Noah's Final Threat Part II
'Once your Kuriboh's destroyed, you lose!' Noah crowed.
'Yugi!' his friends called out.
'I win the duel!' Noah declared. 'Now you and your friends are trapped here forever!'
The blast hit. The Pharaoh activated his trap.
'I've finally proven my point! See, Yugi? No one's superior to me!'
'You wish!' Joey yelled.
'Yugi!' Téa called. 'He lost...'
'Not quite, Téa,' Joey said. 'Look! He didn't lose any life points!'
It was true. His life points were still sitting at 100.
Noah drew back and gasped in shock.
The Pharaoh smirked. 'What's the matter? You look shocked.'
'You should have lose the rest of your life points,' Noah said.
The Pharaoh turned his gaze to his newly activated card. 'Take a closer look, Noah.'
He made a sound of surprise as he saw the card. 'You activated a trap!'
'That's right,' the Pharaoh said. 'It's a card known as Nutrient Z. Since your attack was strong enough to wipe out 2000 of my life points, I was able to activate my Nutrient Z trap card to protect me. So I recieved an additional 4000 life points before your attack did any damage.' His life points shot up to 4100. And then they fell to 1800. 'You can't get rid of me that easily, Noah. Thanks to my cards and to my friends.'
Noah growled in frustration. 'But not for long, Yugi!' He chuckled. 'Did you forget? Every time one of your turns comes to an end, I'll transform another one of your friends into stone.'
'Noah!' the Pharaoh barked.
'Relax, Yugi,' Noah said, 'cause my turn is far from done. Next, my Deck Master's special ability kicks in, boosting up my life points.' They flew up to 8200. He took a card from his hand. 'And then I'll activate this: the magic card, Sebek's Blessing.'
The Pharaoh winced at his butchering of the pronunciation of the name as Noah set the card and it appeared on the field.
'This raises my points by the same number of points you just lost, giving me a grand total of 10,500 life points.' Noah's life points flew up. 'And now, my Yamata Dragon spirit monster will return to my hand.' The Dragon did just that. Noah smirked. 'I'm sure you remember what that means, don't you, Yugi? Spring of Rebirth activates, strengthening me more!'
The card next to him lit up. His life points flew up to 11,000.
Noah's getting stronger! The Pharaoh looked down at the petrified Kaiba brother's first, and then at Duke. And with every turn that passes, he transforms someone else into a statue. I can't let this insanity continue! I have to beat Noah and set us all free, before it's too late! The Pharaoh turned back to face Noah.
'All right then.' The Pharaoh drew and set his card. 'I play the mighty Alpha, the Magnet Warrior in attack mode!' The monster appeared on the field. 'Attack Noah's defence points directly!'
Alpha attacked. Noah stood there calmly and took it straight across the chest. 'I have so much power that I barely felt a thing.' His life points dropped to 9600.
The Pharaoh growled at the power play. 'Fine. Your move.'
'Not just yet.' Noah turned his attention to the group below. 'First I have to keep my word.' He raised an arm into the sky. 'By encasing one more of your friends in stone! I believe it's Sharee's turn.'
The Pharaoh cocked an eyebrow and turned to watch as the lightning bolt came down. The rest of their friends cried out in alarm. Noah laughed maniacally again. The Pharaoh just patiently waited for the smoke to clear. But, before it did, something blew it away. That something was a slab of stone being pushed to the ground.
'What?' Noah demanded in shock.
'Oh, I'm sorry.' Mayet said with a vicious smirk. The eye on her Millennium Bandanna was still glowing. 'Did I not mention that I have powers of my own that are protecting me?'
'That's impossible!' Noah insisted. 'No one has that kind of power! No one!'
'And, yet, here I am.'
Their friends all cheered around her.
'Yeah!' Tristan jumped up onto her shoulder. 'Take that, Noah! You can't—!'
Another bolt of lightning struck down. This time, when the dust cleared, Mayet was seen holding the petrified robot monkey that housed Tristan's mind.
'I'm protected, Tristan,' she said. 'But I obviously can't extend it to anyone else!'
'No!' Téa cried out. 'Tristan!'
'I'll get you back, Tristan,' the Pharaoh quietly vowed. Then he spun around. 'Noah! This must stop!'
'It will stop when I win!' Noah sneered. 'But by then you'll all be trapped here.'
'Look, Yugi's gonna shut this place down!' Joey snapped. 'Then we'll all be free, so you can threaten whoever you want, Noah!'
'Whoever I want?' Noah repeated. 'So I guess that includes your sister, Serenity? Fine! If Yugi doesn't win this turn, she's next!'
Joey turned and looked back at his sister.
'Just remember,' Mayet said. 'This is all virtual and we're not really being turned to stone.'
