Chapter 23
"Unite!"
As the duel continued, Lumis and Umbra worried as to what was to happen now that Kaiba had his Blue-Eyes on the field. "With my Blue-Eyes having arrived, you're all but done. Thanks to Monster Reborn, the very creature of destruction that won me the title of Duel Monsters world champion is back from the grave!" Kaiba declared. "And that's just the beginning. Whether you can believe it or not, Kaiba and I make a powerful team so you two Rare Hunters are no match for the combined strength of our decks! And when we prevail, you'll show us where you have Mokuba and the others held!" Yami added.
"Although I don't always see my rivals as potential partners, he's right about the outcome. Right?" Kaiba asked. "You're correct. We may not see eye to eye, we may be rivals, but its obvious that we need to protect our lives." Yami responded. "Of course. I wouldn't want anyone else to defeat you in a duel and take your Egyptian God Card before I have the pleasure. But in this duel, if its convenient for me, I might help you. But don't mistake that for teamwork, or you'll be very disappointed. After all, I'm in this for Mokuba and for his sake, I'll defeat these Rare Hunters and save him, with or without you." Kaiba pointed out.
"No one disrespects my family and gets away with it." he added. "You forget, this isn't only about you. Other lives are in danger, not just your brother's. Need I remind you that Fluttershy, one of your tournament enforcers, is among those lives that are under threat?" Yami stated. "At least that's one person we have in common, though the relationship is very different." Kaiba concurred.
"It's obvious that we both need each other, despite whatever grudge you hold against me. Because if you fall, you die. If I fall, I die. And either way, Marik wins. And right now, Lumis and Umbra still have the upper hand." Yami stated. "Your partner is right. You may have summoned your Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Kaiba, but it's useless against the ultimate power of The Masked Beast! This mighty behemoth has 200 more attack points than your dragon. As soon as it attacks, your Blue-Eyes will be history!" Lumis declared.
"That's where he's wrong, Kaiba. I know it can be destroyed." Yami said. "It can?" Kaiba asked. "If you're going to win, you're going to have to trust me on this. Because when I played Card Destruction, I sent my whole hand to the graveyard. I'm sure you must've seen what I had." Yami answered. "Like it or not, we're a team. And if you attack with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, I promise I'll back you up." he added.
'He's right, he did play Card Destruction earlier and sent his hand to the graveyard, but is this a trick of some sort? Why would Yugi tell me to attack a monster that's stronger than mine? Unless... Of course! So THAT'S why he played it.' Kaiba thought. "Go ahead, Kaiba. Feel free to attack." Yami said. "I most certainly will. I feel it's not in your interest to give me bad advice because you'd lose this duel as well. Now, my Blue-Eyes, attack the Masked Beast!" Kaiba responded, shocking Lumis. "White Lightning!" he declared as the creature prepared to attack. 'This better work.' he thought.
In no time, the Masked Beast was destroyed. "Your Masked Beast is gone!" he declared. "That's not possible!" Umbra shouted. "His Masked Beast was supposed to be more powerful than your Blue-Eyes White Dragon! You must've cheated!" Lumis stated. "He's right. It's a trick!" Umbra concurred. "Guess again! Your creatures was beaten by Kaiba's Blue-Eyes fair and square. Allow me to explain, Rare Hunters. When I sent my hand to the graveyard last turn, the Archfiend of Gilfer was in it. And when it went to the graveyard, I activated its special ability. It can reduce the attack points of any monster on the field of my choice by 500. And I chose, your Masked Beast! That lowered its attack points to 2700, making it weaker than Kaiba's Blue-Eyes." Yami explained as Umbra's life points lowered to 3700.
"And now, in case you haven't noticed, you have no monsters on the field to defend your life points. So when Kaiba attacks you again, you're finished. And Kaiba, that proves you need to rely on both our decks." he continued. 'At least he's not taking all the credit for destroying their creature. It was my Blue-Eyes that did all the work, he only set the stage for it.' Kaiba thought. "That ends my turn, but this duel has just begun. And the next time I attack, you two will be begging for mercy. So go ahead and make your pathetic move, Lumis. There's no hope for you or your partner now." he said aloud.
