STEPPING INTO NIGHTMARES
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Yami Marik.
The name echoed in Mai's head louder than the words he had just actually spoken.
Memories of all the sensations their duel from years ago had made her feel flashed through her mind as well. The conviction she started with, then the confusion that followed, which gave way to fear and then sheer dread and horror as the Shadow Game ripped her memories and finally her soul from her.
That one duel had changed her forever. When she woke up she had been a shadow of the person she was before. Her trademark confidence was gone. Before that duel she knew who she was, what she wanted, and how to get it. After, she was just trying to survive.
For a period, she had blamed Joey and the others for not supporting her, but now obviously she knew they had no part in her decisions that followed. She had joined Paradias to find a new sense of belonging and to take a sense of power back. It was all a ridiculously unhealthy way for her to cope with the trauma of what had happened to her that night in Battle City.
Only after being freed from the Orichalcos did she finally admit to herself she needed help, although now she was saddled with the added guilt of what she had done to Joey.
It had come from an unlikely source: Pegasus. The man had taken her in so to speak, making her feel useful and having many long and frank conversations about their pasts. Pegasus was a man who had been filled with self-loathing and with a similar traumatic journey to hers. He was obviously further down the line in terms of recovery, and his help had slowly made her feel somewhat like herself again.
There had still been a lot of work to be done but Pegasus had managed to convince her that the rest of her life would not be defined by her trauma or the actions that followed. There was a renewed sense of some degree of optimism, a hope that one day it would all be in the rear-view mirror and she'd have things to look forward to again.
Yet, as she stood in that room, facing her original tormentor, the progress of the last year felt like it had never even happened.
Nothing had changed. She was still reliving her worst moments, both in her head as well as in real life.
Her jaw hung slightly agape, sweat beginning to drip down her forehead. Her throat was dry and her hands didn't move but had begun trembling in place.
Another voice broke through the haze that had descended over her mentally, sharp but firm.
"I'm not your aibou, and never have been."
It was Marik. He was speaking with a degree of gravitas and focus she had never heard from him.
"Ah, you wound me. Did I not free you from the torment of your father before we spent decades sharing your body, planning for vengeance on the Pharaoh who caused your predicament in the first place?" came the response from the nightmare voice.
"You're a weak monster who took advantage of my being a traumatized child and used me as a vessel to wreak havoc on innocent people," hissed Marik. "But I am not that child anymore, and have not been since I finally accepted my duty as a Tomb Keeper and surrendered that duel to the Pharaoh. You have not had any power over me since. I don't fear you, and once we are through with you, neither will Mai."
"Oh, but why do you speak for her so?" cackled his former dark half. "My eyes tell the truth far better than your words can. The reverse is true: the girl is terrified, and so will you be once we are finished here tonight."
Mai took an involuntary step back, drawing even more cruel laughter from Yami Marik.
She vaguely felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Mai, I know you're scared. I was terrified of him too, for the longest time. But I know now he's a coward. I cast off my fear of him, and so can you. That's why I'm here, to help you do it."
Marik dipped a hand into his jacket and fished out a Duel Disk.
"We'll duel him together. I'll be by your side the whole time, and when it's over he's never going to haunt us again."
Scarcely had these words finished leaving his mouth did a light flash from the ceiling some way to their left and another hologram appeared before their eyes.
It was the diminutive form of Mokuba Kaiba again, still dressed in the crisp black suit. A notable difference to his earlier appearance was that his eyes now seemed to have a yellowish tinge to them. This gave them a rather primal, animalistic quality and seemed to fit quite well with the malicious grin that was plastered on his face.
He then raised a hand, index finger upright while the others were curled into a fix, wagging it tauntingly from side to side.
"I suppose it's my fault for not being clear to you lowly mortals, but the rules of this little game are very plain. The duels are to be one on one, only, with no exceptions. If you attempt to circumvent that, or any other regulation, just know that I am watching."
He pointed to a camera in a corner on the ceiling with these last words.
"Fine, I will duel him myself then!" snapped Marik.
"No, that's not going to happen," came the response flatly. "The girl will duel first. If she loses, you can go after that."
Marik glared at him angrily.
"You want duels, don't you? You'll get them: why do you care who is dueling?!"
