card appearing in her hand as she summoned her own dragon. The red scaled beast growled with anticipation as its master climbed on, pulling the chain leash taut and joining the fray. "It can't be too much more difficult than before can it?"

There was a loud and rumbling roar from above as Seto narrowly dodged a blast of fire and water at the same moment, Katsuya scratching his head while Yugi and Mokuba also charged forward. Yea because his axe was going to do great. He was still going to try of course but... "Er... I don' think that th' 'Boss' is gonna be too..." Easy... Since it was a boss...

"Jonouchi," Yugi shouted from the side as he threw his boomerang forward once again. "Look out!"

The blond looked up, before he and Mai tore off in opposite directions to avoid a blast of mire from the center head. The poisonous fluid burned through the ground, Katsuya swallowing as he scrambled away from the spot. "Gh- Shit," he shouted, pulling himself up before running forward with his axe, tripping across the ground as he ducked under a blast of flames. "How th' hell do we beat this thing?"

"Good question!" As Mokuba attempted to strike down the monster with his swords they watched, Yugi's boomerang finally hitting the mark and cutting through one of the monster's heads. "I think Yugi's got it though," the boy shouted, the dragon he was on narrowly avoiding a jet of boiling water from one of the dragons. The 'dark' head was gone now... However, it was only a momentary victory; as shadows spewed from the bleeding head, the others watched in horror as the limb in question began to re-heal in a wash of shadows, a new head arising within mere moments. "W-What," Mokuba shouted, the dragons above both growling in confusion as well.

"Gh... It's not real," Seto shouted in apparent rage, gripping her sword and turning toward the end of the monster. "Blue-Eyes," she ordered, the dragon she sat on responding with a roar. There was some sort of 'void' at the end of the monster... Did she see it? In a swift motion the pair charged, the two flying directly through the dragon as they headed down for the tail. Apparently so. Katsuya again rolled out of the way of a blast of mire and flames, looking forward as Seto cut through what was seemingly thin air, the woman jumping from the back of her dragon to bring the blade down in a sweeping arc.

For a moment there was nothing but a flash. And suddenly, a blood curdling scream sounded through the air, blood dripping from Seto's blade. "GNYAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" The blond winced, freezing with the others as a wave of energy pushed them all back to slam each of them against the ground. "RYHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Katsuya plugged his ears, watching as Seto was tossed back against the wall with Blue-Eyes. "Gh- What th' hell did you do," he shouted, the woman in question sending a glare to him as the others cringed against the earsplitting cries.

"What does it look like I did Mutt?" She grit her teeth, stabbing her sword into the ground and pulling herself up before looking forward against the still moving wave of shadows. "I revealed our actual opponent!"

Actual opponent? The others looked toward where Seto had struck, watching as the 'Five-God-Dragon' vanished into a flurry of shadows. The dragon again split into five 'snakes', but rather than reforming they extended outward and lengthened into hair thin strings of varying colours. Red, blue, gold, black, silver... A small girl appeared to scream from the center of it all, colours appearing to bleed from her form as she screeched. Finally however she slumped forward, the whips and strings in the air falling to the ground as its wielder stumbled on her feet. "H-Hang on," Katsuya muttered with a frown, shaking his head as he pulled himself up to his feet. No way... "We're fightin' a little kid..?"

The figure before them slowly lifted her head, golden eyes narrowed dangerously against darkened skin and white hair. That face... That was... "That's no child," Mai hissed from the side, her eyes widening as a dangerous and inhuman grin appeared on what looked almost like a colour-swapped version of the queen. A 'glascows grin', moving beyond the cheeks to reveal rows and rows of razor sharp teeth... This was... "That's..."

"Hehehehehee..." Dark chuckling filled the air as the girl moved her head, tilting it to the side and staring the crowd down with a frightening grin. "You found me out," it hissed lowly, hands gripping what looked to be a long, five-bladed whip. The 'dragon'... Huh... "How interesting..." Interesting didn't cover it..! The group tensed, eyes narrowing as the monster continued with a grin. Fires were sparking from one of the whip's cords... Ice stung the ground from another, shadows seeping from the one beside it as an earthen one remained 'normal' beside its eerily floating 'twin'. "You think you're so smart," the monster spat, bare and clawed feet padding across the ground where she stood."Sabotaging our great master's return..." The dragon then? Hahaha... Yeaaa... The whip cracked loudly against the ground, a stream of five elements blasting forward at the five. In an instant the girl flipped back to avoid a preemptive strike from Yugi and Mokuba both, the others dodging the whip's blasts with ease as they charged as well. The two boys glowered, looking up as the 'small child' grinned menacingly from a seemingly hovering position. "I'll show you to interfere with our plans! In the place of my God, I will fight for him!"

Oh great, multi-stage boss! They continued to tense, Katsuya growling as he clenched his axe to duck under a line of frost headed his way. "Gh... What th' hell kind of duel monster is this s'pposed t' be," he muttered, eyes narrowed as he blocked a strike from the only 'normal' whip with a wince.

"It isn't," Seto spat, the grip on her sword tightening as Blue-Eyes stood beside her. She muttered something under her breath, before tossing a wave of fire toward the monster from her blade. "Those bastards created a 'second line'... Instead of facing off their precious 'Five-God-Dragon', we're stuck with this sorry excuse for a monster!"

Er, something told him the monster heard that... There was a growl from across the field, the whip again cracking against the ground to release a wave of five different 'elements' of sorts. Stones rose high in the earthen whip's wake, the air itself splitting before it's cousin. Fires singed the edge of their armor, only to freeze against that of the 'water' head. As for darkness... ...Ow. "You're calling me WEAK," the monster roared, eyes widening before she held a hand in front of her. Mokuba and Yugi both paled, the three behind them momentarily stopping their advance as a beam of light appeared to charge before it. "Then try THIS," she roared, the two boys quickly flying back.

The pair both screamed, landing to the ground with a thud before pulling themselves up with a groan. Even behind the two and in the opposite direction Katsuya found himself stumbling back, wincing against the force of the monster's anger. Gh... "Blue-Eyes," Seto commanded, charging toward the monster as the dragon joined her. "Take Mokuba," she continued, sword gripped tight as Katsuya followed behind. With a nod the dragon flew off, joining with its sibling at Mokuba's side as the others continued to charge. The witch ahead of them merely laughed as the woman attempted to cut her through with her sword, dodging with near lightning speed before turning the whip on her. Instead of dodging however Seto grit her teeth, pulling back as the five blades wrapped around her sword. The whips were pulled taut, flames of ice, fire and shadows all blazing across the steel as the woman held firm. The owner of the whip however, was still far out of reach...

"Medea," Mai shouted, the dragon responding to what was apparently its name. A fierce roar was given in answer, the monster watching its master jump from its back to point it forward. "Go!" The dragon nodded, leaving its master with the groaning Yugi and Mokuba to join Seto in the fray. The monster hovered along side Katsuya, as though waiting for a moment before the blond turned to it and paused. Eh...? What?

There was a low growl, the monster shifting to drop its leash downward. Heh... ...Right! The blond hopped on, axe in hand as they charged toward where the 'tug-of-war' was currently going on. "Oiii, Seto-chan," he shouted, receiving a wide and murderous glare for his efforts as he hovered above the two battling women. "Need a hand?"

"Hn! Even if I did," she grunted, still pulling at the sword to tighten the grip on the whip cords even more, "You would be the last person I would ever ask!" Well, at least she would ask then... The woman continued to growl, before taking a large breath in as the dragon Katsuya stood on reeled back. "Tch... FIRE," she roared, voice echoing across the plain as the whips were set ablaze. The flames caught in an instant, ripping down the cords as they would a stream of gasoline before reaching the wielder's hand. The witch screeched, dropping the whip and leaping back into the air as shadows melted from the ground where the weapon sat. It was vanishing now, evaporating into the air... "Tch! Just give up already," Seto muttered under her breath, those behind her making their way back up the pile of rubble to join her.

Rather than 'listen' however, the witch merely hovered in the air before them, eyes wide with rage. Colourless flames appeared to emanate off the beast's form, wisping through the air as she gave a low growl. Hang on now... Something seemed a little off... "I don't think we're even close to finishing," Yugi muttered with narrowed eyes, moving to his deck and drawing a card with a frown. Oh hell, if he was allowed to do that... The card vanished into his hand, the boy looking forward and gripping his boomerang tight. "Not nearly close..."

Mai swallowed, looking back to the sky as her dragon landed to let Katsuya down and return to its master. The monster before them was grinning... "I think that's putting it lightly," she finally said quietly, the witch before them cackling madly.

"Hehehehehe... Hehehe..." Stop laughing, pleaaaaase..."Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The witch began to grow and stretch, features distorting as loose armor appeared over body and gown. Claws extended from bony and twisted limbs, the glascow's grin still prominent on her face. "This is almost fun," she said with a cackle, eyes widening to a crazed state. "I think I'm going to enjoy this," she continued darkly, before a sick, ripping noise sounded through the air. "Gnnn... Ghnnnaaa... RHAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The five paled as the witch screamed, four 'tentacles' if they could be called that bursting from her back. Long and writhing they formed, pulling the demon further above them into the air as they reached the size of the 'Five-God-Dragon's heads easily. A long bladed tail followed, the monster grinning insanely at them as each 'tentacle' formed into a separate 'head' of sorts along with the tail itself. Fire and water took the top two... Earth and darkness took the bottom. And a bladed metal 'head' took the tail, blasting wind toward them as the others stared. "What the FUCK," Katsuya shouted with wide eyes, the monster before them grinning darkly as the transformation completed itself. "What the hell is THAT," he roared, before charging off to the side as the cackling demon sent a pillar of flames toward where he'd been standing. The fires burned into the ground itself, Katsuya looking at the spot with wide eyes before turning to the others.

"I don't know," Mokuba was shouting, the two Blue-Eyes both blasting off a wave of white fire toward the beast's wings with no luck as the boy crouched down for cover, "But I don't think I even want to know," he continued, the group mostly scattering in the onslaught of attacks.

Katsuya looked up at the demon, gritting his teeth as it pounded it's earthen head toward a quickly fleeing Seto before receiving a slice from the woman's blade for its efforts. "Where th' hell are we supposed t' attack this thing," he muttered angrily, feeling largely useless thanks to being 'grounded' by his weapon. "Everything they're throwin' is bouncin' off th' wings!"

Indeed, everything that struck the 'heads' was simply causing no visible damage. From Seto's blasts of fire to Yugi's boomerang nothing was making contact that seemed to legitimately cause damage, Mai herself narrowly avoiding being destroyed in a blast of razor-wind as she steered her own dragon clear of the attack. "Gh... Nothing's working," she shouted down, ducking another blast of flames as the demon cackled. "We need a new idea..!"