"We'll see about that." Lumis said upon drawing. "I'll set this monster in defense mode, then I'll set two card face down and that will end my turn." he continued. "What is his plan?" Yami wondered. 'Once my two facedown cards activate, Kaiba's Blue-Eyes will be destroyed.' Lumis thought before chuckling. "Well, Yugi, thanks to my two mask cards that are still on the field, Mask of the Accursed and Mask of Dispel, you lose 1000 more life points, Yugi. So go ahead and draw, nothing can save you now!" he declared aloud before laughing while Yami's life points lowered to 1500 as he drew.
'I'll take a chance and attack the monster he set. I may destroy it, or I may force Lumis to use one of his facedowns.' Yugi thought. "Alright, Lumis, I'll set one card face down and then I'll summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior!" Yami said as he made his move and his second magnet warrior appeared. "Alpha, attack now!" he commanded before Alpha charged in. 'I can't waste my trap card on this monster, I must save it for Kaiba's Blue-Eyes.' Lumis thought as Alpha slashed his set monster, a level four, Dark attribute Fiend with 1500 attack points and 1200 defense points, known as Melchid the Four-Face Beast, was destroyed.
'He's destroyed my Four-Face Beast. We've got to regain control of this duel and win their Egyptian God Cards for master Marik.' he thought. "I don't think we have many monsters left, Lumis. So if Kaiba attacks with his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, we're done." Umbra said into the mic in his mask. "Not to worry, Umbra. I've got it all figured out. We can wipe out Kaiba's dragon right now. My plan is guaranteed to succeed." Lumis responded, confidently.
"Very well." Umbra replied. "Prepare to say goodbye to your precious Blue-Eyes and hello to the afterlife!" Lumis declared. Meanwhile, inside warehouse four at the pier, Fluttershy, Tea and Mokuba were still in their temporary accommodations. "There's no way we can let these Rare Hunters get away with this, ladies. As soon as my brother finds us, those jerks are gonna pay!" Mokuba said, confidently. "I just wish there was a way to get in touch with Seto and let him know where we are. But they took my laptop." he continued.
"And they took my radio and ring, so I can't call for help." Fluttershy pointed out. "Guess we're gonna have to wait it out." Mokuba suggested. "But sooner or later, he'll track us down." he added while Tea looked up at a skylight. "Maybe there's a way for you to get to him." she suggested. Meanwhile, Joey was tied up to a chair in another room. "I trust you've made yourself at home in there." said a voice before Odion entered the room. "Rise and shine." he said upon closing the door.
"What's the deal with all of this you cloaked clown?" Joey asked. "You'll learn what we have planned for you soon enough. For now, you're to keep quiet and do as instructed." Odion responded. "Or what? You Rare Hunters think you're so tough, don't you? Especially when you run around stealing other people's cards. Why don't you untie me from this chair and we can settle this fair and square?" Joey dared, only for Odion to reach for his head. "Hey, keep your paws off of me. If you touch me, you'll be sorry!" he said, unaware that Marik was behind him with the Millennium Rod in hand.
'With Joey Wheeler as my mind slave, little Yugi's Egyptian God Card is as good as mine!' the madman thought as he used the power of his Millennium Rod to take control of Joey's mind. Meanwhile, Tea, Fluttershy and Mokuba were making a way out for Mokuba. "Okay, Mokuba, this is the last one." Fluttershy said as she handed the box to Tea before she handed it to Mokuba. "Thanks, girls. I think I can reach now." Mokuba said before they heard the Rare Hunters coming.
"Better leave now, someone's coming." Tea advised. "Then now's our chance. Come on, girls." Mokuba urged. "We'll stay, you go find your brother and Yugi." Tea instructed right as the Rare Hunters entered the room. But as the punks started climbing up the stack of boxes to get them, the boxes finally gave way and the two girls tumble down and onto their captors while Mokuba hangs on to the skylight.