"Because, aibou, everyone here does actually believe that you are telling the truth," hissed Yami Marik. "You do not, in fact, fear me anymore. You haven't ever since you helped the Nameless Pharaoh defeat me. That means I am here solely as an apparition solely of Mai here's fears and no one else's."
"Very perceptive," agreed Apep-Mokuba. "Now, move along so we can get to the main event."
Marik's eyes widened. "You want her to duel so that it gives you more fear to feed off…!"
Apep-Mokuba grinned maliciously again, cruelty and malice seemingly pouring out of his expression.
"Well, I'm not going to share all my plans with you, now am I, mortal?"
Marik raised an angry fist. "No, as a Tomb Keeper, I refuse to allow you to continue on this path, heathen! I have failed my duties thus far, but no longer-…"
This time, he felt a soft arm on his shoulder.
"Marik… It's all right. I'll duel," Mai muttered in a small voice.
He turned to face her. "No, Mai, this wasn't my plan! We were supposed to defeat him together-…"
She shook her head. "I know, and I appreciate it. But that's not going to happen, and honestly, as terrified as I am, I know I'm still a better duelist than him. I would have won the last time around if it wasn't for the fact I couldn't summon his God card."
"You give yourself a lot of credit for someone who couldn't even speak a minute ago, girl," drawled Yami Marik.
Mai turned to look at him angrily.
"I admit it, I'm fucking scared. You know what else I am? I'm angry. You completely destroyed me as a person and turned my life upside down. I'm not perfect, I've made mistakes, but I'm fundamentally a good person and I did not deserve what you did to me. I'm going to make you pay for what happened that day."
Yami Marik through his head back and let out a short but maniacal, bark-like laugh.
"Such spirit. I honestly prefer this. I think slowly seeing this self-assuredness whittle away and crushing your confidence again will be much more satisfying to me than simply taking apart a terrified child. Come then, little Mai, let's play this game of shadows once again."
A jet-black Duel Disk materialized on his arm.
"Mai, please, you don't-…" pleaded Marik, but he was cut off.
"No, Marik, I really do," she responded in a quivering voice.
As she slid on her own Duel Disk, Marik noticed the same trembling in her hands. Her expression, however, was determined.
Apep-Mokuba clapped a couple of times, briefly.
"Well, it looks like everything is in order here. I am going to take my leave of you all. Don't sulk, Mr Ishtar. Like I said, if she loses you can have your turn after."
Before Marik could respond angrily again, the hologram vanished.
Both Mariks kept their gaze fixed on Mai, who strode up to the center of the room and fired off her holo projectors.
Her opponent did the same, and both drew their opening hands.
"LET'S DUEL!"
(Yami Marik: 8000, Mai: 8000)
"I will make the first move," announced the psychopath. "I summon Armageddon Knight (1400/1200) in attack mode!"
A very large, red piece of cloth draped over the field, retracting into the cape of a tall, dark-haired warrior with very tan skin, who wore a chain mail-like vest, and metallic, open pants. He held a gray-handled sword of a pirate in his right hand.
"When summoned, he allows me to send a dark-attribute monster from my deck to my graveyard!" He held up the card for Mai to see: it was Destiny Hero – Malicious (800/800).
"In addition, I'll place one card facedown and end my turn. Come now, little Mai, make the last first move you ever will."
He said these last words with a bloodthirsty grin across his face.
"Don't let him get to you, Mai!" called Marik from behind her.
She ignored the both of them, and concentrated on her breathing. Slowing it down to a normal pace was next to impossible, but at the very least she could try to control it at least a little bit.
Eventually, she drew her sixth card and looked over her hand before then up at Marik with a determined expression.
"I summon Cyber Harpie Lady (1800/1300)!"
Materializing on Mai's field opposite the knight was the form of a human female-avian hybrid that was one of her iconic monsters. She had pale blue skin, green feathered wings tipped with claws, and a mane of red hair that fell out behind her. Metallic bluish-purple armor covered its torso and in her claws she grasped a whip of sorts that was comprised of a brass handle with a fiery rope protruding out. She glared at her mistress's opponent and hissed loudly.
"How pitiful," he scoffed. "Still stuck with those same old pathetic creatures after all these years?"
Mai ignored him and thrust her finger out.
"Cyber Harpie Lady, attack his Knight now!"