'Enough, Noah!' the Pharaoh barked, primarily to draw his attention off of that remark.
It worked. 'There's still a chance to save them, Yugi. All you have to do is beat me. If not, then too bad. Your friends will be a bunch of stiffs forever!' He laughed maniacally again. 'Soon I'll prove that no one's better than me! My move!' He drew. With a smirk, he played the card. 'And I summon the spirit monster, Inaba White Rabbit!' It appeared on the field in attack mode. 'It has the ability to hop over all your monsters and go straight for your life points.'
'Oh, no!' The Pharaoh braced himself.
'White Rabbit, attack him now!' The Rabbit's eyes glowed and the rocket the card was equipped with took off, the Rabbit clinging to the side. It shot around the field for a moment before coming down. 'Behind you.'
The Pharaoh spun around just in time to get hit, but not in time to avoid getting hit in the back. He cried out in pain as his life points dropped to 1100.
'White Rabbit, return!' Noah ordered and the spirit monster returned to his hand. 'As you know, whenever a card returns to my hand my two magic cards give my life points a major boost.' His life points flew up to 10,800.
The Pharaoh picked himself up. 'All right, Noah.' He drew. 'First, I place one card face-down on the field.' He set the card and it appeared in front of him. 'Then I'll sacrifice Alpha the Magnet Warrior in order to summon Dark Magician Girl.' Alpha disappeared as the Pharaoh held up the card in question.
He played the card and she appeared on the field with a flourish.
'And since I have a Dark Magician card in my graveyard, she gains an additional 300 attack points now.' The Dark Magician's attack went from 2000 to 2300. 'Go, Dark Magician Girl! Attack Noah's life points directly!'
With a spin, Dark Magician Girl sent a beam of power at Noah.
He took the hit and his life points dropped to 8500. 'That's your best shot? If you wanna save Joey's sister, you'll have to do better than that. So why don't you try again?'
'I can't,' the Pharaoh said. 'I have to end by turn.'
'Oh, no!' Serenity cried from below.
Joey made an attempt to physically shield her.
Noah chuckled. That evolved into the most obnoxious laugh he'd used yet. 'Very well, then. Time to lose another friend!' He lifted his arm to the skies, which instantly went dark. Lightning flashed. 'Goodbye, Serenity!'
The lightning came at her.
'Joey, get back!' Serenity pushed her brother away, and turned to face it head-on.
She was turned to stone with a scream as her older brother watched in horror.
'Serenity!' Joey called out. 'Not you, sis!' He collapsed to his knees in front of his sister. 'Serenity! No!'
'Joey...' the Pharaoh murmured. 'I'm so sorry.'
'Ha!' Noah barked out a laugh. 'If you really cared, you wouldn't have let that happen, Yugi.'
Mayet spoke up from below. 'I do hope you realise that the only person we're blaming for this,' she gestured around at their petrified friends, 'is you, Noah.'
'Don't blame me because Yugi—' Noah started but Mayet cut him off.
'You decided to do this. You, and no one else. It's your decision, so you're at fault. It's beyond me why people like you, and people who enable people like you, insist on passing the buck. You don't have to do this to us. You made the decision; it's your fault.'
'Yeah!' Téa agreed.
Noah sneered. 'Let's get on with the duel.' He drew. 'Now, time to bring back an old friend.' The White Rabbit reappeared on the field. 'You remember my Inaba White Rabbit, don't you?'
Just what he was waiting for. The Pharaoh smirked. 'I do. And I planned to see him again.'
Noah looked stunned. 'Huh?'
'His arrival has triggered my trap card, Dark Renewal!' The card at the Pharaoh's feet flipped up.
'And what is that?' Noah demanded.
'Once you summon a monster, Dark Renewal allows me to bring a spell caster back from my graveyard.' The coffin began to emerge from the card. 'But first I must sacrifice one of your creatures and one of mine. So why don't you and I get down to business, Noah? First, say goodbye to your Inaba White Rabbit.'
As the creature was sacrificed, Noah looked like he couldn't quite absorb what was going on. Only after it was gone, did he react. 'No!'
'Then I'll sacrifice my Big Shield Gardna!' Both monsters went into the coffin. Smoke began to billow out of the coffin as the lid began to open. 'And now I can bring back a monster that you destroyed earlier in our duel,' the coffin lid opened and the monster rose up, 'Dark Magician!'
The Dark Magician leapt out of the casket and came to land on the field next to Dark Magician Girl. The casket, its purpose served, vanished. The two Dark Magician monsters looked at each other. Given that her mentor was no longer in the graveyard, Dark Magician Girl's attack strength dropped back to 2000.