"Tea! Fluttershy! Are you two okay down there?!" Mokuba called. "Don't worry about us! Just go get some help!" Fluttershy called back. "Okay, I'll be back soon!" Mokuba responded before making his escape while the Rare Hunters grabbed Tea and Fluttershy. "One of you go and get the kid!" one of them instructed. "It's all up to Mokuba now." Tea said as the Rare Hunter tasked with recapturing the boy rand out of the room.
Outside, as the Rare Hunters decided to split up and search the entire pier, Mokuba made a break for it. Back at the high rise, the duel continued. "Okay, Umbra. Let's teach these fools a lesson, shall we?" Lumis proposed before his partner drew. "Alright! I'm gonna summon Rogue Doll!" Umbra responded before his monster, a level four, Light attribute Spellcaster with 1600 attack points and 1000 defense points, appeared before him.
"Don't you think you're just a little too old to be playing with dolls, Rare Hunter? Especially ones that have such low attack points." Kaiba said, mockingly. 'That's weird. Why would Umbra play such a weak monster? They must be up to something.' Yugi thought as Lumis chuckled. 'Say goodbye to your Blue-Eyes, Kaiba.' he thought. "Alright, Rogue Doll, attack his Blue-Eyes White Dragon now!" Umbra commanded, thought Kaiba thought he was crazy.
'This should be amusing.' the KaibaCorp president thought, until Lumis started to chuckle. "It's time to activate one of my facedowns! Mask of Weakness!" he shouted with a laugh. "What is that?" Kaiba asked, alarmed, before the mask attached itself to the torso of his dragon. "What's your mask doing to my Blue-Eyes?!" he asked. "You must not know. As the name suggests, Kaiba, my Mask of Weakness is weakening your Blue-Eyes by 700 points!" Lumis explained as the dragon's attack power lowered to 2300.
"And then, I'll activate another Mask of Brutality, to give Rogue Doll an extra 1000 attack points, making it stronger than your Blue-Eyes! It's all over, Kaiba!" he continued as the mask appeared on Rogue Doll, increasing its attack power to 2600 while its defense points hit 0. "Thanks to Lumis's trap and magic cards, your dragon pales in comparison to my monster! Now your dragon, is finished!" Umbra declared. "Not so fast, Umbra! This duel is two on two, so, I activate this trap card, Mystical Refpanel!" Yami retorted as his trap activated.
"Looks like you're forgetting the rules of a tag duel and now that trap card just swapped one of the masks Lumis revealed around!" he continued as the Mask of Brutality vanished from the face of Rogue Doll, returning its attack points back to normal. "Hey! What happened to my monster's mask?" Umbra asked. "The Mystical Refpanel takes the power of the Mask of Brutality and transfers it to Kaiba's dragon, which raises its attack points by 1000 points and makes it stronger than your Rogue Doll!" Yami answered as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's power went to 3300 while its defense points lowered to 1500.
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack!" Kaiba commanded as his dragon counterattacked. 'Yugi helped me, again!' he thought, not quite so happily. 'My Blue-Eyes would've been destroyed if it wasn't for him. There's nothing I hate more than depending on someone else for my victory, but it looks like I may need to use Yugi to defeat these two and save my little brother. But in the end, my superior deck and dueling skills will be the reason we prevail!' he continued as the Rogue Doll was destroyed, dropping Umbra's life points to 2000.
"Lumis, look what you just did!" Umbra shouted. "What do you mean what I did?" Lumis asked. "Because of you, I'm down to 2000 life points, that's what I mean!" Umbra answered, upset. "And you're blaming me for that? As I recall, Rogue Doll was your monster!" Lumis retorted, angrily. 'Looks like Lumis and Umbra are losing their team morale. In the end, that'll cause them to lose the whole duel. That's what I keep trying to tell Kaiba, when you're fighting in a tag duel, teamwork is the most important factor.' Yugi thought.