"Hehehehehe... Of course nothing's working," the demon roared, rising further above the group and higher into the air above with a mighty beat of its 'wings'. "I am the vessel of my lord and God, the embodiment of the darkness itself! You fools can't hope to stand against me," it shouted insanely, head held high with laughter. Katsuya paled considerably as the demon's four heads began to glow, the monster holding her arms out as a concentrated sphere of energy developed around her. Oh shit.

OKO attack coming through... "Ahhhh guys," he shouted, Mokuba as well watching with wide eyes. The others looked up mid-attack, their own eyes wide as well as they looked toward the monster's form. "I think we outta ru-"

-BRMMMMM!-

In a blast of light the five were thrown back, dragons growling against the attack as they stumbled to their feet. Blinding light filled the air as dust and rubble pounded against them, the blond shaking his head as he pulled himself up. "Ghn! Ahng..." Katsuya coughed as he looked up, frowning as he saw no trace of her in the sky. W-Wait, don't tell him it was invisible too..! "Th- She's..."

"Ghk... Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with wide eyes, looking at the blond before turning toward the center of the field. Those closer had been blasted past even himself and Mokuba... But now... "This is our chance..!" The teen turned, before nodding and charging forward with the boy.

"Right," he called as the demon's fallen form came into view, the dragon heads all momentarily collapsed around the seemingly unconscious monster. "Haaaaaaahhhh-"

"Grrrrrrreeeeeeeehhhh..." Oh shit. The collapsed demon opened her eyes, looking directly up at the blond as he swung his axe forward. Dragon's heads rose from the ground turning on the blond with wide and gaping mouths as attacks began to build. Oh shit shit shit shit shi- "RHEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

-sqlch!-

Katsuya took heavy breaths as he dropped his axe, the disemboweled monster choking violently before falling back to slump on the four dragon heads that made up its body. The heads charged attacks quickly backfired, falling to the ground as Katsuya as well fell to his knees. Sightless eyes stared upward as he scrambled back, still breathing heavily as he looked at the corpse before him. That... That was close... That was... "H-Hihhhhhh..."

"Please tell me that you aren't afraid of a corpse," Seto said from behind the blond, Katsuya in question jumping at the voice before growling.

"Gh... I ain't afraid," he snarled, pulling his axe from the ground and scowling before turning back to the body on the ground and shuddering. "'S jus' disgustin', that's all..."

Mokuba sighed, rubbing his head and coming between the two as the others came over to join them. "Can't you guys not argue for a while..?" ...No. The two merely continued to glare at each other, eliciting a groan from the boy as a breeze passed. "Augggggghhhh..."

The other two shook their heads, Yugi looking around with narrowed eyes as he ignored the silent argument going on before them. "Strange," he muttered, boomerang still gripped tightly in his hands. "That seems a little... Anti-climatic..."

"Personally," Mai said with a sigh, "I could care less about how 'disappointing' the ending is, so long as the game ends," she continued with a small smirk, looking at the others as Mokuba continued to rub his head. The woman brushed a bit of hair back again, frowning. "You're right though," she said after a moment, the others turning in question. "Something feels..."

"Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn..." Chuckling came from the corpse at their feet, Katsuya stumbling back as Seto calmly moved to the side to avoid being run over by the blond. The corpse's neck gave a sickening crack as it turned its head upward, the others staring as it continued to laugh. Oh hell that didn't sound good. "Hnhahahahaha... You fools think that this is the end," the monster spat, apparently not completely dead for the moment despite no longer having a waist or legs. "That defeating me means you're all scott free..?" ...That didn't sound like the boss... The low chuckling continued, the scenery around them abruptly vanishing into showers of pixels around them. Mountains in the distance went first, followed by the trees as they all joined the dark clouds above to fuse into a pure black 'room'. "Not so fast, Ojou-sama..." O-Ojou- The others quickly paled to a ghost white shade as the demon's voice mutated into a mix of familiar sounds they'd heard outside in the real world, the term visibly causing Seto to tense with rage.

Those were the voices of the board of directors... The realm continued to pixelate, wide eyes watching as within moments they were left in a black field, the ground itself vanishing from beneath them. To the front, the corpse before them vanished into nothing but a fading kanji for 'ryuu', the mark sinking into the ground before them. This mark... 'Dragon'? "Hnhnhnhnhn... Did you think it would be that easy," Oshita called over the air, Seto narrowing her eyes. "That we'd simply let you 'win' the game and leave..?" ...Yes?

"You five," Seto spat, eyes narrowed as she stormed past the others to look up into the darkness they were now hovering in. Despite the lack of visuals she continued to look up to where the voice had come, posture tense with rage. "Your game is over," the woman roared angrily, grip on her sword tightening as the Blue-Eyes White Dragons behind her growled in agreement. "The 'Five-God-Dragon failed to arise, and its servant was killed in its place. You LOSE," she continued with a shout, cloak on her shoulders billowing in a non-existent wind. Her voice echoed around the 'room', the woman not even bothering to disguise the tones as she normally would.

They'd said 'ojou' after all. It was fairly clear that they knew. The chuckling continued from above, Oshita joined by the other four members of the big five. In the distance, the suited forms appeared, smirks on each of the men's faces as they hovered in space. "Oh do we," Oka said rather smugly, adjusting his glasses and crossing his arms. "You see, you seem to be quite mistaken... 'Ojou-sama'..." Seto audibly growled at the term, the others merely watching as the 'Big Five' stood before them. "You see, in this realm, we are the gods..."

"And you, the 'players'," Otaki continued, frowning somewhat from his somewhat slouched stance, "Are nothing but points of code for us to manipulate. True," he said with a slightly deeper frown, "We can't directly influence your actions, or your thoughts... But this game doesn't end until one or the other happens... Either you defeat the 'Five-God-Dragon'," he called, a large and snarling beast forming out of pixels as he spoke.

"Or you all die by its hands," Daimon continued, dark grin still somehow visible behind the crouching and growling dragon as it slowly materialized into existence. "I have to say," he continued darkly, shaking his head as the 'dark' head on the dragon did the same. You really had us going..." Eh? What did he mean by that?

The others of the Big 5 nodded, their targets simply standing in silence. "Our programming was flawless," Ota hissed, appearing to seethe before them. Compared to the others in fact, he was... Almost demonic to say the least. "Completely free of all error, and you overran it JUST LIKE THAT!" Oh hey... Um... He was pissed... The metal head on the far side growled with its 'corresponding board member', Ota continuing with a snarl. "It was specifically written... Movement would be impossible, Avoiding capture would be impossible, ESCAPE, WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE!" The men beside him seemed to cough somewhat awkwardly, the other four dragon heads reacting accordingly as Ota ranted on. Scratch that, Ota had completely lost it. Shiiiit... "Height limit 6'1'', Weight limit 63 kilograms... Any male player below those limits would pass without fault in the game," he growled, Seto smirking rather smugly as she and the others connected the dots. Any male player eh..?

"Hnhnhnhnhn... But I'm no 'male player', am I," she said with an almost villainous smirk, for once appearing quite pleased that she'd been 'found out' so to speak. It was already fairly obvious that Seto was probably the only one anywhere near six feet... So really, if it hadn't been for that... Oooohh, that had to sting... The five men glared, faces growing red as she continued on. "You wasted all those months, all of my time..." She looked over the the immense beast before her, eyes drifting back to the immense kanji at their feet. 'Dragon'... It didn't take much to figure that they'd have to fight only with dragons really. "And now you challenge me to a battle of Dragons above all of this? Hnhnhnhnhn... Hnhnahaha... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Um. The others drew back somewhat as Seto grinned darkly, the cloak still flowing back behind her as she stood. Aha... Was... Was she alright? "Your constant delays are beginning to make me sick," she spat, eyes narrowed as she drew a card and held it forward. Without even looking, it began to vanish as she summoned it, a silvery white trail of dust forming before her. "BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON," she roared, the monster appearing in a flurry of white scales from the dust, relatively small in size compared to the being before it. With a rumbling and menacing roar it cried, eyes narrowed dangerously at its opponents.

The five before them merely leered however, slowly fading out into the background and from sight. "I suppose we shouldn't have expected you to give in," Daimon said with a slight shrug, shaking his head. "But it doesn't matter... Enjoy your last moments on 'earth', if they can be called that..."

With those words the dragon before them jumped into action, rearing on its hind legs and giving off a loud and impressive roar. Five heads suddenly shook with life, skyscraper sized wings beating against the air viciously in an intimidating manner. "Blue-Eyes," Seto ordered, the two standing by Mokuba turning at the command as their master jumped into action. "Take the left and right sides!" With a quick growl they nodded, Seto hopping onto her own now full-sized dragon and standing atop its head to prepare for battle. "And you," she added, looking down at the others while taking care not to group Mokuba in with the three. "Don't get in my way."

"Tch... OI! Seto-chan," Katsuya shouted, gritting his teeth before pulling out his axe as the woman charged into battle against the enormous dragon. In moments she had charged into close combat with the 'dark' head, leaving him to shake his head in annoyance. "Damn it..." He turned to the others, Mai summoning her enormous red dragon into existence and drawing a card as the blond accessed his menu. Well... He still had this at least... "Looks like I'll be usin' that Red-Eyes y' gave me Yugi," he said with a grimace, pulling the card into existence and turning to his friend.

The boy merely nodded, drawing his own card and tossing it forward to reveal 'Curse of Dragon' in a quick shower of white powder. "I can't think of a better time," he said with a smile, before pulling his boomerang forward and throwing it toward the dragon. It would be completely moronic to expect it to cut through one of the monster's heads... But perhaps they could make it through the beast's fingers or claws, given the arc that the boomerang was taking. Yugi turned forward to pull himself onto Curse of Dragon's head, giving Katsuya an encouraging nod before taking off in an instant.

Alright then... His turn! "RED EYES BLACK DRAGON," he shouted, the card he held going up into a sudden blaze as the smoke formed the familiar black scales of his dragon. The monster gave a menacing and echoing roar as it materialized, before crouching down to give its master a steady look. Katsuya turned back to Mokuba, blinking as Mai handed him a card with a wink. "Err.. What're y' doin'," he asked, the Five-God-Dragon behind them momentarily occupied with taking pot-shots at the Blue-Eyes. It wouldn't be attacking them just yet... Hopefully.

Mokuba looked over the card in question, blinking before raising an eyebrow and looking at the woman in front of him. "It's not fair if you don't have a dragon as well," Mai said, grabbing the chain of her own dragon before flipping onto its back looking forward. "Besides, with the way your sister is acting," she muttered under her breath before taking off. "It should take away from my lifepoints, so don't worry about how it works alright..?" Mokuba and Katsuya both shared a glance, the younger looking rather... Annoyed at the already evident fact of his older sister's 'distraction'. Seto did have three dragons... But really..