Her monster hissed again and beat her wings, crossing the distance between the two fields in less than a second. She lashed out with her whip, catching the Armageddon Knight with the fiery tip. He let out a cry of pain before shattering into a million pixels.
(Yami Marik: 7600, Mai: 8000)
"Does drawing first blood satisfy you?" came the cruel drawl. "Do you feel good striking back against me after what I did to you? I hope you do, because like I told you earlier, I want to see your confidence build back up before I am able to crush it again."
The corner of Mai's eye twitched, but she ignored the taunt.
"I'll place one more card face down and end my turn."
Yami Marik drew.
"I'll start by removing Destiny Hero – Malicious in my graveyard from play, to activate its effect: I can special summon another copy of it from my deck!"
A bulky, dark-skinned demon materialized on his field. Its skin was a dark brown in color but its legs and forearms were covered in dark blue pants and gauntlets respectively. Crimson wings flared out behind it and three curved horns framed its face, which was marred with rage (800/800).
"He's not going to stay for too long, though, as I will tribute him to summon one of the keynotes of my deck: come serve me, Vampire Lord (2000/1500)!"
A caped man with blue hair, dressed in a sinister tuxedo, and with bats that were shining with electricity on their bodies from within his cape. He then threw his arms out and raised his cape up, and revealed bat-like wings growing from behind his shoulders.
The Cyber Harpie Lady screeched at the new arrival and Mai narrowed her eyes.
Her opponent thrust his hand out, index finger pointing at her with the other four curled into a fist.
"Now, attack her pathetic Cyber Harpie Lady now!"
The vampire grinned sadistically, and raised his cape again. He then let out a shriek and the bats surrounding him all rushed towards Mai's field. What was rather disconcerting was that the sheer number of bats didn't ever seem to stop. They just kept coming and coming from somewhere within their master's robe.
Soon, there were enough of them to completely surround the Cyber Harpie Lady and obscure her from view. The Vampire Lord shrieked again, and his body suddenly sparked with electricity. As if they were connected by wires, all the bats he had sent forth sparked as well simultaneously. Mai's monster let out a pained cry from within the mass of bodies as she was electrocuted to a pile of cinders.
(Yami Marik: 7600, Mai: 7800)
Mai suddenly gagged, feeling as if she had been punched in the gut.
"What, did you think that there wouldn't be pain along the way?" taunted Yami Marik. "Perhaps you forgot just what Shadow Games really are, and therefore entered into this one lightly."
"Shake it off, Mai, you're fine!" called his former host from the sidelines. "His words mean nothing!"
Yami Marik took a second to fix him with a glare before continuing.
"When you take damage from Vampire Lord, its' effect activates: you have to send one random monster, spell or trap card from your deck to the graveyard, and I choose spell!"
The holograms of a bunch of dozen or more brown-backed cards appeared on Mai's field. One of them glowed red, and then flipped around.
It was Harpie's Feather Duster.
In response, her opponent let out a bark-like laugh. "What terrible luck for you, little Mai! Arguably your most powerful spell card, gone to the graveyard and we're only three turns in!"
Mai didn't respond to this.
"I will now give you some respite by ending my turn. Take yours, if you dare."
Mai drew, and then tapped a button on her Duel Disk.
"I activate my facedown continuous trap card: Hysteric Party!"
The hologram of a purple framed card appeared on her field, depicting a small army of green-winged and purple clothed Harpie Ladies.
"This card allows me to discard one card from my hand to special summon as many "Harpie Lady" monsters as I can from my graveyard. Well, I just discarded Harpie Lady 1 (1300/1400), so I can summon both her and the Cyber Harpie Lady (1800/1300) you just destroyed last turn!"
The purple armored monster that had just been destroyed reappeared, and was joined by a similar creature that instead of armor was wearing a bright purple bodysuit, had more visible yellow hands and feet and had a much shorter, shoulder-length haircut.
"Both of those are still far too weak to challenge my Vampire Lord," replied Yami Marik in a bored tone.
"Not after Harpie Lady 1's effect comes into play: all wind attribute monsters gain three hundred attack points!"
Both of her monsters glowed red as she spoke (1600/1400) (2100/1300).
Marik raised an eyebrow as Mai pointed at his field.
"Cyber Harpie Lady, attack his Vampire Lord!"
Once again, the armored Harpie had crossed the space between their fields with a couple wingbeats. Lashing out with her energy whip, she caught the suited vampire around the neck, and with one violent twist of her wrist, snapped it, avenging the previous turn.
