Time was moving too quickly for Katsuya's liking as he and Honda sprinted for the aqueduct. Everything depended on him getting his sister's soul back before Ishizu summoned him and every moment that passed brought him closer to that call.
He didn't want to duel against Yugi and not only because he didn't want to end her life. He was in no way ready to die either. If he was forced into the duel, he would have no choice but to accept one of them wasn't walking away and he couldn't bring himself to contemplate that future.
He'd promised Yugi he wasn't going to let Ishizu kill him. And he refused to kill Yugi, or break that promise.
Relief struck hard as he spotted the bald head of Rishid below him, "Hey!"
Katsuya's yell startled the man, who looked up in time to see Katsuya leap from the bridge and land on his rear in front of him, cutting off his path. He turned to leave in the other direction, only to find Honda had done the smart thing and used the stairs to come from behind him, cornering him.
"Jonouchi. Honda." Rishid nodded to them both, shuffling his deck as he tilted his head, "I assume you've come looking for me for a reason?"
"Are you aware how nuts your Oneesan's gotten?" Katsuya snarled out, causing Rishid's frame to tense and his expression to darken, "She's risking everything for some stupid mind game and she's ripped my Imoto's soul out. But you knew that already, didn't you?"
"Ishizu's doing what she needs to, to protect this family." Rishid countered, glaring at Jonouchi, pulling a small falcon toy out of his pocket, "And so am I."
With that he snapped the wings from the toy.
Katsuya took a step back as the Shadows flooded the aqueduct, transforming the world around them into a blindingly bright world, steam rising from the sands shifting around their ankles, blown by the wind which gave no relief from the burning heat.
"The hell you think you're playing at?" Katsuya snarled out, sensing the Shadows in every inch of the world around them, making him nervous, but also confusing him. He'd thought Ishizu's plan needed him. So dragging him into a Shadow Game made no sense.
"My Ukhti wants you to face the Pharaoh." Rishid warned as he drew his opening hand, "And I don't trust you won't fight her every step of the way. The sands will devour your fighting spirit and leave the loser drained of strength. You won't even have the strength to duel."
"If I can't duel, I'm in default of my oath." Katsuya snarled out, trying to pull himself free of the sands and failing,something tightening around his ankle and holding him in place. "I won't be able to…"
His jaw dropped. That was the point. Rishid didn't want him to be forced to fight Yugi. He was trying to force Katsuya to break his oath, so he didn't have to duel her.
And that meant Rishid was TRYING to sacrifice Shizuka's soul to stop his sister's plan.
Fury pulsed through Katsuya and it wasn't just aimed at Rishid. If Katsuya broke his oath, Ishizu would feed his sister's soul to the Shadows. And Rishid didn't care. He was willing to endanger Shizuka over damn stupid shit related to the Millennium Puzzle.
Katsuya's hands balled into fists. His family and his life were in danger because Yugi had gotten in over her head and gotten herself into trouble. AGAIN. And now he had to fight his way out of it, or lose the only part of his birth family who'd never given up on him.
For a moment, just a moment, he wished he'd never gotten involved with Yugi and her magic. Then none of this would be a problem and his sister would be at home, safe with her soul where it belonged.
Then he mentally flinched as he remembered that without all the magic, his sister would be blind now and he would still be under his father's thumb. And without Yugi, he would be back in Hirutani's gang with no path out. His future, one of crime, until he got killed in a turf war or ended up behind bars.
He took a deep breath, shuffled his deck and drew his opening hand, leaning on all the calming techniques he'd tried to learn after his temper cost him the duel against Kaiba on Duelist Kingdom. Getting angry now solved nothing. It would only make him make stupid mistakes, like the one that'd allowed Kaiba to beat him and lost him his chance to win the prize.
There was no second chance this time. There would be no Yugi to win Shizuka's soul back for him. If he failed here, his sister was gone.
And as much as he liked Yugi, as little as he wanted to hurt her, he couldn't bring himself to sacrifice Shizuka for her.
Not that it would matter if he couldn't win this Shadow Game.
"When I win, you'll hand over my Imoto's soul, or tell me where it is." Katsuya demanded. "You got that?"
"And hand over my Map Cards." Rishid agreed far too easily as he set three trap cards face down. "Not that you'll need them if Ukhti has her way."
Katsuya didn't respond. He knew what Ishizu wanted of him far too well and what the cost would be. Instead he summoned his Alligator Sword. The green scaled, black and red armoured alligator, which took the field with a furious snap of its jaws and a lashing tail, appeared distinctly unamused by the heat radiating from the sands.
"My Alligator Sword will get this duel done." He snapped at his opponent, who looked distinctly unconcerned. "Attack him directly!"