Katsuya merely shrugged, shaking his head at the look before Mokuba pulled out one of his swords with a sigh. Yeaaaaa... Something told him that with the people responsible for all the crap 'mostly' right in reach... Seto was pretty much unreachable in terms of all other common sense. Mokuba shook his head, holding the card out nonetheless to summon the monster into existence. "Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon," he called out, the card evaporating into a light red mist to form a 'miniature' of the original 'pet dragon' before them. "Well," he said with a shrug as he climbed onto the somewhat large dragon, the beast giving a low snort in response as the boy took a rider's stance. "At least I won't end up fried right off the start right?"

The blond laughed, turning to the front with a nod. Now that was a better way of thinking! "Right!" He pulled himself onto Red-Eyes with a bit of difficulty, standing between the monster's spiked shoulders and holding onto the beast's spines before climbing toward the top. Thanks to the immense size, he could easily just stand on the monster's head... He'd just settle with sitting between the horns though. "Let's go," he shouted loudly, the dragon rising into the air with a roar and charging forward with a blast of black flames. Mokuba followed behind, free hand gripping a wakizashi tightly as they aimed for the numerous heads before them. Alright... Time to start the pot-shots! "ATTACK!"

Shouts filled the air as they moved, multiple targets being decided on as they charged. It would be ridiculous to even think of beginning a conversation, let alone possibly starting one in the fray that ensued. Blades clashed and sparked against teeth, blasts of varying shades of flame collided against one another in a shower of sparks. Against the flaming head Yugi's boomerang did nothing, merely blasting through to the other side as the Blue-Eyes on the other end ducked beneath the weapon with an annoyed growl. The boy hurriedly dodged a strike with Curse of Dragon before trying to catch a different limb with the weapon as it returned, briefly wincing when the white hot metal singed his finger tips. Firing blasts of white flames against the metal, robotic head resulted only in white hot and liquid metal coming back toward Seto in the meantime, the woman paling momentarily before she and her dragons fled from the blast of wind that followed behind with it. It was complete and utter chaos, the 'field' they were playing on. They were doing nothing but taking pot shots, and useless ones at that!

But this was a dragon field... And whatever other monster could face off against the enormous monster before them would have just as much luck as they were, thanks to the damn seal on the ground. All other monsters entered defense mode and became target fodder as Mai found out with her harpies, and no one was willing to waste lifepoints for a useless shield. Red-Eyes fired another blast of black flames at the earth-oriented head, its owner smirking as he gained a slight result. Perhaps the 'wind' and 'fire' heads were mostly immune... But against these ones... Reddening scales were what the blast resulted in, bits of skin slowly flaking off to the ground as a blast of acidic mire came their way... The two dodged, Katsuya smirking as they took to the air above it and fired another blast of flames. "Heh! Take that," he shouted loudly, laughing as they continued to fight. The earthen head merely glared up at the blond, before turning to the side with a growl. "Nh- Oi," he growled, eyes narrowed as he stood up on his dragon's head. What the hell was it looking at... "I'm up here y' moron! O-" Katsuya froze as he followed the dragon's gaze, before looking back at the monster and paling. Directly in its line of sight..."Oh no," he muttered under his breath, chuckling coming from above and behind the earthen head.

"Oh yes," Oshita said darkly, the golden dragon appearing to speak with it. No... No no no no no. Opening its mouth wide, there was only so much time to react as the others turned to the voice as well. Only an instant... 'Blue-Eyes,' Seto shouted from the side, screaming for the dragons to block the attack that they could see charging before them. Mokuba turned from where he'd been fending off the teeth of the watery head, eyes widening with horror as a blast of what looked almost like pure molten flith came his way. No time... Blue-Eyes could only fly so fast, and the watery head was pinning Mokuba to the ground. No time...

There was no time..! "Red-eyes," he whispered, the dragon soaring downward despite the command having never been given. It knew what had to be done... There was no time to think after all... No time, no time no... He jumped, hurling himself off the front of the dragon, his axe clattering noiselessly to the ground... And the blond fell forward, blast stopping the moment it came in contact with one of the players in battle. It stung... If only briefly. He could hear Mokuba screaming as he collapsed to the ground, Red-Eyes vanishing in the same mire that had been blasted at the blond. But while he couldn't feel anything... Breathing was awful hard now... "G-Ghn... Ah... Nngg..."

"K-Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted, landing to the ground with his dragon as the others looked down. It was hard to see... As the mire cleared off his face he could at least see the boy running toward him though, before Mai came to the ground to pull him back as a blast of mire struck the ground once more. "KATSUYA-NII!"

If he could see himself, there would be no holding back the contents of his stomach. He hadn't been struck down by 'lava', or even 'dirt'... It was the same mire as before, true, but there was an added sting. Almost. He couldn't feel anything... Not surprising, given that his legs were already dissolved to nothing. Hell, he'd have been surprised that his face was still in tact, the others sure were... He slowly looked up, coughing as Mokuba was restrained by an equally panicked Mai, the other two still buffered and pushed back by the dragon behind them. "Gh... Nk..." H-Heh... Looking at his deck holder, his lifepoints were still there... Almost a full thousand sitting there, haha... But... "T-This 's it," he coughed, pulling the device off with melting hands and shakily tossing it to Mokuba's feet. The device was magically untouched by the acidic sludge. "Ev'n w' th' points," he rasped, coughing violently as the sting of the sludge suddenly began to affect him. "I'd be pretty useless t' all 'f you... G... Kah-ah... hah... hah..." Oh god, the pain was coming back with a vengeance now that he was tied down to 'mortality'...

Mokuba shook his head, eyes welling up completely as he was held back. "N-No... Katsuya-nii," he forced out, swallowing as he and Mai both stared. "If you die in the game that means..." Yea... "No..."

He merely grinned sadly, nodding his head despite the pain. Yea... Yea, it meant he'd be gone... But if they beat this thing, he might come back right? That was always a good thought. Hehehe... "Y' gotta fair shot now," he rasped out, laughing weakly as he slumped to the ground completely. "Kick this thing's ass, alrigh'..?"

Again the boy shook his head, tears falling freely as he stopped fighting against Mai's grip. "No..." Sorry kid... "No don't..."

"What kind of sick, twisted 'game' is this," Mai spat, looking up at the 'sky' with rage filled eyes as she held her grip on Mokuba. "What kind of MONSTERS are you," she roared, tears running down her cheeks as well. "You expect CHILDREN to play this!"

Aw come on guys... Don't shout... Don't... "Well," Otaki was saying in the background, Yugi and Seto both doing all they could to fend the attacks off from the two who were still 'alive' despite the grim situation below. "There are a few minor details we'll be removing before the game is released of course..." 'Minor'... That was one way to put it...

"You bastards," Mai spat, shaking her head and pulling herself onto the dragon beside her as Mokuba continued to stand by Katsuya's still melting body. "I can't believe I even started working for you complete monsters," she hissed, cards appearing in her hands as she stared down the dragon before her.

"Mai," Mokuba said shakily, turning to the woman as the dragon's wings spread wide with an earth shaking roar. "Mai, what are you..."

The last thing he saw before finally succumbing to the pain was the Harpie's Pet Dragon taking off into the air... And Mokuba's crying face as he whispered... '...Don't die...'

---

It was all she could do when the voice came over head, as the earthen head charged a blast of poisonous mire and filth in its mouth. "MOKUBA!" She couldn't reach him from where she was... Seto snarled as the metal head continued to attempt to strike her down, narrowly avoiding the monster's jaws as it stood between her and her brother. "MOKUBAAAA!" She couldn't reach him... But Jonouchi could.

Yugi as well as shouting, though what he was saying she could care less about. It was definitely concerning the blond... The one who was melting on the ground, resembling little more than a molten pile of... Something... Beneath the multiple blasts of filth he'd sustained. Yugi was definitely shouting about that, from where the shadowy head had him cornered in the sky. The 'death' of his friend... He wasn't dead though... She knew at least that much, the board had said it themselves; it was all or nothing, one or the other. And in a situation so 'hopeless', they wouldn't lie about that. That didn't change how her brother felt about it though, that much was clear. They needed a new strategy... They needed... "Kaiba," the boy shouted, Seto turning with narrowed eyes. "I think there's a way to defeat the dragon quickly," he said somewhat desperately, gripping the single horn of his dragon for balance as it swooped toward her. "But you need to listen..!"

Tch... Not. NOW. "I don't need you to tell me what to do Yugi," she growled, the boy merely gritting his teeth in response. They were shouting down there... Mokuba was crying...

"Just listen," he shouted loudly, the woman turning back to him with rage filled eyes. "There was a prophecy from one of the NPC's..." ...What. "'When the third power of dragons unites with the third power of warriors'..." ...And what the hell was that supposed to mean? "We need to team up," he continued, the woman across from him instantly tensing at the thought.

Team up? And do what, didn't this already count? This was as close as they were getting... If he was planning on calling all the attacks... "Like hell," she spat, ducking below a blast of sharp stinging wind that nearly knocked her off the dragon's head. The woman turned back with narrowed eyes, the sounds of her brother's cries and 'Mai's shouts still piercing the air through the dragon's roars. "I can deal with things myself... I don't need your help to do so!" This was her problem, not theirs, and these assholes would be so much more than 'fired' when she was through with them. Death... Would be merciful. The boy beside her moved to speak yet again, cards appearing in his hand before a sudden shout broke through the air.

"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The two tensed completely, the heads of the dragon abruptly screeching in pain as Mai charged the monster with not one but four of her 'Pet Dragons' on her side. It was a final stand, a hell-bent charge with no holds barred... Something that had the dragon's complete attention, as well as their own. It would have been difficult not to pay attention even.

Four dragons... Four... "How the hell," she muttered, eyes wide. Limit three of the same card per deck, and even then there was no way that Mai would have that many of the 'Pet Dragon', the card was too expensive for someone of her level to purchase that many times over, so how... How...

Yugi's eyes widened from where the boy stood on his own dragon, swallowing. "'Multi-summoning,'" he muttered under his breath, the Five-God Dragon screeching as in one fell and combined swipe the dragons tore through the earthen head's throat. Blood spurted through the air, but Mai was not taking any time to relish in the small success. "Mai's a summoner," he said quietly, "She can call up any monster she's summoned previously, as many times as her life points allow... ...But with that many..."

She summoned the same monster four times... That had to take out the life points. Even with that however... It was obvious that Mai could care less for the moment, given her charge. The sheer power behind the attack was something to stare at, possibly even marvel at, to say the least. The earthen head was torn to nothing but shreds and had long since clattered and dissolved on the ground. Mai's staff and whips knocked the shadowed and watery heads off her back seemingly without care at that same moment, before she turned the blades on the watery one's neck with a feral and vengeful roar. "HRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHU! AAAAAUUUUHHH!" Bladed whips tore into the flesh of the water dragon's head, torrents of water striking down around her dragons and destroying them as she went. One dragon down... Two... Three... And still she went on, even after she was left with only herself, the woman hopping from her steed's back to push the collapsing blue neck of the 'water head' toward the flaming one. The head toppled to the ground, passing through it in an instant... With none left but the flaming head she tore forward, still screaming with rage even as the monster snarled at her.