"Now, Harpie Lady 1, attack his life-points directly!"
Her words were followed up by the other monster slamming into her opponent, knocking him to the ground with a swift slash of her claws.
(Yami Marik: 5900, Mai: 7800)
He slowly got to his feet, the gleeful sadism never leaving his features.
"I'll place one card facedown and end my turn there," she growled, glowering at her former tormentor.
"Very nice, little Mai, I am seeing the same fight in you that I saw back then before things went oh so wrong for you in our duel," drawled Yami Marik, drawing to commence his turn.
"When will we reach that point in this duel, I wonder? Will it be soon, or will we do this dance for longer, allowing you to dare to hope that you will prevail eventually, before I pull that carpet from under your feet again and you fall into a hole of despair and sorrow?"
"Tough talk for a guy on the back foot!" fired back Mai.
"Back foot, you say?" mused her opponent, before a menacing look entered his eyes. He slammed a card down onto the monster card zone of his Duel Disk.
"Since I have exactly three dark attribute monsters in my graveyard, I can summon Dark Armed Dragon (2800/1000) from my hand!"
A tall and scaley black dragon started to emerge out of the ground on Marik's field. It had deep spikes sticking out of the end of its snake-like tail, though the tail fattened out at the peak. Blade-like wings were on the back of the monster, and sharp claws were its hands and feet; it wore spiked bracelets on its forearms. Its head had dark horns, with its face containing shadowy eyes and a dark-smoke-snorting nose. The teeth were nearly flashing white, but were noticeably sharp as well.
It proceeded to roar; not a deep, reverberating roar, but rather a screech, like a knife being drawn across perfectly smooth marble.
"I hope she isn't underestimating him," despaired Marik to himself, watching on from the sidelines.
"Now, this beast allows me to remove a dark attribute monster from play to destroy a card on your field. I'll banish my Armageddon Knight and conveniently target your Hysteric Party, which will also send both your Harpies to the graveyard once it leaves the field!"
The Dark Armed Dragon threw its head back, preparing a ball of black fire. Just as it was about to launch it across the field at Mai's continuous trap, she slid a card from her hand into her spell and trap card zone.
"Not so fast! When I have a Harpie monster in play, I can activate Harpie's Feather Storm from my hand! As long as I have a winged beast monster in play, I can negate all of your monster effects until the end of the turn! So not only is your Dark Armed Dragon neutered, but so is anything else you summon."
As she spoke, both her Harpies glowed red. The Dark Armed Dragon then shone a similar color and the fireball in its maw vanished.
Yami Marik snarled, showing some frustration for the first time in the duel. That meant he couldn't even remove his Destiny Hero – Malicious from play and summon another copy from his deck.
"Fine," he growled. "I'll just have my Dark Armed Dragon rip your Harpie Lady 1 to shreds instead!"
The wyvern let out another screech and bound toward Mai's weaker Harpie, slicing it in half with a single swipe of its knife-like talons. It cried out in a forlorn fashion before exploding and knocking Mai to one knee. Meanwhile, Cyber Harpie Lady's attack points dropped (1800/1300).
(Yami Marik: 5900, Mai: 6600)
"Are you beginning to feel a semblance of the fear I inflicted on you last time?" taunted the cruel voice. "Believe me, little Mai, this isn't even the beginning of what is to come."
Mai's hair covered her eyes, so neither Marik could quite see her immediate reaction. After a second's delay, however, she sniffed and got to her feet, brushing the blonde locks away, her face remaining impassive.
"So, the brave front remains," smirked Yami Marik. "For how much longer, I wonder? We shall see… I will turn the board over to you."
Mai continued to act as if she didn't hear what he was saying, and increased her hand size to three.
"I'll start things off by playing Terraforming, which allows me to add one field spell card from my deck to my hand. I'll choose Harpie's Hunting Ground."
She pulled her deck out, found the requisite card and shifted it over to her hand before shuffling.
"Then of course, I'll play it!"
The finely carpeted flooring beneath them was replaced by a rough, rocky surface right out of the middle of nowhere. Not a single plant was visible.
"This gives all winged-beast type monsters two hundred more attack points, in addition to its other effects," she informed her opponent (Cyber Harpie Lady: 2000/1300).
