Chapter 41
Final Face-Off: Part 1
Yugi vs Marik
'I know this card, Fiend's Sanctuary. But why did Kaiba have Mokuba give it to me? He claims his brother said it was something I'll need. But can I trust that his brother is right?' Yugi thought, perplexed as to what was going on. "Mokuba, what's the meaning of your brother wanting me to use this card?" Yami asked. "I think my brother wants you to figure it out, he clearly doesn't want to be up here himself." Mokuba replied.
Down on the ground, Kaiba was still looking up at his Duel Tower. 'That magic card is Yugi's only chance of defeating Marik's Egyptian God Monster, The Winged Dragon of Ra. But even if Yugi does figure out how to use it, his chances of winning are pretty slim. The Winged Dragon of Ra is a card unlike any other, and although Yugi holds two Egyptian God Cards himself, they pale in comparison to Marik's.' he thought.
"Seto thinks that the card he told me to give you is the only way to win this duel." Mokuba said. "What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow asked. "Mokuba's brother mustn't know that we have a common enemy." Fluttershy suggested. "If he doesn't, why did he have Mokuba give Yugi that card?" Duke asked. "Search me, but Yugi's got a choice to make; keep it, or give it back to Mokuba." AJ replied.
Yami then shuffled the Fiend's Sanctuary card into his deck. "Guess he is gonna use is." Joey said before Yami inserted his deck into his Duel Disk. "Mokuba, tell your brother I said thank you, and though we may not always agree, I still trust him." Yami said. Mokuba nodded and headed to the stairs while Yami Marik chuckled.
"Attention! The last duel of the Battle City Tournament is about to begin! Marik Ishtar will face reigning and defending Duel Monsters world champion Yugi Muto for the Battle City crown! Duelists, prepare your cards at this time!" Roland announced. "Pharaoh, I've been waiting for this moment for my entire life. Soon, your infinite power will be mine!" Yami Marik gloated.
"Marik, not only will I defeat you, I'll free you from the darkness that controls you!" Yami Yugi replied. "Now that I'd like to see, so come and get me!" Yami Marik responded with a chuckle. "Be careful, Yugi. He's as crazy as he is strong." Fluttershy said. "Take him down, King of Games!" Pinkie shouted. "Guys, I know that Yugi has two Egyptian God Cards and Marik only has one, but I have a feeling Yugi's will be harder to summon onto the field." Joey said.
"Why do you say that, Joseph?" Rarity asked. "Because in order to summon Obelisk and Slifer, Yugi will need a grand total of six monsters to bring out both of them. But Marik has a way of summoning The Winged Dragon of Ra with just one card, remember?" Joey replied before remembering his own duel against Marik and how the evil one used his Egyptian God Monster's Immortal Phoenix form to almost burn the brave underdog alive.
"You're right, Marik's Egyptian God Monster has so many special abilities, its almost impossible to defeat." Spike said, slightly worried. 'Wait a minute. Kaiba said that his fancy computers were able to translate that Egyptian-Arabic language printed on the Winged Dragon of Ra, so maybe it found out all of its secrets and weaknesses, too! So maybe that card Mokuba gave Yugi on his brother's orders CAN help Yugi beat Marik.' Joey thought.
"Duelists, please cut and shuffle your opponent's deck." Roland instructed before both players approached and did so, though Yami Marik laughed maniacally. "Yes. Shuffle well, Pharaoh. And hope with all of your soul that Ra ends up on the bottom." he taunted. Down on the ground, Mokuba had returned to his brother and Ishizu. "Thank you." she said. "For what?" Seto asked. "Just because I had Mokuba give Yugi a good card doesn't mean he'll win. He'll have to figure out how to use it, and even if he does, there's a chance he'll probably lose anyway. Maybe then you'll start thinking that fate is part belief and part human planning." he added.
"You are right about one thing, fate is partly belief, but belief in one's self and in one's life course. After all, doesn't Yugi bear a striking resemblance to the Nameless Pharaoh?" Ishizu responded before heading to the stairs. "Where are you going?" Mokuba asked. "To watch the duel, and pray that my brother will be stopped." Ishizu answered. "Seems to me like you're looking ahead, Ishizu." Seto said. "That's only partly true. I assure you that before this duel is done, you might just start considering what I've told you since the day we met. Mark my words." Ishizu replied.
'Based on what Mokuba told me, Yugi trusts me, even after all the mean things I've said about him and his friends. Either he's very trusting, or naïve.' Kaiba thought as he watched Ishizu disappear into the Duel Tower. Up at the top, both Duelists had shuffled their decks. "Here's your deck, Pharaoh. Now it's time, time for the shadows to consume your soul!" Yami Marik said with a laugh before both players inserted their decks into the drive recognizers in their Duel Disks.