The fire head was almost completely extinguished by the waters of its blue-coloured sibling, already flickering out as the woman charged it. In seconds however, as Mai broke through the flaming wall to wrap her whip around its spine and snap it off, it really was gone...

And as it fell to the ground, reduced to nothing but charred bone, Mai was following after. "Mai," Yugi shouted, the two remaining heads of the dragon staring incredulously as the boy flew forward on his dragon. "MAI!" Seconds... Only seconds and three of five heads had been taken out...

She couldn't have done that sooner! "M-Mai," Mokuba shouted, eyes wide as the woman burned away to nothingness before he could run over. Seto steered her Blue-Eyes out of the way of the metal head as it moved to strike again, finding herself hovering next to Yugi as they looked down at the second casualty. She was still alive somehow... Even with the steady and angered beep of her life-points meter as it reduced itself to zero, and from above, despite the distance, they could make the scene out clearly.

"Ghn... Ahhh... Ahhhahh..." They couldn't see most of her body through the flames... Somehow however, they could make out her face... "Gk... I... I wish I'd thought of that sooner," she said with a rasping laugh, before wincing with pain as the fires consumed her. "Hey... You make sure those two get their heads into gear," she continued to the boy in front of her, Mokuba standing stock still with wide eyes. Morons? Gh- "G-G... Good lu..."

She couldn't even finish her last words... Damn it... Damn it all! She clenched her fists, looking back toward the dragon with narrowed eyes. "Tch... We need a new strategy," she muttered under her breath, pulling her dragons back and out of reach of the two heads before dodging another blast of shadows and wind. Pot shots weren't working... And something told her that the 'rip and tear' method Mai had used wouldn't work quite so well against a head made of pure shadow or metal. The dragons pulled even further back from the bodies below, Yugi following with her as he gripped a pair of cards in his hand. The Five-God Dragon was following after them as they moved, creating a 'sandwhich' of sorts between themselves and Mokuba... He'd be safer this way, with the dragon's attention on them only...

"Feral Imp," she heard Yugi mutter, the monster appearing at the side on the dragon as he turned to the woman. Slowly they were moving to land on the ground, the dragon before them tromping forward with a fearsome roar. "...Kaiba," he muttered, looking to the woman with narrowed eyes as the dragons dodged yet another blast of wind and shadows before continuing on their path to the ground. She needed to protect Mokuba... Yes the dragons had been targeting them, but if she was too far out of reach... The woman attempted to ignore her rival, only half listening as the boy continued. So long as they held this position... This would work... "You need to summon the Ultimate Dragon," he shouted, the cards still gripped tightly in his hands. "Summon the dragon," he repeated more forcefully, Seto turning on the boy with a snarl.

"Are you ordering me," she asked incredulously, teeth grinding as Blue-Eyes as well looked over with the closest thing they could get to a frown. She hopped off her dragon, looking up as the remaining heads of the dragons turned their way before looking back at Yugi. "Are you trying to 'force me' to summon my own dragons," she spat, the boy growling in response. "Give me one good reason why I should listen to you!"

The boy continued to seethe, slipping off the head of his 'Curse of Dragon' to face the woman. "We don't have TIME for that," he shouted, face growing somewhat red as he stared his rival down. "Jonouchi is gone, Mai is gone... What more has to happen for you to just listen," he demanded as Seto as well came to the ground, the woman's dragons circling around them protectively. "There's no time to argue-"

"No, there isn't," she snarled, fists clenched as she glared at the boy. "So let me deal with this myself!" There was no time, and so far, she was getting no good reason to summon something the size of a sky-scraper in design, and she was not loosing strategy and agility for a power that could still be beaten by this stupid hacked bug!

Again the boy growled, eyes narrowed. "Gh... Black Luster Ritual," he shouted to the side, tossing a spell card forward as his dragon and imp both dissolved into a black powder. In seconds the black armored solider stood before them, crouched in a defensive position by the 'dragon's only' program in place. "Gh... You're impossible," Yugi continued, shaking his head incredulously. "I can't understand how Jonouchi can even stay under your roof for more than five minutes! We need the Ultimate Dragon, it's our only chance at this-"

"And if I do that," the woman countered viciously, "We'll be as good as sitting ducks! Blue-Eyes would be too big, they would lose the agility they need for this battle! Stop trying to decide how I fight," she snarled, the dragons around them shaking their heads with low growls as she continued to argue with the boy. "And live with it!"

"That's the problem! We can't live with it," he shouted, attention completely set on the woman as they stood there. "If we don't use the Ultimate dragon, we're going to die! Open your eyes- Your dragons are most powerful when combined, just as the game's prophecy! We need to work with that, just summon-"

The game had also been programmed by five old cheating bastards..! "I said NO!"

"What's wrong with you!" The pair turned as a shout came from the side, expressions momentarily frozen in the same rage they'd been feeling before they grew pale. Mokuba was standing at the Five-God-Dragon's feet, a chain gripped tightly in his hands... With the dragon's back to him, they'd been open to his own attack after all... And he had a deck now. The chain trailed up toward the monster behind him, wrapped tightly around the maw of the metal dragon's head. Embedded in it's side a large steel 'boomerang' sat firm, the enormous beast writhing and struggling against the hold. "Both of you," he added with a growl, the two staring for a moment. What, both..?

Seto swallowed, stepping forward with a slight frown. "M... Mokuba," she said with a slight shout, the boy merely holding his scowl. He couldn't come out here, he'd get... He'd be...

"They died for you," the boy shouted, tears still running down his face as he gripped the chain tightly. 'Kunai with chain', where did he get that card... "We don't even know if they can come back!" That wasn't true though, that wasn't- The dragon heads behind Mokuba were seemingly conversing with one another, blood still spurting from the torn necks of the other three. Why weren't they doing anything... "And instead of fighting this thing, you're still arguing..!" It wasn't like that, he wouldn't lis- "Nee-sama," he said with a choke, pulling on the chain in his hands before wrapping it around his waist and holding tight. "I don't know why you both have to hate each other so much... I just..."

What was he doing... What was he doing with that chain..! "Mokuba," the woman said somewhat nervously, taking another step forward as Yugi merely stared in shocked silence. That thing was attached to a giant metal dragon, if it even moved wrong... "What are you..."

He gripped the chain tight, a sad smile on his face. "I'm sorry nee-sama," he said as the shadowed dragon head behind him began to charge up a blast, the dragons having made their decision. The woman moved to run forward, eyes wide as she was stopped by her own dragons in addition to Mokuba's own. Low growls came from their mouths and the woman was pinned by her own monsters, Yugi as well tossed back by the beasts. "At least this way there'll only be one left right..?" No... No..!

The flames were released... In a wave of darkness he was gone. The chain he was holding was violently pulled forward under the blast, the metal head at the side crushing under the chain's binding hold with a screech of metal. No... Scraps of metal clattered to the ground, leaving sparking wires and a stump of a neck in their place. No no no no- "Mokuba..." Seto stared with wide eyes as the attack ended, smoke filling the 'air' before them. "No..." The dragons moved to the side as she ran forward, the pile on the ground resembling nothing more than a puddle as she stood there. "No..." Gone... She fell to her knees, eyes wide as she shook her head. "MOKUBA!" Gone... Gone... "You bastards," she muttered under her breath, gripping the 'ground' in her fists. "You god-damned bastards!" Her brother... They just killed...

"...Kaiba," Yugi said from behind the woman, the 'Five-God-Dragon' merely growling above them as it watched the small amount of chaos below. There was nothing left, nothing left of the boy... Just a pile of misting shadows... Not even a scrap of armor, not a single thing... "Stand up," her rival demanded, the woman gritting her teeth in response. Shut up... Just shut up..! "Do you want his sacrifice, the sacrifice of the others to be in vain?" SHUT UP! "We need t-"

"...Urusei..." It was probably the eerie, dead cold tone her voice had taken even in comparison to her 'fake' one, that quieted the one behind her. Yugi fell silent as the woman pulled herself to her feet, card appearing in her hands as she dimly watched the four severed necks of the dragon before them fuse and heal into nothing but seemingly oversized shoulders. They weren't dead... Her brother wasn't dead..! And the 'board' that were facing them now... She looked up toward the dragon, jaw clenched tight as she shook. "...You... All of you," she hissed dangerously, the card vanishing with a single mental command to form a dusted vortex behind her. "Are going to know... Every soon... What 'death' feels like..." The vortex behind them continued to swirl, pulling in the dragons behind her within mere seconds. She didn't need to turn around to know that the enormous form of the Ultimate Dragon stood behind her now, forming from the clouds of the vortex herself. Nor did she need the constant beeping of her lifepoints bar to know that she was now on her last leg, Yugi even more so as he pulled out the card 'Copycat'. ...Polymerization again..?

But what monster could possibly exist that would combine with her Blue-Eyes..? A second portal opened behind them, pulling the dragon and Yugi's warrior in at the same moment. "When the third power of dragons unites with the third power of warriors," her rival repeated, Seto watching in enraged silence as the monster formed to an immense size behind them. "Black Luster Soldier," he shouted, gesturing forward as the dragon stood tall above them. "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon... Become the ultimate being! THE DRAGON MASTER KNIGHT!"

What..? The dragon heads gave a fearsome roar as a set of reigns appeared on their jaws, the knight on the middle one's neck gripping the reigns tightly. This fusion... The woman stared with wide eyes, the monster above them rearing all heads at once with a mighty growl. Since when was there a monster that could... "You two are completely out of your mind," Daimon spat from above, voice seemingly coming through the mostly shadowed dragon above them. "Between the two of you, you barely have enough lifepoints to allow you to stand... That monster isn't even strong enough to defeat us, your situation is hopeless," he roared, Seto merely looking up with dangerously narrowed eyes. Hopeless? Not even...

And as for their Lifepoints... Tch! The woman ripped off her deckholder, hurling it forward with narrowed eyes as the board member sputtered above them. "You think I'll allow my life to be tied to something so trivial," she growled, fists clenched as she brought her arms back to her side. One shot... If they couldn't do this in one shot then they wouldn't have a chance at all. "Tch... I would rather live knowing I have one chance at life than rely on a counter strapped to my wrist!"

There was a second 'clattering' sound, Seto blinking with somewhat wide eyes as Yugi's deck holder was also tossed away. The boy briefly looked at her with a determined nod, before bringing his arms to his sides as well. "We don't need lifepoints to win this battle," he said calmly, the dragon behind them giving an immense and ground breaking roar. "After all... 'When the Third Power of Dragons unites with the Third Power of Warriors'," the boy began, the woman beside him becoming rather sick of the 'prophecy' to say the least, "By the third power they will fight and by the third power they will succeed..." Well, that last part sounded right at least.