"How pitiful," scoffed Yami Marik.
Mai ignored the jibe, and then placed another card in her spell and trap zone.
"Next I'll play the continuous spell card Hysteric Sign: this allows me to add Elegant Egotist from my deck to my hand when activated."
She found the card again, this time not even bothering to add it to her hand, simply playing it right away.
"When I have any Harpie Lady monster in play, like the Cyber Harpie Lady I currently do, Elegant Egotist will allow me to special summon Harpie Lady Sisters (1950 + 200 2050/2100) directly from my deck!"
Materializing on her field next to the armored woman were a trio of new Harpies all clad in golden armor. They all had light purple skin and green wings, but each sported a different hair color and style. One had a very short cut with crimson hair, one was longer in length and blue, and the third was shoulder-length and maroon, just like the Harpie Lady 1 that had been destroyed earlier. All three hissed and glared at Yami Marik and his Dragon.
"Very impressive, little Mai," commented her opponent sarcastically. "I'm sure that because there's three of them they'll gang up on my poor Dark Armed Dragon and win that way."
"Don't get too used to them, because they're not going to be around for too long," warned Mai. "When I normal or special summon any Harpie Lady monster, Harpie's Hunting Ground allows me to destroy one spell or trap card on the field. I'll target my own facedown card that I set last turn: Harpie Lady Elegance, which I'll then immediately chain!"
A purple rimmed card depicting the very trio that Mai had just summoned flipped up on her field.
"Firstly, when it's destroyed, this card allows me to add one Harpie Lady monster from my deck to my hand, which I'm obviously happy to do. The more important part, however, is that I can send Harpie Lady Sisters back to my deck, and in turn special summon three Harpie monsters: one each from my hand, deck and graveyard!"
Mai had already assembled the three cards of her choice, as the newly summoned Harpie Lady Sisters already vanished.
"I choose Harpie's Pet Dragon (2000/2500) from my deck, Harpie Lady #1 (1300/1400) from my graveyard, and Harpie Queen (1900/1200) from my hand!"
A veritable army of monsters materialized on her field next to the Cyber Harpie Lady.
First was a fairly monstrous looking pink dragon that barely fit under the ceiling. It had a lengthy neck that seemed to dip and slope downward about a third of the way from its body. Long feathery ears flanked its head, with a blue diamond right above a pair of cruel green eyes. Talons each as long as knives gleamed on all four limbs, the front two of which had a pair of undersized wings attached to it.
Next to it was the familiar maroon haired woman that had been destroyed during the previous turn.
Next to her was a new monster that was fairly dissimilar appearance wise to every other Harpie Lady that had appeared so far. She had feathery white wings and was dressed in a rather skimpy black outfit, with long teal hair coming down all the way to her waist. She swept a wing across her body and then looked over at Marik's field rather coyly.
"I'll go ahead and add another Harpie to my hand now that Harpie Lady Elegance is destroyed, like I said," Mai informed before continuing, "while I'll also use Harpie's Hunting Ground's effect again. Since Harpie Queen's name is treated as Harpie Lady on the field as well, I can destroy two more spell or trap cards on the field. I'll destroy my own Hysteric Sign, and your facedown that you've left there since your first turn!"
The green card on Mai's field exploded, and in response Yami Marik tapped a button on his Duel Disk.
"I'll chain my Jar of Greed, which allows me to draw a single card when activated. Waste not, want not, am I right little Mai?" he taunted as he increased his hand size to five.
"You're going to stop calling me that real soon," replied Mai dangerously. "When Hysteric Sign is sent to the graveyard, I can add three different cards with "Harpie" in their names from my deck to my hand during my end phase. You've got more immediate problems to worry about, though."
She pointed at her field.
"For starters, Harpie's Pet Dragon gains three hundred attack and defense points for every Harpie Lady on my field. I've got three."
The pink dragon roared and glowed as its scores skyrocketed (2900/3400).
"Then, Harpie Lady 1 will increase the attack points of all wind attribute monsters in play by three hundred as well. On top of that, I also still have Harpie's Hunting Ground in play which will add another two hundred to all my winged beast type monsters, which is all of them except for Harpie's Pet Dragon."
A mix of hisses, roars and screeches echoed across her field as all four monsters powered up to varying degrees (3200/3400) (1800/1400) (2400/1200) (2300/1300).