"This battle is far from over! Your Blue-Eyes may have defeated my monster, but I have a card in my hand that will annihilate it for good!" Umbra shouted at Kaiba. 'If Lumis fumbles my plan, Kaiba's dragon will destroy me. So from here on out, I won't depend on anyone but myself.' he thought. "I set one card face down and end my turn." he said at last while Kaiba's dragon's attack points return to normal.
Meanwhile, at Yonezato train station, Tristan and Serenity were about to board the bullet train. "Last boarding call for the train to downtown Domino City!" announced the station master. "My bad, Serenity. I thought the shinkansen was leaving later." Tristan said as he helped Serenity onboard. "All aboard!" called the conductor before the train departed from the station. "Talk about a close call." Tristan said. "Well, at least we made it." Serenity responded. "So, how are you feeling?" he asked. "I'm okay." she responded. "Excellent, we should be at Domino City in no time." he said.
"Tristan?" she asked. "What is it? Is everything okay?" he asked back. "Yeah, I'm just still a little nervous about taking off my bandages." she answered. "I know, but you'll be fine." he said, reassuringly. "You are now riding the Domino Express, please have your tickets ready for collection." said the conductor over the PA. "It won't be too long before your with your brother, Serenity." Tristan said as he helped her to her seat. Back in Domino, the duel continued.
"It's time to finish this duel, now let's do it!" Kaiba declared before drawing. "Now, prepare to lose this duel, Umbra! Blue-Eyes, attack him directly!" he bellowed before his dragon launched its attack. "Say goodbye to the rest of your life points, Umbra." he said. 'Kaiba's making a hasty move and its also selfish. He's so caught up in winning this duel on his own, he probably didn't even think about Umbra's facedown! He could be walking right into a trap!' Yugi thought. But Umbra smiled.
"I thought you'd try that! So I activate this, the Mask of Impregnability!" he declared as his card activating. "It protects me from direct attacks for this one turn." he explained. "Nice try, Kaiba. Looks like your Blue-Eyes barrage just failed you!" he added before laughing as the attack was nullified. "That was quite a predictable move, Kaiba. And one that I was more than prepared to deflect and emerge from untouched!" he stated.
"But what about your partner, Lumis?" Kaiba asked. "Me?" Lumis asked, puzzled. "Yes, Lumis. Don't you wonder what would've happened if my Blue-Eyes White Dragon attacked you instead of Umbra? Would he have protected you with his magic card? Or would he have let you lose?" Kaiba pondered. "That's the danger of depending on someone else to help you when the reality is, there's only one person you know you can trust, yourself. And if anyone tells you otherwise, they're either mistaken or lying." he continued. This caused Lumis to think about what Kaiba had said.
"What?! Don't listen to him! Of course I would've used my magic card to help you, even though I'm certain you wouldn't do the same for me, Lumis!" Umbra shouted. 'NOW I get what Kaiba's trying to do; he was beginning to notice that Lumis and Umbra were beginning to doubt one another's loyalty, so he's taking advantage of that and trying to destroy their team trust!' Yugi thought, realizing Kaiba's plan.
'Maybe Kaiba's right. Umbra blamed me for his Rogue Doll being destroyed so he could be in this for himself! He probably wants to take all the credit for taking their Egyptian God Cards! I bet master Marik has had more faith in him than me. Well, I'll destroy these two without his help!' Lumis thought. "THIS DUEL IS OVER!" he shouted.
Meanwhile, Tristan and Serenity were still riding the shinkansen. "Okay, Serenity, we're riding next to the ocean so we're almost there." he said. "I really appreciate everything you've done for me, Tristan. I don't know what I could've done without your help. When you were updating me on Joey's duels, you gave me the courage that I needed." she said, grateful. "Don't mention it, Serenity. I had a great time hanging out with you at the hospital." he responded. "Me, too. And thanks for going through all the trouble to take me to Domino City." she replied. "There's nothing else I'd rather be doing right now, Serenity." he said. "Wow. I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have a friend like you, Tristan." she said with a blush, though Tristan was devastated on the inside that she friend-zoned him.