"'Big Five'," Seto growled, taking a step forward and looking up at the dragon. "...Wipe the backs of your necks and wait... You won't even have the 'honor' of destroying yourselves..."

Spectres of sorts were appearing around them... Ghosts even, single coloured entities that appeared on all sides. The dragons that Mai had summoned, Red-Eyes, the baby Pet dragon... And even the destroyed heads from the dragon they were facing off against appeared with them, a chorus of battle cries and growls filling the air before they misted out of existence. What was this... "Did you know," Yugi said seriously, the Five-God-Dragon stepping back with a nervous growl. "For each dragon on the field and graveyard, the Dragon Knight gains five hundred attack points..." How the hell did he know that... How the hell did he even know about this monster? "Your 'Five-God-Dragon' already matches it in power... But with this..."

Four 'pet dragons', four individual dragon 'heads', red-eyes, the baby pet dragon... ...They had it with Mai. "Impossible," Daimon muttered, an audible swallow coming over the air. "It shouldn't be possible for this to happen," he continued with a roar, the shadowed dragon rearing back in fear. "It shouldn't-"

"Tch... Live with it," Seto growled angrily, pointing the dragon forward. It was there, and it was powerful, and this was over. "Now... Dragon Master Knight... ATTACK!"

"GALAXY CRUSHER," Yugi roared at the same moment, an immense blast of white flames streaming toward the Five-God-Dragon. The blast filled their vision, white light and fires burning straight through the shadowed attack that its opponent attempted to send in defense. "It's over!"

That it was... There wasn't even time for a 'scream' of sorts, the monster simply vanishing into flames completely... Before the fires had time to die down, before the corpse of the 'Five-God-Dragon' could hit the ground her vision began to fade. The entire 'realm' fell dark, and in exhaustion the woman fell to her knees again before falling forward completely. Nothing was happening... They'd defeated the dragon and nothing was happening. Mokuba was gone...

And she was falling. Or at least it felt that way, she thought as she stared forward, eyes partially closed. She couldn't feel her body any more... Not the ground that she'd fallen to, not her arms and knees... Nor the armor she was wearing, the tightened gauntlets and boots, nor- Seto frowned, pulling herself up to her feet with wide eyes as she looked around. Gone... She was in the same place that the game started at... The armor, the dragons, the cards, they were all gone... The woman looked over her now restored arm, a bitter frown appearing on her face. Everything was gone, and she was back at the beginning. Was that it then..? Was that all there was..? A bloodied battle field that was reduced to nothing, leaving her floating in 'this'? Her hands clenched, the woman looking down into the darkness and trembling. Mokuba... "I have never felt a more hollow victory," she spat, shaking in the darkness. Never...

"...I couldn't agree more," came Yugi's slightly depressed voice from behind, the woman turning with widened eyes to look at the boy's also misting, 'glowing' form. She wasn't in the mood to bother with things like modesty right now. All in all it was more like they were wearing full body suits the way this game had them appearing. Even so, the boy appeared to be purposely turned away from her the woman noted, still frowning somewhat as she turned to look at him. Nothing but darkness... And the grim fact that if she'd just summoned the damn dragon earlier none of this would have happened. Her brother would be there still... And the others as well, something that Mokuba would have preferred if he'd still been there.

But he wasn't.

A breeze passed the two, both turning as a sudden white light pierced the darkness. "Gh- What..?" She shut her eyes, squinting in the light before they widened with a frown. This light... It resembled a smoke of sorts, while still shining brighter than any light she'd seen, or at least been able to see. "...This is..."

From a single, flowing white mist the monster appeared, an enormous white metal wyvern with diamonds embedded in its joints. White steel scales shimmered in a non-existent light, the monster standing tall before them. A white dragon... And blue eyes... "Eri," Yugi whispered, stepping forward with wide eyes.

"Eri," Seto asked with a frown, eyes narrowed. The dragon was named Eri? ...Such a common name...

There was no response, the dragon merely bowing its head before them as it knelt down before them. "I must thank you," it said calmly, appearing to mist and ghost in a non-existent wind much like the other two before it. "Both of you, great heroes..." 'Great heroes'? What? "I am eternally grateful," it continued, Seto merely steeling her gaze with a frown. And what did she care, if a computer program was 'grateful'? What did that accomplish at all..? The dragon looked to her as she thought this, as though having gleaned the thoughts from the woman's mind. "...All is not lost," it insisted, misting into a white robed figure with steel hair ornaments across her ears. "There is still hope," it continued, smiling calmly as it continued to 'ghost' before them.

This monster... This was... "Gyakutenno Megami," she found herself muttering, eyes wide. "...The goddess of change..." Yugi and Kaiba both stared, the woman merely bowing her head once more.

"You've forgotten," the woman said softly, Seto jumping as her menu appeared before her at the moment a card came into 'Eri's hands. A single line vanished from the list, Seto's eyes widening as she looked toward the woman before them. "The game isn't over until the credits finish running..."

That card... The menu vanished, Eri smiling as a large green ankh appeared in her hands. She'd drawn that earlier... Monster reborn... The ankh hovered forward into the air, a blinding light coming from it and forcing the woman to shut her eyes. The light intensified, and then, just as quickly as it came...

---

...It was gone. The light cleared to reveal the similarly misting forms of himself, Mokuba, Mai... Katsuya frowned, blinking a few times as he came to. The light was gone... The dragon was gone, his armor was- ...Wait, were they all... The blond looked down at himself, coughing as Mai did the same beside him. ...Huh. This was... Awkward. "Mokuba," came a voice to the side, the three turning as Seto stared. Mokuba stood still only a moment before running forward, his sister holding him close before letting him down with a worried expression. "Mokuba I..."

The boy choked, looking over himself and the others before coughing again. "Um... This is kinda weird..." Yea just a tad. Kinda killed the moment. A little. (Not that Seto really seemed bothered by it all...)

Mai smirked from the side, shaking her head as she crossed her arms. "Just a little," she said with a light laugh, Yugi simply walking over with wide eyes. She and Katsuya both turned, watching as their friend stared in disbelief.

"You..." He shook his head, staring to the point where it seemed that if he blinked they would simply vanish from sight. "You're both..."

Katsuya grinned, throwing an arm around the boy's shoulder with a laugh as their friend continued to stare. Awwwww what the hell, they were alive weren't they? Who cared how damn awkward all this was, nothing was really... There right? "Hehehe... We're all fine," he said with a cheer, still grinning as he pulled out of the 'hug'. "Heck, I feel better than when th' game first started!" That was probably because they couldn't feel anything here granted... But hey, still better than feeling like complete crap!

Chuckling came from the side, the others watching as 'Eri' gestured to the side. A large opening appeared from a single line in the darkness, before widening into a large and gaping hole in the void. It was completely white... There was nothing they could see on the other end, nothing at all. But somehow, he had a pretty damn good feeling about it. "I will say it again," the woman said calmly, eyes closed over. "I am eternally grateful to all of you..." The portal opened wider, and she continued from her bowed position with a smile. "This portal will take you back to your world... To your reality..." With those words she misted away, blinding white smoke being the last thing they saw from the woman. "Good bye, great heroes..."

They were finally able to leave... Seto took her brother's hand, looking down at the boy before walking over to it without a word. Now hang on... "Y'know," Katsuya said from behind, the woman turning for a moment as the blond held a blank expression. "Wouldn't kill yah t' say 'thanks'..."

Silence settled for a moment before the woman snorted, shaking her head. "You needed me just as much, Mutt..." Well... He guessed so but- "There's nothing to thank you for," she continued, looking back to the portal with out another word. Huh... She said that but... Some how it didn't feel like the tone was there... Again the woman paused at the exit, standing for a few seconds as though in thought. "...Yugi," Seto said after a short moment, not looking back as the boy blinked. "...Did you always know about the 'Dragon Master Knight'," she asked, the others turning to Yugi with raised brows. 'Dragon Master Knight'..? What, was that how they'd won then?

Yugi shrugged, smiling despite the fact that they all resembled smoking shades of their actual selves at the moment. "As long as you believe in it completely," he said calmly, "The cards will return the favor..." ...Heh? The others blinked, looking back at Seto in question as the boy continued. "...You believed that yourself, didn't you..?"

Believed in... There was a span of silence, a wind seeming to pass them all before Seto appeared to nod. "Hn... Let's go Mokuba," she said quietly, the boy nodding in agreement. "...Mutt," she added as an after thought, Katsuya shaking his head with a small laugh in response.

"Haha... Def'nitely," he said with a smirk, Mai and Yugi following behind the two and walking into the portal. "Sure thing, Seto-chan..."

The portal flashed somewhat as the others entered, a breeze blowing past him in response. "Hn... Don't call me that," a faded voice said, Katsuya walking toward the portal with a smile as the wind dyed down. It was all over... All over...

Except... For one thing. He paused at the 'door', frowning somewhat. Just one more thing... "...After I died," he said quietly, staring at the ground for a moment in the seemingly empty void around them. "...There w's nothin' but white... And a line 'f credits... I couldn' see anything," he continued, shaking his head. "Nothin'... And then you showed up," he said with a frown, turning around with narrowed eyes. Nothing but darkness faced him. But he continued anyways. "...Why did y' do that..?"

A small figure misted back into existence, the same 'dog' from before appearing within an instant. Black eyes and a masked face tilted to the side, the creature giving a mechanized laugh. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Who knows," he said humorously, wagging its tail. "I didn't think it would be fair to just watch people cheat like that... And it's no fun to play with those kinds of odds!" The laughter continued as the blond across from him stared, frowning somewhat. "We'll meet again, 'Katsuya-kun'," it said with a bark, eyes appearing to shine somewhat. "...Perhaps then, everything will make sense... Hnhnhnhnhn..." It turned around, walking away and fading out of existence. "Itterashai Katsuya-kun... We'll definitely meet again..."

The blond shuddered somewhat, shaking his head as he turned back. 'Itterashai'... Yea... ...Guess he would... Whether he liked it or not... Stepping through the portal, there was nothing but a blinding light... And as a grin came over his face he had to laugh.

"Heh... Game over..."

---

"Ghnn... NGHA! ...Aahhk... Ngh..." Seto clutched her right arm the moment she could move, biting back a second shout of pain as the VR pod hissed open. The metal pinning her down was long gone, the lights in the room almost blinding her as she cleared her vision, but god damn it her arm... She'd gotten too used to not having nerves... And now those nerves were all too pleased to let her know that they existed "Ghnnng..." The woman pulled herself up, idly watching as an empty deck holder popped forward before looking around while the pain dyed down. At least it was only for an instant... Even so... Her legs were asleep... "Agghh..." Numbing pain was filling her body, but even so she threw it off, shaking her head. It would be gone given a few moments... The blood just needed to get flowing again, that was all. Mokuba... She had to see if he was alright... She- Seto tensed, frowning as she moved toward the door to the next room and stopping. "...Hang on..."