'Now I have the power of two Dark Magicians on my side of the field, Noah,' the Pharaoh said. 'And it looks to me that you have no monsters left.'
Noah growled and took another card from his hand. 'I'll place one card face down and I'll end my turn for now.'
'Huh. You have nothing to defend you, so your life points are wide open.' The Pharaoh noticed a curious twitch on Noah's face. It seemed he was cracking under the pressure. 'And it's about time I turned this duel around. So stand back, Noah.' He drew and smirked at the card.
Just what I needed!
'All right,' the Pharaoh said. 'Prepare to release me and my friends from your twisted game,' he took another card from his hand and set it on the field, 'for I activate Dark Magic Ritual!' The card appeared on the field. 'This magic card allows me to summon a dark magical creature once I make a sacrifice. So, I'll sacrifice this card.' He held up the card. 'My all-powerful Valkyrion the Magna Warrior!'
The monster appeared on the field as he played it and was instantly sacrificed.
'Valkyrion, be gone!' The Pharaoh commanded. The circle lit up. 'Now I shall summon my third magician: the Magician of Black Chaos!'
The Magician of Black Chaos rose up from the ground and entered the battlefield.
'Oh, no!' Noah cried out.
'Yes!' the Pharaoh declared. 'This creature completes my trio of magical beasts that will combine forces to take you down! When added together Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, and Magician of Black Chaos have over 7000 attack points!' The three monsters raised their respective staffs and held them together. 'Almost enough to wipe you out!'
The Pharaoh paused just long enough to get Noah nervous.
'Noah, this is for my friends!' The Pharaoh called out the attack. 'Combine forces, my Magicians, and strike his life points directly!'
A bright glow was generated in the space where all the staffs met. A hot beam of light was fired out and crossed the field with devastating force.
'Guess again! Activate trap card!' Noah activated his face down card. The card flipped up. 'You've just triggered my Chaos Barrier Field!'
Oh, no! He stopped my Triple Dark Magic Attack!
'My points are still safe,' Noah bragged. 'However, yours are in a great deal of danger, so watch closely as my trap card takes effect, pitting your strongest and your weakest monster against one another.'
The Dark Magician and the Dark Magician Girl's attacks faded out. The Dark Magician Girl was teleported from the Pharaoh's side of the field over to Noah's. She quickly looked alarmed.
'Now Dark Magician Girl, feel the wrath of your friend, Magician of Black Chaos.' The blast hit and the Dark Magician Girl was destroyed.
The Pharaoh swore he felt that in his soul. 'I don't believe it!'
'It's true,' Noah sneered. 'Your big plan to defeat me just failed miserably.'
The Pharaoh's life points dropped to 300.
'And all the life points you just lost go directly to me.' Noah's life points flew up to 9300. Apparently he felt the need to really rub it in and began clapping sarcastically. 'Bravo, Yugi, bravo! You've put on such a great show, I see no need to continue. So I'll transform your friends back to normal and we can end this duel.'
The Pharaoh glanced over his shoulder, back at Duke and Tristan and Serenity. 'Don't toy with me.' He saw Joey look back at his sister.
'I ask only one little favour in return, Yugi.' Noah drew his attention back. 'That you forfeit the duel and admit that I am superior to you. It seems a small price to pay for your friends' safe return, doesn't it?'
The Pharaoh ground his teeth, every instinct in him screaming to reject.
'Of course, Seto and Mokuba will remain as they are and stay with me.'
And that just sealed it.
Then Joey called out from below. 'You slimeball!'
'Wait!' Yugi warned him. 'Watch what you say!'
'You'll be next!' Téa told him.
'You can't play with peoples' lives like this,' Joey said. 'Yug, you can beat this little twerp, fair and square, and end his sick game!'
'What if I'm defeated?' the Pharaoh asked. His head gave a painful twinge at that.
'You won't lose, Yug!' Joey responded.
'I don't remember asking for your opinion, you fool,' Noah said disdainfully – in such a way that it almost put Kaiba to shame. He lifted a hand to the heavens. 'So say goodbye!'
A bolt of lightning came down and hit Joey. He was quickly turned to stone.
Téa cried out in alarm.
Mayet growled.
'No!' the Pharaoh cried out. 'Joey!'
Téa rushed over to him. 'Not you too!' She spun around. 'Noah, you think you're really tough, don't you?'
'Why, yes,' he said.
'Well, I think you're just a spoilt brat who's got no guts!' Téa retorted. 'If things aren't going your way, you just keep changing all the rules until they are.'
Noah laughed. 'Do you think I really care about what you think of me, Téa? I've already proven that there's no one out there who's better than me. Now it's up to Yugi to admit the same, then I'll gladly reverse the damage that's been done.'