The Beast leapt forward, swinging its sword, planning to take 1500 life points away from the one threatening its summoner, only for Rishid's face down cards to flip, revealing three traps.
"I activate Embodiment of Apophis."
The Beast pulled back as three serpentine warriors appeared on the field, hissing at the alligator knight. The purple skinned and scaled monstrosities were clad in golden armour and carrying a shield and sword. Their attack points flashed at 1600, meaning they were more than a match for Katsuya's alligator, who paced his summoner's side of the field, annoyed.
"You won't be reaching my life points that easily, traitor."
"I'm not…" Katsuya barely held back a flinch. He wanted to deny the traitor comment but found he couldn't. He'd made his choice, and he had to live, or die, with it. "Fine, I won't attack, but I'll play this instead."
He slipped a card face down. "That ends my turn but I'm not afraid of you, or your sneaky snakes!"
"You should be. I activate the Temple of the Kings."
From the desert sands rose a great sandstone structure that radiated an aura of power and divinity that set Katsuya trembling despite himself.
"And I sacrifice one of my warriors to summon the guardian of the temple, the Mystical Beast of Serket!"
As the token monster summoned from one of the traps shattered, a horrific clicking noise echoed through the temple. The source revealed itself slowly as a giant scorpion like creature whose pink-purple body was covered in spikes and whose claws were easily big enough to split a man in half.
"Serket! Attack his alligator!"
At Rishid's command the beast skittered down the stairs towards Katsuya's creature, its 2500 attack points more than enough to dissect his Beast. Not that Katsuya planned to let it get a chance.
"I activate my Magical-Arm Shield!"
The weapon in question appeared on the targeted creature's arm, blocking it from attack. Hands erupted from the pink and white shield and grasped one of the serpentine warriors, dragging it between Alligator Sword and Serket.
The scorpion's claws ripped the snake warrior in half, costing Katsuya 700 life points, but protecting his Beast, so when the other serpentine Embodiment of Apophis launched itself forward, seeking revenge without being ordered, it was Katsuya's Alligator Sword that took the brunt of the assault, not the Duelist himself.
Katsuya's head suddenly swam and for a moment his vision blurred as his life points drained away, the double attack costing him 800 life points in total and bringing him to 3200.
"Nice move, traitor, but it won't save you, or those you care about." Rishid warned, trying to aggravate his opponent and put him off his game, "My Serket gains 500 attack points for each monster it destroys. You have nothing in your deck that can match that, so give up now."
Rishid was semi-right, not that Katsuya was ready to admit it. Instead he shook his head, clearing his sight and mind. Moving, however, took more effort than he'd previously needed and his arms were heavy as he drew.
"I set one card face down." Katsuya decided to take a risk, relying on his luck and Rishid's lack of knowledge about his traps, "And summon the Blue Flame Swordsman in attack mode!"
Rishid tilted his head as he tried to process the move his opponent made. The Blue Flame Swordsman had 1800 attack points. Nowhere near enough to be a threat to his Serket.
"And it attacks your Embodiment of Apophis!"
Wreathed in blue fire, the Warrior's sword had no trouble dicing the serpentine warrior into pieces, costing Rishid 100 life points.
"Your move, asshole."
Outwardly Rishid showed no signs of his strength being drained, except for a quiet huff as he drew. It was a trap, that was the only thing Rishid could think of. There was no way Jonouchi would've risked leaving his monster in attack mode otherwise. He was foolish, but he wasn't an idiot. He wouldn't have gotten so close to defeating Kaiba during Duelist Kingdom otherwise.
But if he held back, if he played too defensively, he couldn't protect his siblings.
"I set a card face down." Rishid decided finally, "And I'll trigger your trap. Serket, attack his Swordsman!"
"I activate Fairy Box!"
Suddenly the Blue Flame Swordsman was concealed by a huge white box with red diamonds upon it, it's face popping up every so often from holes in the top, in the style of a 'Whack-a-Mole' machine. A golden coin appeared in the sands next to Rishid.
"Now you have to flip a coin before you attack. Call right and your attack goes through, but if you call wrong, you're gunna regret it."
"I'm not scared of your deck, traitor." Rishid scooped up the coin and examined it, noting one side had the wadjet eye of the Millennium Items, while the other had a sword overlaid with a dragonic claw.
"Eye."
With that, he flipped the coin. It tumbled in the air over and over, until it hit the ever shifting sands with a soft thud.
On the claw emblem.
"Ha!" Katsuya crowed as Serket's attack points slipped away and the Blue Flame Swordsman erupted from one of the holes, lunging for the scorpion.
"I don't think so." Rishid's cold, calm tone was made a lie by the irritated expression on his face as he activated the face down card he'd laid. "The Curse of Anubis turns all effect monsters to defence mode, preventing your Warrior from destroying the temple's guardian."