Something was off... She looked to the side, narrowing her eyes and walking toward what looked to be a number pad. This pad... Even a moron would realize that this was going to open something. Given the slight line around the panelling here... "A second door," she muttered, almost growling with the realization. All along... Well... Something told her this explained the sudden appearance of the board...

Who now knew she was a woman, she recalled with a scowl, jaw clenching shut. Shit. She'd have to fix things fast...

Seto looked over the number pad, eye twitching somewhat. There was only one key that appeared to have been used, at least recently. And in addition to that, the five key was stuck... And completely faded... She tapped it a few times, watching the numbers appear on the small screen. 5, 5, 5... Still stuck. "Tch..." 5... 5...

-sffffffffsssssss..-

Wait... That was the code? "...Are they serious," she muttered with a growl, watching as a door hissed open before her, swinging into a darkened room. Five fives? Could they be anymore- "Aughh..." She shook her head, instead walking into the room and looking around with narrowed eyes. It was fairly expansive to say the least, with plenty of room for the hardware operating the devices there. Five pods... Despite the tint she could quite clearly see through the glass, a sour expression coming on her face. So this was where those morons were hiding... Tch... She moved over to the 'main computer', watching as a timer reading '20:00:00' sat on the screen. 19:00:54... 45... And beneath the timer the words 'Emergency Override'. A dark smirk appeared on her face, the woman turning to spot a headset of sorts on the side. "Hnnn..." She could always do this the hard way of course, hacking through the system to destroy the program and lock them in... Or, she thought as she put on the headset, easily establishing a connection to the device, she could do it this way... "Well," she said calmly, listening as the sputtered shouts of the Board came through the headset, the smirk darkening even further. "It seems you morons are sleeping in..."

"Gh- Seto-sama," Oshita protested in a faded and crackled voice, before the woman turned the audio portion of the headset off. As if she wanted to hear their pathetic cries for mercy! She might have had to stand through it before, but with this... Hnhnhnhnhn...

"I don't have time to listen to you idiots whine," she growled, walking down the steps of the computer toward the pods. "You crossed the line... Twice," she added bitterly as the timer ticked behind her. 17 minutes. "And you can be certain that there are no 'second chances' from me... I keep my word," The woman continued, trailing a hand across the pods as she looked for the access point to the cables behind it. "What awaits you... Is something far, far worse than death..." Seto's eyes narrowed as she moved around to the rear end of the room, stepping behind the pods to find a mess of cables. They all led to one thing however... One thick, wrist-sized cluster that connected to each pod. "As it was," she spat, "You could have easily gotten a job around the same level you already had rather than daring to test your luck with me..." The woman shook her head, a mock sigh coming over the microphone as she stared at the cords with disdain. "Instead you bastards couldn't be bothered to let go... A big mistake," she whispered, stepping over the cables to the one furthest from her. "Very big..."

She wrapped a hand over one of the cables, the large, main cable that connected to Oshita's pod. "I'm holding onto one of the power cables for the VR pods," she said with a menacing tone, slowly clicking the safety lock out of place. "I told you before," Seto stated darkly, an eerily calm expression on her face. "I'm going to kill you for what you did... Slowly... And painfully... In a room that no one in the world knows about..."

"This," she said with an eerie monotone, the timer behind her sending out an echoing warning of 'fifteen minutes' through the air, "Is for selling my company out to Pegasus, clearing out my staff and locking my brother out of what was rightfully his in the process..." The cord was pulled, the pod's lights dying down with a low droning sound before she dropped the cluster of wires to the ground with a thud. Seto stepped over the next few cords, calmly reaching for the next one. Oka. "This," she said calmly, twisting the cable and preparing to pull it, "Is for handing my brother over to a complete nutjob, and leaving him for dead." The second pod died down with an identical drone, the woman carefully taking care not to step on any live wires as she grabbed the next one tightly. "This is for wasting my time by building a game with no real point other than to kill myself and anyone else in it," she continued bitterly, the sounds of lights and computer processes dying down continuing through the air as she moved. Ten minutes. "This is for modeling the final boss off my little brother, while making the only alternative a sacrifice of another with his face! And this," Seto hissed, taking hold of Daimon's pod cable as unheard screams of terror came in the back of her mind, seemingly reverberating around the room as she made to finish what she started. "Is for even thinking that you could come anywhere near my brother and my staff."

With a final click the cable was wrenched from the pod, clattering to the ground as the sound echoed around the empty room. In silence, the woman moved back to the pillar in the center, opening the latch to the power-controls. "Enjoy hell," she spat, taking hold of the main switch and pulling it down. With a resounding drone and an instant 'click' he room went completely black, the woman pulling the headset from her ears and tossing it to the ground. The clattering echoed around the otherwise silent room, the woman standing there in the dark for a few moments. They were dead... Worse than dead... Gone... The woman walked out of the room, making sure to 'close' the door and cover the small number pad before an odd smile came over her face.

The bastards were gone and she'd never see them again...

Good riddance.

---

The light was fading... Fading away completely only to be replaced by something just as blinding. Katsuya groaned somewhat, slowly and blearily opening his eyes as the glass helm of the VR pod began to pull away. He tensed at the sudden change in light, shaking his head and groaning. "Nggh... What..."

"He's waking up," a voice called out, the sound of muttered shouts meeting his ears. "Jonouchi," the voice continued, Katsuya still blinking off the suddenly blinding light. Oh god, his eyes... "Jonouchi!"

Ahhhhnnn who was th- The blond blinked, suddenly sitting up as he realized where he was. That voice was Honda... So that meant. "W- Th... This 's..."

Anzu rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a small smile as Katsuya was bombarded by Mokuba. "Ghn!" He coughed, shaking it off with a smirk. "Heh... Mokuba..."

The boy pulled back, grinning as his friend stepped back out of the pod with a slight stumble. "Hehehe! We did it..! We won," he shouted, Katsuya merely rubbing his head and laughing as well.

"Haha... Got that right," he said before wincing and rubbing his arm. Suddenly, there was this one spot that was really stinging... "Ow... Geeze," he muttered, rubbing it down as the pain faded. Huh... Weird... "Got too used t' havin' a gash there..."

Yugi looked over somewhat worriedly, having apparently switched back to his 'normal' self before waking up. The look was lost somewhat however, and he ended up just walking over with a smile as his friend stopped rubbing the arm. "Are you alright," he asked, still smiling as the blond nodded.

"'Course! Why wouldn't I be?"

His friend merely nodded, smiling as they looked toward the others. "You missed a wicked fight," Honda said with a stretch, shaking his head as he joined the others. Given the ruined barricade at the side... Yea, yea he did. "As soon as Mokuba got out of that pod all the doors unlocked... Guards flocked in here faster than anything I've even seen," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Oh please," Anzu said with a sigh, arms crossed as she shook her head. "I'd hardly call it a fight," she continued with a laugh, Honda going somewhat red in response. "The most we were able to do was run away from the collapsing barricade..!"

Er... What? Yugi laughed as well, shaking his head before explaining. "When I woke up, the guards had all come in," he began, Katsuya blinking at the news. Kay... But then where were- "But as soon as Mokuba mentioned Kaiba-san waking up as well..." Oh-HOH! That would definitely do it!

Katsuya snorted, holding his head as he laughed at that. "I'm gonna guess they ran outta here pretty damn fast huh..."

The boy beside them grinned, arms crossed. "Hehehe... Yep," Mokuba said with a laugh, moving to grab the blond's deck and hand it to him. "Heh... Hey... ...Everyone," he said somewhat quietly, turning to the others. "...Thanks for helping," he said with a smile, the others merely shrugging and smiling in response.

"Hey," Honda said with a shrug, shaking his head. "It was nothing really..."

The others as well nodded, Anzu crossing her arms behind her back as she shook her head. "We only did what was natural really; friends help friends when they need it after all..."

"Ah..."

Katsuya smirked, pocketing his deck as his friend continued to stare. "Heh... Lets jus' go find yer s... Yer brother alrigh'?" The boy beside him nodded, moving toward the door at the far side before a second one behind them hissed open.

Hang on, what..? There was a yawning noise, the others staring as Mai walked through and gave a small stretch. H-Hah... She wasn't kidding about not wearing the corset all the time..! "Ahh... Good to see you boys woke up well enough," she said with a smile, pulling a few strands of hair back as she walked into the room. She stretched again before turning to spot Anzu and Honda, lowering her arms to her sides to stare briefly. "Oh..." She blinked, brushing a bit of dust from her sweater. "You two as well..?" She paused for a moment as Anzu merely shrugged in response, shaking her head and turning back to the others. All but one person... "Did Kaiba wake up easily enough..?"

Mokuba shook his head, momentarily ignoring the fairly confused look Mai was getting from Honda. "Nii-sama's in the next room," he said with a shrug, turning back to the closed door to walk toward it. "We won't know until-"

-sfsssssssss...-

The others turned, watching as the next door opened before either of them touched it. "...The rooms are all connected," Honda muttered with raised eyebrows, before following as Mokuba rushed toward the other room. "H-H-Hey, hold on a second-"

"Nii-sama," Mokuba shouted, looking into the room only to frown as he was greeted with an empty pod. Errr... Where did Seto go..? "..." He looked to the side, breaking into a grin and hurriedly tackling his sister as the woman moved from the back room. Oh. From there. "Nii-sama!"

The woman stumbled only slightly from the force, Katsuya walking in with the others to raise his eyebrows. Alright, calm small smile he'd understand given that Mokuba was there but...Looking at the one on her face now, or at least a few moments ago... That was a kinda... Creepy one. He looked at the back of the room, frowning. "O-Oi... What were y' doin' back there..?" Didn't look like much...

Seto looked up, the smile only slightly faded despite the fact that her brother was wearing the same clothes as her rival. "Nothing," she said calmly, walking toward the door as it stood open, Mokuba running at her side as the others followed. "Nothing at all... I'm going home," she continued, turning to the others with her standard 'glare'. She seemed oddly pleased about something despite this, seriously what... "I need to re-design my security program," she said somewhat testily, most of the others going slightly red with the words. Ehehehe... They didn't technically break in but... Ahaaa... "...Along with replacing my board of directors," the woman added somewhat smugly, an evident tone of (if not slight) pleasure in her words.

The others exchanged an awkward glance with that, before moving past. Honestly, it was probably better that they didn't... Ask about that one... "Well," Honda said with a cough, shaking his head as the thoughts came to mind. "I should probably go make sure my sister isn't going to kill me..." Seto stood with crossed arms as the teen passed her, the others following behind somewhat hurriedly.