Meanwhile, at warehouse four at Domino Pier, Fluttershy and Serenity saw a familiar face. "Joey! It's you!" Tea said in relief. "You got to help us out of these chairs we're trapped into so that we can escape!" she added. But Joey didn't respond. "Joey? Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked. "Joey, cut it out, the joke's over." Tea said, thinking that Joey was joking with them. But when Joey lifted his head, both girls saw that his pupils were missing. "I am not Joey Wheeler, you fools." he said, clearly under Marik's power. "What's going on?" Tea asked before Odion showed up.
"What did you do to him?!" Fluttershy asked, still shocked at what she saw. Back at the high rise, the duel continued. "Now I'll draw." Lumis said before he did so. "Excellent. I use the Pot of Greed magic card to pull two new cards from my deck." he said as he activated the card and drew twice more. 'My hand doesn't look very promising and with no monsters on the field, the pending threat of a Blue-Eyes attack, I'm in no position to have weak cards.' he thought before deciding on his move. "I set one card face down and then I'll activate Card Exchange! This card allows me to exchange my entire hand with that of any other Duelist currently on the board. And I choose to swap with you, Umbra." he stated.
This left Umbra a bit puzzled. "If you're not planning on using your cards to help me, then I'll simply take them to help myself." Lumis stated. "How dare you!" Umbra responded as Lumis approached. "Alrght, Umbra, follow the card's description and give me your entire hand." Lumis stated before Umbra did so. "And now I activate my facedown, Chosen One! And if it works in my favor, you're both finished! Allow me to explain; first I set three cards on the field, one monster and two non-monster cards. The chooser goes right in the center of these three." he continued before the three cards and the chooser, which looked like a top appeared.
"The chooser will select one card at random, if it chooses one of the two non-monster cards, all three cards go to the graveyard." he explained. "Those are my cards your risking." Umbra pointed out. "Thanks to Card Exchange, they're not yours anymore." Lumis stated. "If this doesn't work, you'll be sorry, Lumis." Umbra said. "Now, the chooser will make its selection!" Lumis declared before the top started to spin. "I almost forgot to mention, if the chooser lands on my monster card, I'll be able to summon it to the field without having to heed its summoning conditions! And if I do, you'll both be finished!" he continued before laughing.
'If this works, I'll be unstoppable! I'll destroy Kaiba and Yugi on my own and master Marik will reward me alone!' he thought before the top began to slow down and eventually stop. "That's it! It's chosen my ultimate monster! Your end is now near!" he declared before laughing. "I summon the Masked Beast Des Gardius!" he added before his new monster, a level eight, Dark attribute fiend/effect monster with 3300 attack points and 2500 defense points, appeared.
"This mighty creature is unstoppable!" he concluded. "It's more powerful than my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba said in surprise. "Very observant, Kaiba. Des Gardius could demolish your pathetic Blue-Eyes White Dragon with one swipe of its almighty claw!" Lumis responded before laughing. "Seems that you're lucky about the outcome of your move." Umbra said. "Yes and now that Des Gardius has arrived, there's no stopping it! My masked creature is so powerful, these two pitiful Duelists won't stand a chance against it! And when it's through with you, Blue-Eyes will be in the graveyard and both of your Egyptian God Cards will belong to master Marik!" Lumis responded.
'Oh, no! We've got to defeat Des Gardius, otherwise I may never see my friends and Fluttershy again and Kaiba will never see Mokuba again. But how do we take down something that powerful?' Yugi thought. "And now, the question is which one of you fools should I attack first? Decisions, decisions. I could attack you, Yugi. With your useless Beta being unable to do anything, Alpha could be my ticket to wiping out your life points. Then again, there's Kaiba. I could attack your Blue-Eyes and rid the field of that menace for good." Lumis pondered.
"It doesn't really matter who you attack, it's only a matter of time before both of their life points reach 0 and they're sent plummeting down to a nasty end!" Umbra pointed out. "Exactly! So forget about rescuing your friends and loved ones, they belong to Marik now!" Lumis declared.