Marik's eyes widened. "She… She could win this and finish him right at this moment! She has more than enough attack points between her monsters to wipe out his life-points, and he has no cards facedown…!"
"This is it," declared Mai with a glare. "You're through…! Harpie's Pet Dragon, destroy his Dark Armed Dragon now with Fearsome Fire Blast!"
At her command, the wyvern let out a howl and opened its maw. Spirals of orange fire began to form on either side, barely wisps at first before forming into a fully-fledged frothing ball of red-hot flames that was expelled out directly at the armored dragon opposite it. The Dark Armed Dragon let out a screech of pain as the flames began to eat away at it, leaving nothing but a pile of cinders within ten seconds.
(Yami Marik: 5500, Mai: 6600)
"Now, the rest of my monsters will attack you directly and END THIS!"
The trio of Harpies on her field all hissed and beat their wings at once, making for their mistress' suddenly grinning opponent.
"You won't be rid of me this fast, little Mai! I activate the effect of Battle Fader (0/0) from my hand: summoning it to my field in defense mode and ending your turn right there!"
Just as the Cyber Harpie Lady was about to win the race against her comrades and reach their collective target first, a small purple form exploded out of nowhere, throwing her back across the field and onto one knee.
The new arrival's body was basically a golden pole with two purple wings extending out on either side. It had no face; it had no features. It was definitely one of the most bizarre monsters that Mai had ever seen.
"That was very impressive though, I must admit. It looks like the little tiger has claaaws after all," cackled Yami Marik.
"That'll work for one turn but next go around you're history," Mai spat, fixing him a fierce look.
"Does my memory fail me or is this a similar situation to our previous duel when you had me dead to rights with your army of Harpie Ladies before things… changed rather rapidly for you?" inquired Yami Marik in a sinister voice.
Mai flinched involuntarily before simply glaring at him again.
"Perhaps we're at a similar point in this duel, perhaps we aren't," he sneered.
"I learn from my mistakes," she finally managed. "I'm betting you don't have the Winged Dragon of Ra this time around, and even if you did, I wouldn't need to use it to try and beat you. My Harpies are more than enough to do the job."
"Oh trust me, my dear, I may not possess a God card now but my deck contains something far more nightmarish instead."
"Do your worst," she snarled in response. "I'll end my turn, and now Hysteric Sign will allow me to add three cards with "Harpie" in its name to my hand from my deck."
"Add all the cards you want, little Mai, in the long run it won't help you," came the snarky response from her opponent as he drew.
"Yes… That's perfect. I'll set one monster facedown in defense mode and place a further two cards facedown."
Three brown-backed cards materialized in front of him, two vertical and one horizontal.
"The tide is almost about to turn, so please go ahead and make your move," Yami Marik almost giggled.
Marik felt a real sense of foreboding at these words.
"He's too confident… Something isn't right. Plus what he said about his deck containing something more nightmarish than the Winged Dragon of Ra… Oh, I have a bad feeling about this."
Mai snapped the top card off her deck.
"All right, this is going to hurt," she hissed. "First, I'll summon Harpie Oracle (1300 + 500 1800/1400) in attack mode."
Filling the final monster card zone on her field was a woman in a purple bodysuit with blue leggings, with all four limbs tipped with the signature Harpie talons. She had dark blue wings and light blue hair, and was precariously balancing some kind of crystal ball between the former. (Harpie's Pet Dragon: 3500/3700)
"Since I summoned a Harpie monster, Harpie's Hunting Ground allows me to destroy one of your facedown cards!"
"I'll chain my Swamp of the Fallen before it's destroyed: this permanently reduces the original attack points of one of your monsters, and I'll choose your dragon of course," retorted Yami Marik snidely, as his card flipped faceup before exploding.
Her dragon let out a mournful, softer roar as it was weakened (2500/3700).
Mai growled. "Fine, you're still losing this turn no matter what. I equip Harpie's Pet Dragon with Fairy Meteor Crush, which is going to allow it to deal piercing damage. Now go, attack his Battle Fader!"
Flaming spirals once again coalesced in her dragon's mouth, which it then spat out in the direction of the winged creature. The fireball caused it to evaporate with little resistance before then continuing on and hitting Yami Marik square in the torso, knocking him down onto one knee.