"I need to sleep myself," Anzu said fairly nervously, Yugi following behind just as fast. "Ah... It was nice seeing you here Mai," she added with a somewhat laughing cough, the woman merely waving in response.

"We'll see you at school tomorrow Jonouchi-kun," Yugi added as he left, leaving the other four alone.

There was a short span of silence, before Mai shook her head. "Well... I should probably find myself a hotel for the night," she said quietly, looking to the others somewhat awkwardly. Yea... She probably had a fair idea of what happened to their opponent... (Though honestly, good riddance damn it.) "...Interesting clothes you have there," she continued with a wink, Mokuba in question going rather red as Seto looked at the boy with a somewhat annoyed expression. And thus the clothes were spotted! Well, this would be a little hard to explain... "It was nice seeing you again," Mai said with a small smile, "Situations aside Jonouchi... Hopefully the next time I come to Tokyo it won't be for something like this, hn?"

The blond laughed as Mai gave a wink, scratching his head as he laughed. "Haha, yea... Yea, ah..." Very different with luck...

"You can leave now," Seto said somewhat plainly, the woman across from her nodding her head as the silence was broken once more.

"Hnhnhnhn..." The woman chuckled somewhat, shouldering a bag she'd brought in with you. "Alright... I'll see you again," she said with a wink, moving out of the door to head out of the building. "Ja-ne, Jonouchi..."

Hah... Yea, 'ja-ne'... ... "Maaaannn," Katsuya said with a sigh, Seto looking over with raised eyebrows from where she'd been staring at Mokuba's clothes. The blond scratched his head, shaking himself with a slight laugh. "Thi' 's th' weirdest birthday ever..."

As Mokuba laughed somewhat nervously in response, Seto blinked, staring for a few moments. "...It's your birthday..?" There was a span of silence as the blond shrugged, Seto merely turning to walk away after first staring for another few moments. "Hn! 'Weird' doesn't even cover it Mutt..." She continued out into the hall Mokuba following behind. "...Lets go home..."

He nodded, following after the two siblings after only a split second. "Yea..." Heh... "Sounds like a plan."

---

AN: And that's the end of the Legendary Heroes! Ended up giving you all a SUPER CHAPTER. Because I couldn't split it in two… (Sorry…) Still. Good finale eh? Anways, to explain...

See, the next chapter is a 'one chapter breather'. Passes the time, gives us a bit of a break from all the gloom we saw, and so on so on. In any case, it wouldn't mesh well at all to merge this with the Valentines Day chapter of all things... So yea. No art today! Working on things, stuff like that...

And now, we can take a good long breath...

And I will share the Poll Results!

Still unchanged.

Curses..!

Anonymous Review Responses

Poor Eri indeed Iona... But hey, she came back! Kinda. In a weird 'I'm actually NOA' kind of way.

Hihhhhh I've scared myself... And yesssss, Mokuba is quite awesome! He just doesn't get to show off nearly as much in canon... Personally, I say he learned his ninja skills from his sister. Mostly because of all the insanity that Kaiba can do with cards of all things. (Seriously, are... Are they laminated with glass or something?) Either way.

Glad you liked the drawing! I'm working on another comic actually...

In any case, things have come to an end! Hope you liked it!

---

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner

The section that wishes card games could be as cool as battle scenes... ...Eh, I'll make it work.

---

Today's title is using a mix of the fact that the Blue-Eyes White Dragons had names in one of the games (The 'Falsebound Kingdom' specifically) and the fact that 'Azrael' in question is in fact the archangel of death.

Rather fitting given that Kaiba just left five men brain-dead with nothing but the pull of a cord and a flip of a switch... Hihhhh I've scared myself again...

---

So why did I sink the castle? Because I found it a little hard to believe that the 'Castle of Illusions' had a giant forest around it while it floated in the sky. At least one of the same size we saw in the anime. Soooo… Collapse! And fall to the ground like a giant ROCK. (Whooo..)

---

Cicada are also known as 'Jar flies' in the US, and are related to leaf-bugs and the like, resembling bug-eyed beetles with HUGE wings… Though a lot of people assume they're related to grasshoppers for some reason. They're generally around two inches long, but they can get bigger… In any case, you tend to see or at the very least hear them in anime during what is supposed to be the summer months… Because they are everywhere in August over there. Constantly making the 'nrrwhrrrrrrr nrrwhrrrrrrr nrrwhrrrrrrr nrrwhrrrrrrrrrrr' sound in the background.

Kids like to catch them in August, and see how big a bug they can find. ...Now I want to draw Mokuba catching cicada. Huhhhhh...

---

'Flying Mantis' and 'Dragonfly' are both called 'Flying Kamakiri' in the English version. 'Kamakiri 1' is the Dragonfly, while 'Kamakiri 2' is the Flying Mantis.

This happened in the last chapter as well; there are two Luster Dragons, the first of which is called 'Sapphire Dragon' in Japanese, and the second of which is called 'Emerald Dragon'. (Kaiba has an Emerald Dragon in his deck actually…)

Interesting thing though, 'Luster Dragon 2' was released before 'Luster Dragon', which is why their 'numbers' are reversed when the cards show up in the anime.

---

Hell is that noise? Well, lets just say that I browse TVTropes far too often, and when the line made itself presentable I couldn't resist. I don't think that the sound would really qualify for that trope though. No, that position is reserved for something else... Namely the 'click-whirrr' that turned up for the Big Five as Kaiba slowly went around pulling cables, since she had at least fifteen minutes to do so. ...I can hear the screams... Hihhhhhh!

---

When Jonouchi references the 'Return of the Mummy', he's actually referring to the first movie, 'The Mummy'. Specifically, the flesh eating scarabs that... Acted like land piranhas.

---

'Hibikime', or 'Noisy Lady' (Hibiki meaning echo, or noise and 'me' being a pronunciation of 'lady') is a somewhat weak earth type monster (yea, not Dark.) who is one of the fusion materials for a counterpart to 'Gyakutenno Megami'… So basically it's the closest thing to opposite I can get but heyyyyy... Look at what else happened ah?

---

Obviously this has been drawn out a lot guys… The initial part of the conversation however is still intact; after Kaiba breaks through the ceiling with Blue-Eyes (Seriously what was that), Jonouchi tells him off for making them worry (I'm completely serious on that. It's… Canon. HOHHHH?). Kaiba responds by saying he doesn't need a wimp to worry about him… Though in the dub, he just settles with making fun of Jonouchi's outfit.

Personally, I'm not surprised that was Kaiba's first reaction in the dub. It's just one of those things… (Anyways.)

---

Why did Kaiba pale when she noticed Mai? Because she's been using her real voice the entire game. Leaving the castle she assumed that everyone there knew, because she forgot about Mai being there. (Which is fairly easy to do when you're more focused on either ripping out a certain blond's insides or just being pissed at your rival. Wait that's just her? Oh, oh well.) In any case, it's one of those things where Kaiba just sort of says 'I actually screwed myself over? AAAAAUGH.' Though with obviously more 'in character' mental dialogue.

---

Gotta remember guys, the fingertips are the only thing Kaiba could see with that glove on. So she had expected something bad, but not as bad as what she saw (Which is actually why she bothered to humor her brother. She didn't think it would be quite so… Disgusting. Or traumatizing to say the least.)… When you look at your still functioning arm to find that it really does look charbroiled despite what logic says… Well yea. Logic was telling her that while her fingertips were obviously being stupid, her arm couldn't possibly be too far gone, because she could still move it... Technically, people with third degree and insensate burns can still function… Those with fourth degree burns however, cannot, or at least, if they can, they can't move too well.

But the game doesn't care about things like that, it cares about keeping the attack menu open; heck, if it wasn't for the fact that Jonouchi literally melted into nothing, he'd have probably been able to still fight in a... Weird and disturbing way.

In any case, while she's sure as hell not saying anything on it, that had her feeling kinda pukey as well.

---

The dragon's name (Medea) is based on the name of the witch that took out the dragon that supposedly inspired 'Harpies' Pet Dragon'. Whoooo!

---

Oh hey! Original boss time… Oddly enough, the 'white haired Mokuba' (Specifically white hair, dark skin, black sclera... Gold eyes.) is actually based on how Meyari is the 'Mystical Elf', AKA 'Holy Elf'. It has a counterpart, with flipped stats called 'Dark Elf'… So their opponent is effectively a colour-flipped Mokuba. (Pale skin becomes tanned, black hair becomes white, blue eyes become 'gold/orange'...)

At least until the second stage...

---

Speaking of 'second stage bosses' (Though it's technically third stage...), it's largely based on the 'Dark Elf'... Along with the Five God Dragon.

So basically, it's the love-child of those two. And the anti-Mokuba of sorts.

---

A Glascow's Grin is an act of torture, where the cheeks are cut from the edges of the lip to the cheek bone. A literal 'ear to ear smile'. Technically, this isn't what the boss monster has. What she has is a 'Cheshire Cat Grin', since really, this wasn't cut into her face. It's just... Ear to ear. But saying she has a 'cheshire cat grin' isn't nearly as creepy... So...

---

If the boss seems anti climactic, that's because fight-scenes move fast, and this isn't exactly a turn-based battle. Also, the monster is kinda hovering in the air, making it difficult to reach when Kaiba's told the Blue-Eyes to stay on the ground and watch her brother… …Alternatively, you could just say I suck at fight scenes when I'm trying to take what is normally a repetitive process (killing the boss in a video game) and making it… Not… Repetitive. Particularly in a five-on-one; party style RPG's are normally turn based for a good reason guys.

---

In the anime, the background obviously shifts as soon as they all meet up again at the castle and the Big Five reveal themselves... It's the same look as a motherboard/circuit board pretty much... But that would all obviously be a display as well, as technically, if they were 'revealing' where they all were, all you would see is... Well, black. Complete darkness, maybe the occasional 'light' from the real world. So that's what I did...

---

AHHHHHG Big Five how could you! In any case, that 'dragon seal'… In the anime, you see the Lord of Dragons on the floor, which the Japanese version has everyone recognise. Which really makes no sense, as his effect is to keep dragon type monsters from being targeted by spells traps or monster effects… Actually, I don't think there is a card that specifically prevents anything other than dragons fighting. So yea. Went with this.

---

Ojou-sama is obviously being used as an insult here. 'Sama' is of course an honorific normally used rather highly, whereas 'Ojou' is a term used to refer to someone else's daughter. (The key part being someone else's.) Of course here, it's just being used to say 'WE KNOW YOU'RE A LADY'. Not that Kaiba appears to really care since it's the reason why she got out of there in the first place. Also it's a really, really nice way to kick the board in the crotch figuratively speaking.

---

As per usual, the insane laughter is completely canon on the part of Kaiba. Which really says something about either how used to it the others are (given that they just sort of... Stood there as this deep and not all completely there sound came from the front), or just how completely bleak the future is for our 'Big Five'. Gonna go with the last one.