"What?!" Confusion struck Katsuya as his Blue Flame Swordsman sunk back into the box and Serket slumped to the floor at the bottom of the temple's steps. "Hey, you can't activate a trap the turn you play it!"
"Don't you dare accuse me of cheating." Rishid warned, his expression twisting. "The temple allows me to activate traps the turn they're laid. I am not a cheater. Make your move and watch your tongue. Lest my scorpion cut it out."
As Rishid's turn ended Katsuya drew, shuddering as 500 life points drained for the cost of Fairy Box, along with the strength attached to those life points. He grimaced. His hand wasn't good. His deck appeared to be as nervous as he was and kept throwing monsters but nothing solid at him.
He did have an answer for Serket within it though. His Time Wizard. However, Katsuya was loath to risk the monster's effect. If the coin toss failed, he would lose his monsters and a huge chunk of life points. If that happened his field would be wide open and Rishid would win.
"I set a card in defence mode and end my turn." Katsuya laid the Wizard on the field, in case he needed it later. The defence monster slid under the Fairy Box.
Katsuya sighed in relief. As far as he was concerned, the life point cost was worth the protection of his monsters.
"As do I." Rishid copied him, placing his own defence monster down. "The more turns you give me to build my forces, the quicker you'll fall."
Rishid was right. Each extra monster on the field was another tribute he could use to summon something bigger and scarier than Serket. Katsuya had no idea what else was in that deck but he couldn't allow Rishid to get anything else stupidly powerful on the field.
Paying another 500 life points was hard and his breath caught in his throat as his legs trembled. He didn't allow it to change his mind though. If he let the game end in Rishid's favour, Shizuka would be gone and that couldn't be allowed to happen.
"I summon Hayabusa Knight. In attack mode." Katsuya's bird knight vanished under the steadily expanding box, which now occupied three monster slots on the field. "And I switch Blue Flame Swordsman to attack mode too."
"What are you up to?" Rishid demanded.
"My Blue Flame Swordsman attacks your face down card." The Warrior lunged out of the box and slashed at the card which flipped face up, revealing a brown clay jar with a strange spirit within. The dark shadowy creature swept around, consuming the cards in both Rishid's and Katsuya's hands, before getting stabbed by the Blue Flame Swordsman.
"We both need to draw a new hand." Rishid was unconcerned by the loss of cards.
Katsuya was too, though he hoped he would get them back after the duel ended. He'd needed a chance to change his hand and this gave him the opportunity he'd been looking for.
Relief struck as he beheld the cards he'd drawn. He just needed to survive Rishid's next turn and he could turn this around. Possibly even win.
"Your move."
"It'll be your last, traitor." Rishid snapped out, "I play Monster Reborn to bring back your own Alligator Sword."
The 1500 attack point Beast appeared on the field, hefting its sword. It startled when it arrived opposite Katsuya, then glanced at the scorpion next to it and decided it preferred living to trying to counter Seket.
"Alligator Sword, attack his Hayabusa Knight!"
The coin appeared once more. As it flipped, Rishid called. "Claw."
And claw it was.
Katsuya yelped as his knight poked its head from the box, only for it to get separated from its shoulders. Before his life points stopped dropping, the coin was in the air again, once again landing on claw. Serket ripped the Blue Flame Swordsman from the box and cut him in twain before devouring him.
Katsuya dropped to his knees as 1200 life points trickled away. His legs refused to support his weight and the trembling worsened as his world faded in and out. He threw out a hand to stop himself hitting the sand which was enticingly warm and soft.
"You don't have the strength to defeat the Queen. I'm saving your life." Rishid stated coldly as Katsuya's life points settled on 1000 and Seket's attack rose back to 3000, "You should be grateful."
"Grateful? Grateful?!" Fury pulsed through Katsuya and gave him strength to force himself, trembling, to his feet, eyes blazing as he glared at Rishid. "You want me to be grateful? You're trying to sacrifice my Imoto! How would you feel if it was Marik or Ishizu?!"
"Why do you think I'm doing this?" Rishid snapped back, "Ishizu might have been blinded to the bigger picture but I have not. If the Pharaoh won't kill you, she dies, then everyone dies. Including them. I won't allow Ishizu to start a lesson that could destroy her and Marik. Yes, I feel bad for ripping your Ukhti from you, but I won't lose mine. I've already come too close already. I will win this and tear you down."
"No. You won't."
With nothing left to lose on his side of the field and his life points trickling to just 500, he flipped his face down defence monster, "Time Wizard! Time Roulette!"