(Yami Marik: 3000, Mai: 6600)
"Now, I'll attack your facedown monster with my Harpie Queen!"
The scantily clad woman cooed and flapped her wings. The short journey to the other side of the field ended with her slashing downward on the facedown card, which flipped up to reveal a sandy-colored tortoise with a giant pyramid on its shell, and a diamond embedded in its head.
Mai's monster followed through with her slash, ripping the reptile in half before it shattered into pixels.
"That was my Pyramid Turtle (1200/1400)," announced Yami Marik with a sadistic grin, still on one knee. "When destroyed in battle I can summon one zombie monster from my deck with two thousand or less defense points… So I'll just summon another one in defense mode!"
An identical tortoise appeared in its place.
Mai growled angrily. "Fine, you're only delaying the inevitable! Harpie Lady 1, attack!"
Her tied for weakest monster obeyed and mimicked the Queen's actions, cutting the Turtle in half with her claws.
"I'll use my dearly departed Turtle's effect to summon Zombie Werewolf (1200/1200) from my deck in defense mode," drawled Yami Marik.
Appearing on his field now was a bipedal, ragged wolf, with scraggly gray fur and a pair of green trousers. Its claws were each well over five inches long, while its eyes shown a deep yellow.
Mai paused in confusion. She was sure he'd summon another Pyramid Turtle before then finally replacing it with another monster. This way she could still attack directly and get his life-points very close to zero… Something didn't add up.
"Fine, I'll just attack with my Harpie Oracle now!"
Her newest monster raised her crystal ball, still balanced on the tips of her wings, and fired out a blue blast of energy that consumed the undead canine.
"Cyber Harpie Lady, attack his life-points dir-…"
She stopped again, noticing that another werewolf had appeared in the place of the one she just destroyed (1700/1200).
"Did I forget to mention that when you destroy Zombie Werewolf in battle, it summons another copy from my deck with five hundred additional attack points?" chortled her demonic opponent.
Mai let out a vicious snarl and actually stamped one of her feet in anger.
"You… You! You're NOT going to get away with what you DID to me!" she screamed. "You can play these stalling games all you want but I am going to make you SUFFER just the way you did ME!"
Her vision was almost hazy at this point from rage.
Yami Marik simply let out of howl of malicious laughter in response, clearly enjoying the sight of Mai's emotions getting the better of her.
"MAI!" called Marik from the sidelines, interacting with one of the duelists for the first time. "Calm DOWN. You have him. Just stay cool and follow through, don't let him get to you."
Mai snapped around, almost looking like she was going to make the good Marik the next object of her ire, but thought the better of it and simply settled for a glare before focusing her attention back on the duel.
"Fine. Cyber Harpie Lady, attack his Werewolf."
With a single crack of its whip, Mai's strongest Harpie atomized her target, which was then of course replaced by another identical copy (2200/1200).
Mai breathed in and out slowly, clearly still fuming.
"What's the matter, little Mai? Not about to lose your nerve because your Biblical vengeance has been delayed by a turn, have you?" mocked Yami Marik. "I thought you were going to rend me limb from limb! Where's that fire you showed just a second ago?!"
Mai looked like she was going to scream at him again, but stopped herself.
"I… I end my turn."
Yami Marik drew and leered at her.
"We've reached it, you silly girl. We've reached that point in the duel where your world collapses around you and you begin to relive the same horror that no doubt has plagued your many nightmares in the years since."
A shiver went down Mai's spine. Something wasn't right. Unlike his many seemingly empty taunts prior to this, it felt as if this one was real.
"I summon Vampire Bat (800/800) in attack mode!"
A supersonic howl was heard from the darkness, and an undead version of the world's only flying mammal appeared on Yami Marik's field. Its wingspan was far greater than that of a normal bat, almost three feet wide. Its head was long, with rotting crimson flesh visible on a number of places underneath bone-colored skin.
Despite the fact that it was a laughably weak monster that couldn't stand up to anything in her deck, the sense of foreboding Mai felt only increased.
"Then I will activate Monster Reborn, in order to resurrect my Vampire Lord (2000/1500)!"
Materializing in between the Werewolf and the Bat was the green-haired man clad in a black suit that Mai had destroyed early in the duel.
"What is this…" thought Marik with increasing worry.