"Marik, destiny is on my side today. The whole world is counting on me." Yami Yugi replied, but his opponent laughed. "Your foolish confidence shows me that you have no comprehension of the true horror that awaits you in this duel." Yami Marik said before laughing again. "Don't listen to that windbag, he's just bluffing!" Rainbow shouted. "Do what I couldn't do and wipe the floor with him!" Joey shouted. 'And make him pay for everything he's done.' he thought.
"Duelists, take your places!" Roland instructed. 'The final battle is here, and the fate of mankind rests on your shoulders, my Pharaoh. The evil that now controls my brother must be expelled from his body and you are the only one capable of this task. If he prevails, the world as we know it will perish.' Ishizu thought as she entered the premises. "I will defeat you, Marik!" Yami Yugi stated. "I'd like to see you try." Yami Marik retorted.
"Let the duel begin!" Roland declared, and with both players' life points set to 4000, it was time to duel. "Let the fun begin, now!" Yami Marik declared as he raised his Millennium Rod, tapping into its power to turn the duel into a Shadow Game. "I should've seen this coming, Marik made this duel into a Shadow Game." Twilight said, worried. "Please, Yugi, be careful." Fluttershy said, softly.
"Now, you've witnessed several of my Shadow Games before, but this one will be different than the rest. I've thrown in a few twists especially for you." Yami Marik said before laughing. Down inside Kaiba Craft 3, Serenity kept watch over Mai's comatose body. "Hang in there, Mai." she said before looking out the window to see the ball of dark energy surrounding the top of the Duel Tower. 'This is it. Our last chance to stop Marik.' she thought. Back up in the Duel Tower, Yami Marik was about to explain the rules of the Shadow Game.
"Now, Pharaoh, its time to reveal the first of my surprises to you." he said before raising and tapping into his Millennium Rod. "What's going on?" Yami Yugi asked. Suddenly, the hourglass that entrapped Mai came down from the fog as she called for help. "See someone familiar? Its your dear friend, Mai, slowly slipping into the shadows. Once our duel ends with my victory, she'll be gone!" Yami Marik said as the entire group witnessed what he was doing.
"No! I won't let this madness continue, Marik!" Yami Yugi declared as the evil one made Mai and her hourglass rise back up into the fog before chuckling. "I'm afraid it only gets worse. She's not the only one who's in danger here." Yami Marik revealed. "Why's that?" Yami Yugi asked. "Just as I said, I have several surprises in store for you today. Are you ready? Meet my next victim!" the evil one declared before, to Yami's horror, Yugi appeared.
"Oh, no!" he shouted. "What in the world?!" Yugi said in surprise. "Yugi!" Yami shouted before the boy looked over and saw he had been separated from his ancient friend as Yami Marik laughed wickedly. "Do you understand what's at stake now? Lose the duel and Yugi goes to the Shadow Realm!" he stated. "Marik, this is between you and me so leave him out of it!" Yami demanded. "That's not true. You're forgetting my other half. He's involved in this conflict as well. So if I lose, the shadows will take him." Yami Marik replied before pointing to his left, where Yami and Yugi saw the real Marik in the same position as Yugi.
"No, you can't!" Yami shouted. "I just did. The Shadow Realm will claim an innocent soul no matter who wins. And now, let's duel!" the evil one declared before drawing his first card. "I summon Vampiric Leech!" he added before his creature, a level four, Earth attribute insect/effect monster with 500 attack points and 1200 defense points, appeared. "Attack him directly!" he commanded before the leech charged in and dealt the first blow of the duel, lowering Yami's life points to 3500.
"You probably figured this out, but my leech can attack instantly." the evil one said before laughing. "You just lost 500 of your life points, Pharaoh, but that's not all..." he added before pointing to Yugi, who was screaming in pain as his knee was consumed by the Shadow Realm. "Yugi!" Yami shouted. "What have you done, Marik?" he asked, angrily. "When either of us lose life points, our other halves will lose a piece of themselves to the darkness." the evil one explained before laughing once more.
"This is madness." Yami simply said. "Its ingenious. Now, when your life points reach 0, not only will I win the duel, but Yugi will be gone forever. And the same rule applies to my former self." the evil one responded. "I won't duel." Yami said bluntly. "You, have to!" Yugi replied. "He's right, Pharaoh. You must duel. I'm in control of this Shadow Game, so we're in my world, meaning what I say goes! Remember, I can banish Yugi to the Shadow Realm any time I wish." the evil one stated.
"You'll pay for what you've done!" Yami decreed. "I disagree. It is YOU who shall pay!" the evil one retorted. 'He may not realize this, but when Yugi's body is consumed by the darkness, the pharaoh will cease to exist in this world. For without a body, he's nothing but a wandering spirit.' he thought before chuckling. "We can do this!" Yugi said, bravely. "Ever since you and I first met, we've faced everything together as a team! This Shadow Game is no different!" he added. "You're right." Yami replied. "I'm still right here next to you. And we can defeat Marik together! He'll never win this!" Yugi said, bravely.