The Spellcaster's staff, which had a roulette wheel upon it, started spinning. Katsuya held his breath as it spun. His fury still bubbled away under the surface. This was all Yugi's fault. Shizuka wouldn't be in danger if it hadn't been for Yugi. If she'd dealt with Ishizu sooner, rather than trying to talk her down, this wouldn't be happening. And if she'd told him she was poisoned, he would've never gotten into this situation.
He couldn't lose here. He couldn't. Shizuka deserved better than all of this. And he was going to get her back. No matter what it cost.
The spinner slowed as his hands balled into fists, the drain of the game trying to pull him back down. He could not let it. He would not let it.
And he was rewarded with a green segment on the roulette.
"You're done." Katsuya snarled out as a dark hole appeared over Rishid's side of the field and slowly swirled down and around until it consumed everything. Seket and Alligator Sword were devoured and fossilised before crumbling into dust, costing Rishid 2250 life points.
Rishid was dragged down by the weight of exhaustion, gasping for breath as his own life points dropped to 850.
"And I activate Polymerization." Katsuya continued, refusing to let him rise to his feet and turn this duel around again. "Merging my Time Wizard with an effect monster from my hand to make…"
Time Wizard vanished into a swirling maelstrom of white and green, only to emerge larger, with huge purple crystals emerging from its back. Its face was a swirl of purple and blue and its staff shifted to a green hue.
"The Time Wizard of Tomorrow, who attacks you now."
Honda had never heard Katsuya speak so coldly and, as the 2000 attack point Spellcaster launched a blast of energy at Rishid, it blew away the last of his life points and ended the duel. Rishid hit the desert sands, drained of strength.
The moment the Shadow Game released its grip on Katsuya he bolted across the sands and seized Rishid by his collar, shaking him violently, "Where's my Imoto? Hand her over!"
Rishid's slow smile earned him a punch to the face that would've sent him sprawling, had Katsuya not had such a firm grip.
"Where. Is. She?"
"I… don't have… her." Rishid gasped out, finding breathing difficult with such little power left to him, "I held… her soul… for just… a few minutes…"
"Then what happened?" He raised his fist again.
"I put her in the care of someone who I knew would keep her safe. No matter what."
Confusion enflamed the fury pulsing through Katsuya. He didn't understand what Rishid was getting at. He moved to punch Rishid again, hoping to get a straight answer.
And was stopped by Honda's hand wrapping around his wrist and gripping tightly enough to cause pain. It snapped him out of his blind fury and he turned to glower at his friend, confused as to why he'd been stopped.
"Marik." Honda's one word seeped slowly into Katsuya's mind, making his jaw drop and his fist loosen.
"He lied to us."
Honda grimaced. Technically he hadn't. He'd said Ishizu gave Rishid something to protect, which she had. And that Rishid would know where the soul was, which he had. However, he could tell Katsuya was in no mood to hear it and instead said, "Grab his Map Cards and let's go. We might still find him in time to stop shit hitting the fan."
Katsuya nodded and rummaged through Rishid's pockets and found two more Map Cards, enough to take him to the semi-finals. Not that he truly cared at the moment. Instead he turned to bolt back the way he'd come, only for Rishid to grab his ankle.
"Let go." Katsuya's snarl was backed by a dragonic roar as the faint outline of Red Eyes overlaid itself on him.
"Please… don't hurt him…"
"He gives me her soul and I…" Katsuya's head suddenly rang like a gong and he had the weirdest sensation of his mind being yanked backward. He would've staggered back physically if not for Rishid's hand. Instead he staggered mentally and found himself in a darkened room that looked like the bedroom he had at the Mutous. Except bigger and messier. On the floor lay video game controllers and game cases. A punching bag swung from a hook on the wall and the bed was more like the one he'd left behind when he'd left his father's house, then the one he had now.
"What the…" Katsuya stared around but didn't have time to examine everything before he was being shaken and he was back by the aquaduct, Honda's hands on his shoulders, confusion clear on his face.
"You alright?" Honda asked, recognising he was awake again, concerned when Katsuya zoned out.
"I don't…"
He trailed off as Ishizu's voice echoed in his mind, the weight of the Shadows shackling him growing almost too heavy to bear as she spoke.
"It's time, Jonouchi Katsuya." His heart skipped a beat and ice ran through his veins at the words, "You will come to me, at the red boat on dock seven and you will accept my instructions. Or I will send your sister to meet the rest of the souls in the Shadows."
He froze, his hands balling into fists as her voice faded away and the Shadows lightened again. This was it then. Marik and Rishid's distractions cost him the valuable time he needed to find his sister's soul. Now his chance to get out of this was gone and he had no choice left.
He would have to duel Yugi.
Unless…
He didn't dare to hope Ba-Khu-Ra would keep her word and find Shizuka's soul for him, but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to refuse that hope.
It was all he had left.