"Now, little Mai, I am going to call forth the creature that will make you wish you were facing the Winged Dragon of Ra again. For you see, this next monster isn't a God… In fact, he's the very opposite; the Devil himself!"
He flipped a card around for her to see.
"Polymerization, activate!"
For the first time during the duel, Mai looked completely dumbfounded. "Poly…. Polymerization?!"
Each of the three monsters was struck by black lightning. The wall behind Yami Marik began to shake as a cloud of darkness consumed the room. It seemed to have stopped raining, making the sky visible through the windows again, but it was pitch-black, lit up only by the full moon, perched up too high among the clouds to make any real difference. The ground around them began to crack, and Mai felt herself trembling involuntarily.
Something horrific was coming.
Marik had a look of reverence on his face that one could never have expected from him. "Lord of Nightmares…. King of Blood…."
Slivers of darkness were rushing in from all directions, and merging together to form a humanoid form.
"Rise from your slumber… And bring death to my foes…."
The beast had taken shape now, and was keeled over, covered in darkness. Slowly, it straightened up, revealing a hefty beast, over seven feet tall, with pale white skin. It was dressed in a heavy black cloak, and its eyes were a cold crimson. The nose was thin and almost unnoticeable over the cruel mouth, in which rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth were exposed when the creature smiled its cruel smile. Spider like-hands remained lose by its sides, while its pointed ears remained pricked, like those of a dog.
Both Mai and Marik were speechless.
"I summon thee, Dracula, the Immortal Vampire (3000/3000)!"
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Sorry for the delay my friends. I didn't start writing this until about two weeks ago, however, so at the very least I just proved to myself that when I buckle down I can knock out some writing pretty fast.
So this is the second duel I've written in the last 11 years, and it was... not as hard as I thought it would be. I've never written Mai dueling before and I thought it would be a slog because the Harpies seem quite boring, but after I looked into some of the support that has been released over the years, it was actually a lot easier than I expected.
As for Yami Marik, the plan was always to center his deck around Dracula, which is probably one of my top 3 favorite homebrew cards from Nightrise. It makes perfect sense given his role here as Mai's worst nightmare brought to life. For the rest of the deck, I admit I just used cards that made sense, generic Dark support that could bide the time until he assembled the pieces necessary to summon Dracula.
Side note re: Marik and Yami Marik. Given they both play a role in the chapter I had no other way of distinguishing them other than referring to them as such. A bit verbose admittedly but I couldn't think of anything else. Hopefully it didn't take you guys out of the reading process.
clevercookies: Another old reader! Welcome back, glad to have you here. To answer your questions: 1) Yeah, I suppose I did kind of merge the two. I didn't even realize DSoD was manga-only until after I started the story, so I just rolled with what I had because wrapping up Mai's storyline was very important to me and she kind of disappears after Battle City in the manga
2) No Synchros, XYZs or anything after will be in this story. This is a original YuGiOh series story ONLY and I want to pay appropriate tribute to those characters and cards. I'm using new support for old archetypes but nothing in terms of the new mechanics introduced in the last 10 years.
Galaxyquest420: I appreciate the compliments my friend, they mean a lot! Answering your questions would be a bit spoiler-y, but very briefly: 1) yes the Blue-Eyes is obviously going to play a big role since Kaiba is the main character 2) regarding Kisara, can't answer that yet 3) Yes there will likely be some things developed further in terms of romance but as you correctly assume they won't be the main focus. Thank you for the review and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come!
ChroniclerDL: Yes I was definitely always going to include Tea again, an original YuGiOh story without her wouldn't be complete! I hope you enjoyed the start of this next phase of the story!
JamesBirdsong: Thank you my friend, your words are appreciated!
Metal Overlord 2.0: I am glad you felt this way my friend! I'll admit, there were definitely some Advent of Power memories subconsciously affecting how I chose to setup for this part of the story: though if I say so myself the duels will be a LOT better and the contestants will be chosen with much more care and common sense (Joey vs Zane and then Joey and Zane vs Dartz? What was I thinking XD).
Indeed, this Yami Marik/Mai duel was something I had planned ever since I decided to bring Mai back, I feel like going through this duel again would be the only way for her to kill the demons that have haunted her for years and finally move on from her past. There is plenty of action to come, and I wouldn't have it any other way than with you in for the ride as well my friend!
Thanks again all reviewers and lurkers, the wait for the next chapter should be significantly shorter!