"Yes. The future of so many people depends on our victory. We can't let them down." Yami replied. 'This is the most important duel we've ever fought. If Marik were to prevail, he would gain all three Egyptian God Cards, along with the key to infinite power and four innocent souls will be forever lost in the darkness. I'm now certain the reason that Yugi and I were brought together, was so we could win this one duel.' he thought before looking at his young friend, and then to his chuckling foe. 'Failure is NOT an option.' he continued.
At ringside, the rest of the group saw everything. "Only Marik would think of a Shadow Game that's THIS twisted and sick!" Rainbow said, disgusted. 'Poor Yugi. If he loses, he'll be gone forever.' Fluttershy thought, worried. "You can beat this guy, pal!" Joey shouted as the evil one chuckled. "Now, it's still my turn. so I'll activate another of my leech's special abilities. By discarding one card I can switch my leech into defense mode." he said.
"Then choose a card to dispose so we can move on." Yami suggested. "Not to worry, I already know which card I'm sending to the graveyard." the evil one replied before he sent his Winged Dragon of Ra to the graveyard. 'My plan is working perfectly. Now that my Egyptian God Card is in the graveyard, I can easily summon it back to the field thanks to my Monster Reborn magic card.' he thought. "Hold on, Pharaoh. I'm not quite done. Now that my leech is in defense mode, I'll set one card face down. Now go!" he added before ending his turn.
At the same time, Twilight knew what was going on. 'I think I know exactly what Marik's strategy is. The card he sent to the graveyard is The Winged Dragon of Ra, then he'll use Monster Reborn to bring it back just like he did last time.' she thought. "It's my move!" Yami said before drawing and looking at what he drew, which was Exchange. "Alright, I summon my Queen's Knight in attack mode!" he added before said warrior appeared.
'He'll try to summon his three Card Knights in order to sacrifice them to summon one of his Egyptian God Cards.' the evil one thought, remembering that Yami used the same strategy against Kaiba. "Attack his leech, my queen!" Yami commanded before the Vampiric Leech was sliced in half. "Unfortunately for you, my Vampiric Leech was in defense mode, so I don't lose points." the evil one said. "I'll set two cards face down, that ends my turn." Yami said.
"Very well, then I'll continue my onslaught." the evil one said as he drew before chuckling. 'I have a feeling Marik's gonna summon his Egyptian God Card the same way he did in my duel.' Joey thought before the evil one saw what he drew and chuckled. "I've drawn just the card I need! But before I use it, I have one more thing to take care of, so I summon my Juragedo in attack mode!" he declared before his new monster, a level four, Dark attribute fiend/effect monster with 1700 attack points and 1300 defense points, appeared.
"Now, my beast, destroy his Queen's Knight!" he commanded before, with one slash, the warrior was destroyed, lowering Yami's life points to 3300 and causing the portion of Yugi's arm where his shoulder was to be consumed by the shadows. "Are you alright?" Yami asked his young friend. "I'll be fine, just win this duel!" Yugi replied, despite the pain.
"Next I'll place two cards face down. Now its your move." the evil one said as he finished his turn. "Alright, here goes!" Yami declared before drawing, looking at his card and smirking, but the evil one chuckled. "I activate my magic card, Left Arm Offering!" he declared as his magic card was revealed. "Oh, no!" Yami said in shock. "Yes. This card allows me to move one magic card from my deck to my hand, once I discard every card I'm holding." the evil one explained.
"So I'll take the one card I need, Monster Reborn." he added before he picked his card from his deck. "You're through." he concluded. "I'm afraid you're wrong. I reveal Exchange!" Yami retorted before his own card activated. "This allows us to pick a card from each other's hands. So choose one, and hand over your Monster Reborn, now!" he explained, much to the evil one's chagrin.
"Alright! I always knew there was a reason I liked that card!" Rainbow shouted. "Nice move, Yuge!" Joey called as both players approached each other. "Take it." the evil one said. "With pleasure." Yami replied as he did so before the evil one took the De-Fusion magic card from Yami's hand as per the rule of Exchange and returned to his corner with a chuckle while Yami returned to his own corner.
At the same time, Seto, who had just arrived after deciding to see how the duel would play out, saw them return to their corners. "Kaiba, just to bring you up to speed, Yugi managed to prevent Marik from summoning his Egyptian God Monster from the graveyard." Pinkie said upon seeing him. 'Little does he know that I have another way to summon Ra.' the evil one thought as he looked at one of his set cards.
"I'll use the Monster Reborn I took from you to bring back my Queen's Knight!" Yami declared before his monster was revived. "And now I shall summon my King's Knight!" he added before his second Card Knight appeared. "When both King's and Queen's Knight are in play, their special ability allows me to summon this, Jack's Knight!" he continued before his third and final Card Knight appeared on the field.