---

Kaiba and Yugi both fighting from the heads of their dragons is actually based on the first opening for the anime; there's a scene where they're both fighting... On Curse of Dragon and Blue-Eyes' heads. This is apparently completely safe or... Something. ...And if it doesn't show up in the dub (You have to remember, if I'm watching the dub, it's to compare dialogue... So I skip the opening.) thennnn yea. But I'm pretty sure it shows up in at least the first season opening.

---

'Harpies Pet Baby Dragon' is a card that Mai has, but it never shows up in the anime. She uses it in one of the video games… (Mokuba summoning it just used Mai's lifepoints by the way.)

In any case, I just thought it a little upsetting that Kaiba didn't spare one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons for Mokuba… Thinking it over though, Kaiba can get VERY one-track-minded given the situation, so it actually makes sense (much as it sucks for Mokuba)… It didn't occur to Kaiba that the Big 5 would actually target the one without a dragon or a deck!

Actually, it doesn't occur to anyone else until after Jonouchi is 'killed'; Mai comments on it herself in the Japanese version; it shouldn't be allowed to attack a player without a lifepoint counter.

Of course… By that point Kaiba's busy arguing with Yugi…

---

Just as a reminder, but a 'Wakizashi' is a Japanese short sword, between 30 and 60 centimeters (one and two feet). It's similar to, but shorter than the katana, and normally shorter than the kodachi. It was normally carried with the katana actually...

---

Five for five! Ahahaha… I couldn't help but match each head to one of the members of the Big Five, even though I got the order wrong (I mixed up the 'gold' or 'earth' head with the 'black', 'dark' oriented head.)… So here's a quick and easy guide for who's controlling which head!

Ota - Tech guy gets the 'Metal' head, which blasts wind.

Otaki - Mr 'I love penguins' gets the 'water' head, which blasts.. Well, water.

Oshita - The earth head. Cause he's… Old? Actually it's because it was the last one I decided on, AHAHAHA (I suck.)

Oka - Our lawyer man gets 'fire'… Because that's what people want to do to lawyers it would seem.

Daimon - The dark head. Because he's pretty much… The worst of the Big five. Or at the very least the creepiest, given that he took Jinzo as his deckmaster/body in the Noa arc, which by association means that he took the one based on nothing but pain...

---

By the way, this ass-kicking moment was brought to you by Mai Kujaku; who was really not given enough winning moments in the anime. At all. (Whhhhyyyyyyyyy…)

Somewhat inspired by the fact that Mai's role has pretty much ascended to a 'big sister' role as opposed to a 'love interest' role (Which is alright anyways, since Takahashi actually said that… Those two would never end up hooking up. LAAAAAAA.). May or may not increase in that connection to a slightly 'team-mom'-ish role. I say 'ish', because Mai isn't really… 'Mom'-like in action, and Anzu takes the role already it seems.

At the same time though, Mai's portrayal in the fanfic was tweaked from canon… And as a result, develops quite differently. Mostly because… Well, I don't know, once I saw Mai's age, the personality tweak stuck fairly hard... And just looking at Jonouchi tells you what happens when that happens. So yea.

It's also based on her actual reaction; she's quite distraught when Jonouchi is destroyed in the anime.

---

When you think about it, Yugi never really explained the prophecy any further than 'we need to fuse our monsters together'... And even if you assume that Kaiba knew the monster existed (After all, Blue-Eyes Ultimate dragon is only 500 points more powerful than one Blue-Eyes soooo... yea.), the Dragon Master Knight has 5000 attack points... Putting it at the same level as the Five-God-Dragon. ...But I don't think that Kaiba did know about that monster...

---

'But Usagi, Yugi summoned Gaia to get Black Luster Soldier, not the Feral Imp!' Yea, well he only needed a level three monster to get him, and horses don't fit on dragons. Which is where he summoned it. Sooooo Feral Imp it is!

---

The dialogue in this chapter is slightly inspired by the actual episode (as usual)… Though Kaiba is notably more 'loud' in the scene, as after Mokuba is 'killed' (He actually falls forward and vanishes as Kaiba attempts to catch him), first there's a rather loud 'MOKUBAAAAAA'… (of course) Then Kaiba falls to his knees, mutters something about never forgiving the big five, and summons the Ultimate dragon. The argument in the anime was obviously considerably shorter than it was in this chapter but really, it felt just as bad really…

In any case, since Kaiba already made it fairly clear that the Big Five were as good as dead before Mokuba went, it was just sort of recapped with a muttered 'DIE. NOW.' Also, Kaiba's line after the battle is identical to in canon; though it's probably more emphasized thanks to the anime crowd that greeted them when they woke up…

---

'Urusei' is an alternate verbal pronunciation (You won't be seeing it spelt like that!) of the verb 'urusai', or 'noisy'. Apparently, there's an alternate reading for that now as well... Huh. In any case, depending on the tone you'll either have someone saying 'loud...'... Or you'll have someone telling you to shut up. If you're saying 'urusei' though, that's generally a sure sign you mean 'shut up' though, since the pronunciation tends to come from saying the 'sai' part weird.

---

Speaking of Mokuba's 'death', the reason why the metal head was destroyed was because the force of the attack pulled Mokuba's body toward the others... And the chain went with him, despite what human strength would allow. Helps that it was attached to the dragon as well...

Also, it was the card he had just drawn from Jonouchi's deck. Whoo!

---

Kaiba's line of 'wipe the backs of your necks and wait' is based on the old (OLD) Japanese execution method. The victim would rather 'calmly' (if they had any honor whatsoever) disembowel themselves... While the executioner took off their heads. The necks would be wiped down before this, hence 'wipe your neck and wait' being about the closest thing to a death threat outside of an actual death threat that you can possibly get. ...Yami tells Haga to do this in the original anime after Haga pretends to rip a card with 'Yugi's soul' in it. (He was lying of course, but OHHHHH did he get what was coming...)

---

Now hang on... It's already bad enough that Yugi magically knew about this fusion monster that would otherwise not exist (Remember, Kaiba has the only three playable Blue-Eyes in existence. So... Who the hell else would be able to summon this monster?)... Though that's waved off with his statement of 'If you believe~'. But how did he know about its ability? (He knows in the anime too, it's not just me!)

---

The form that Eri takes again has nothing to do with Blue-Eyes… But it has lots to do with Kaiba. The original Gyakutenno Megami had green hair and such… But in the Anniversary Card Pack, (ten cards in Japan, only nine in the TCG) which contained a number of cards beautifully re-drawn by Takahashi, she has white hair, white skin, and blue eyes.

---

And as another note on that, part of the reason why she didn't appear as the maid was to spare Kaiba more grief; remember, they have the same face. Another part is that technically, it was Noa hijacking the program again... And you can bet he's just orchestrating everything together for the 'real game'. It wouldn't be 'fair' for him to take them now after all... Besides, they won with the odds against them; in Noa's 'opinion' (Or at least his non-desperate one given the path of that arc), that would earn them their release. ... This time...

---

Hey guys! As just a little something for you, a little guide on the 'solid colours' everyone is. Because they are all solid colours. Think... Ahh... Closest thing I can think of is Digimon Frontier; what the kids look like when they're about to 'Spirit Evolve', their clothes vanish... And they glow. Whooooo~

In any case, Kaiba's a green-blue, as white-blue is kinda weird for me. Though ironically, I ended up picturing the white-blue as Mokuba's glow so whatever. Yugi's a reddish colour, Mai being a more lavender shade... And lastly Jonouchi is a pretty blinding gold. The colours are based on nothing~ Whoooo!~

---

Kinda sucks getting used to not feeling pain… Only to suddenly wake up to a pins-and-needles arm. Actually hurts like hell initially, due to the sudden jump in sensation. After that sudden jump is dealt with though, it's fairly easy to deal with… Or at least as easy as most sleeping limbs.

---

Yes, Kaiba just 'killed' the big five. Did you expect anything less? It was at least implied in the anime after all... Being 'trapped in a virtual world' for all eternity leaves little else as an option for your actual body.

For the 'reasons why' that we see above... Well, the first three are fairly obvious I would hope, same with the last. The fourth one... Think for a moment. The boss looks like her brother for the initial stage. How do you think that felt when she was fighting the sucker? As for how she knows that the 'Queen' would have resembled Mokuba as well, it's mostly based on the fact that Mokuba was able to pull a switch; if they were aiming for a Queen to start... Yeaaa...

And on another note... Besides the fact that she's left the Big-Five's minds trapped in a computer, think about the bodies. They aren't quite in brain-death, that would be inaccurate. The bodies are still perfectly capable of breathing... Which means she just left the bodies there to starve and waste away before finally dying, at which point they would rot to nothing. Maybe she'll go down there and destroy the room... Someday... By the way, the calm we see isn't her being too 'over with it' to really care anymore... This is just her being dead serious. Dead. Serious. Hihhhhhhh...

---

Due to Jonouchi being the last to wake up (As opposed to Mokuba and Yugi, who were first), we mostly missed the run to the pods as the guards broke through. When Jonouchi 'woke up', Mokuba had already told the guards off… Because at the same moment, all the main doors unlock for those who won, something that kinda... Sets off a buzzer in the halls. And since the rooms are all linked, telling them which person woke up and which one didn't, they can guess fairly quickly just how screwed over they really are.

---

In the anime, when Mai comes out she initially says 'you're here too?' I took it to refer to Honda and Anzu, since referring to the ones she'd been playing the game with would be rather silly to say the least.

---

If you think about what Honda's staring at, think for a moment… Mai's not wearing a corset and a mini-skirt after all… And he's the only one that doesn't know she was wearing something other than that. (Mai mentioned wearing those clothes before after all. As for Kaiba, she could really care less about Mai's wardrobe.)

---

Oh, and as a final note, 'Ja ne' comes from 'Ja mata ne', with 'ne' being a particle that emphasizes a subject. 'Ja' means 'then' or 'well then', whereas 'mata' means 'again'; 'ja mata ne' basically means, with the loosest but still most accurate translation, 'well, see you later!' (Well then, later!) 'Ja mata' and 'Ja ne' are two variants, and all three are considered fairly informal.

---

Kaiba will probably realize about half way back to the house that Mokuba's wearing Yugi's clothes for real. (As in 'WAIT WHY ARE YOU WEARING THIS' rather than '-staaaaaaaare-' ) It's taking a bit to sink in because she's currently walking on cloud nine after killing off her board of directors. She's… Fairly happy about that you see. (Hihhhhhhhh...)

Also the topic of birthday's distracted her. (Not in the way where it's like 'Oh hey, I should do something' but more 'Oh. Huh. Weird coincidence. Time to go home...')

---

Technically Kaiba knows when Jonouchi's birthday is actually… She just doesn't bother remembering it, since she doesn't bother with those sorts of things.

In any case, with that the chapter is over! Here's to the next!