"Now I have three monsters on my side of the field, Marik, and you have only one." he concluded. "I'm not impressed." the evil one replied before chuckling. "You're planning to sacrifice all three of your knights so you can summon Slifer, and when you do, I'll be ready." he said. "That's an obvious bluff!" Tristan claimed. "Well, Yugi can't just attack right away, because Marik still has two set cards on the field to possibly protect his life points and his monster." AJ pointed out.
"You just said it yourself, your monsters outnumber mine three to one." the evil one pointed out with a chuckle. "So what are you waiting for? Attack me." he added, practically daringly. 'Once he attacks, I'll unleash my secret weapon.' he thought. "Well, has the mighty Nameless Pharaoh realized there's no way he can prevail?" he asked before laughing. 'It appears my facedown cards have made the pharaoh hesitant to attack.' he thought. "I'll end my turn." Yami said at last.
"What's the deal? Yugi could've done some serious damage if he attacked with one of his knights." Rainbow said. "Don't be so sure. I think he did the right thing by ending his turn once Jack's Knight showed up." Spike replied. "I agree. He's got great instincts and he knew that the time wasn't right to attack. Much like some of us would in a duel, so that means Marik has something up his sleeve." Twilight concurred.
"My move." the evil one said with a chuckle before drawing. "I'll set one more card face down." he added before doing so. "Now, I could end this shortly, although, it would be much more amusing to extend this game and prolong your suffering. Since you're going to lose this duel once I play my Egyptian God Card, I've decided to offer you some assistance, Pharaoh, so you can play yours. Therefore, I shall play this magic card, Card of Sanctity." he continued before playing said card.
"Now we must each draw from our decks until we're both holding six card in our hands. Just consider it a gift." he added as he drew his new hand. "Now, select your cards and best of luck! Who knows what you'll draw?" he concluded, though Yami simply smirked and scoffed. "I'm afraid you're going to regret that move." he said before drawing six times. "Have you drawn one of your Egyptian God Cards? Or do you need more help? I suppose I'll find out soon. I'll switch Juragedo to defense mode and end my turn." the evil one said as his move finished.
"Alright, Marik. My move." Yami said upon drawing. "Go ahead, Pharaoh. Summon one of your Egyptian God Monsters, if you can. Lets see what one of the great beasts of Egypt can do!" the evil one taunted. "I sacrifice my Jack's Knight, my Queen's Knight and my King's Knight, in order to summon Slifer the Sky Dragon! Reveal yourself, my all-powerful beast of Osiris!" Yami declared before his mighty dragon graced the battlefield with 6000 attack and defense points.
"Just as I thought, the war now begins!" the evil one said as the group on the sidelines, save for Kaiba, Mokuba, who accompanied his brother, and Ishizu. "Way to go, Yuge! And by the looks of his hand from what I can see, he's holding six cards, meaning Slifer has more than enough power to chew Marik up and spit him back out!" Rainbow shouted. "Looks like Marik's toast no matter what he does next! Just one attack and its over!" Joey declared.
'Could this be the end?' Ishizu wondered as Slifer stared Marik down. "Behold the power of Slifer, and its Thunder Force attack!" Yami declared before Slifer prepared to fire, though the evil one chuckled. "Your monster is nothing! I have this! I activate my trap card, Dark Spell Regeneration!" he declared as his trap sprung. "No!" Yami said in disbelief. "Seto, what kind of trap card is that?" Mokuba asked. "A rare one known as Dark Spell Regeneration. I went through the cards that were prototyped and designed to work with the Egyptian God Cards but never got put into full circulation, and that's one of them. With it, Marik can move any magic card he wants from the graveyard and back to the field." Seto explained.
"Wait, any magic card he wants?!" Rarity asked in shock. "Yes, but specifically one, and we both know what that means." Seto replied. "And now, I'll choose to play Monster Reborn, Pharaoh, which allows me to revive my mighty Winged Dragon of Ra!" the evil one declared before the card came out of his graveyard. "Now, my mighty dragon, arise in your Immortal Phoenix form!" he commanded before his creature appeared in said form before Slifer's attack fired, though the Winged Dragon of Ra shielded the evil being and Juragedo from the oncoming blast.
"My Egyptian God Monster has neutralized the power of yours! As you remember, Ra is immortal for one full turn, so nothing you do can stop it!" the evil one declared before laughing. "That thing is so overpowered its nuts!" Rainbow shouted. 'No kidding, it knocked me out cold!' Joey thought. "Thanks to the fiery wings of Ra, your attack failed, and the wrath of my Egyptian God Monster will soon allow Yugi to be consumed by the darkness and absolute power will be mine!" the evil one bellowed before laughing maniacally.