But the Pharaoh had run out of patience with this brat. 'Well, it looks like I've got some disappointing news for you then. I still plan to win!'
That shocked Noah. 'What? You do?' He quickly composed himself. 'Then suit yourself. I tried to make things easy for you, but you chose the hard way.' Noah drew and quickly played his card. 'So, I play a monster in defence mode.' The card appeared on the field in front of him. 'And next I'll play one card face down.' That one appeared as well. He took a third card. 'Now, since I can't lose there's no harm in showing you the next card I'm about to play, Yugi. So get ready!' He turned the card around so he could see it. 'Ta da! When your turn starts I'll use Ground Breaking to bring back one of my spirit monsters – a little critter known as Inaba White Rabbit. He possesses 700 attack points, which is more than enough to wipe you out. So once he attacks you directly, you're finished.' He set the card and it appeared on the field. 'Now make your final move, Yugi.'
'You haven't won this yet, Noah!' The Pharaoh drew. His eyes widened as he saw what he drew.
'I activate my trap!' Noah declared. 'Go, Ground Breaking!' The card flipped up. 'This brings my Inaba White Rabbit right back to my hand.' The card shot out of the graveyard slot and into Noah's hand.
Well, that was a waste of a card. 'But not for long!' The Pharaoh played the card he'd just drawn and it appeared on the field in front of him. 'I activate Card Destruction! Now you must discard your entire hand, including your White Rabbit...'
The smirk didn't leave Noah's face as he did so.
'...then draw four more cards. It all stops here! Magician of Black Chaos, destroy his face down monster!' The Magician attacked. The card was destroyed and the monster momentarily appeared on the field, revealing what it was.
'Sorry, Yugi,' Noah said, 'but you've just activated Otohime's special ability.' She raised her arms above her head. 'So feast your eyes on this! Otohime, target Yugi's Dark Magician and switch him into defence mode!'
The Dark Magician fought all the way through.
'It doesn't look like you'll be attacking me anymore this turn, Yugi,' Noah bragged. Otohime vanished. 'But since you did manage to destroy one of my spirit monsters, you've triggered yet another trap card.' The final card flipped up. 'Vessel of Illusion allows me to summon a monster. So, Otohime, return now in defence mode!'
Otohime returned to the field.
'Your turn's over, Yugi!' Noah drew. 'And you know what that means.' He looked at Téa.
Téa gasped.
The Pharaoh turned and looked back at her. Inside of him, he felt Yugi's panic spike. He did what he could to reassure the boy. It looked, though, as if Téa didn't need it. She strengthened her resolve, despite the taunting the Noah was dishing out to all three of them left.
'Soon she'll be nothing more than a statue of her former self.'
Téa fired back. 'You better enjoy it! Cause I'm the last person you can turn to stone!'
Mayet smirked at that.
Noah was not as amused, judging from that sucked-on-a-lemon expression on his face.
'And then Yugi's gonna crush you!' Téa wasn't done yet. 'Then he'll set us all free. You got that?'
'Téa!' The Pharaoh called out a warning.
Noah, though, was either amused or he wanted to rub his "victory" in her face. 'I'll spare you for one more turn, Téa, so you can witness Yugi's defeat and see just how wrong you are about your friend.' He turned his attention back to the Pharaoh. 'Speaking of your defeat.' He held up a very particular card.
Noah played the card and it appeared on the field.
'I activate the magic card, Change of Heart!' Noah declared. 'It allows me to control one of your monsters.' His eyes narrowed. 'Guess who is now mine?'
'No, my Dark Magician!' the Pharaoh cried out as the monster in question vanished from his side of the field and appeared on Noah's.
'And now your favourite monster stands by my side, Yugi!' Noah crowed.
A vortex opened up underneath them.
'Next, I shall sacrifice him along with my Otohime.' Both vanished. 'This allows me to summon the most powerful spirit in all of Duel Monsters.' Noah set a new card in attack mode. 'Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi!'
First electricity crackled in the vortex and then flames exploded out of it. A behemoth of a monster emerged out of the vortex, human-looking but with flames for hair. The spirit monster had an attack strength of 2800. He was evenly matched with the Magician of Black Chaos.
'Oh, no!' the Pharaoh gasped.
But Noah wasn't done. 'Then I'll play the magic card Flaming Fist.' He set the card and the monster's fist ignited just like his hair. 'This adds 200 more attack points to my beast for one turn.' Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi's attack points sailed up to 3000. 'The end is just about here. Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, destroy his Magician of Black Chaos now!'
Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi attacked and punched the Magician with his flaming fist.
The Magician of Black Chaos was destroyed.
The blast from the hit blew the Pharaoh back.
His life points dropped to 100 again.
Noah crowed. 'It looks like my newest spirit monster has destroyed all your monsters. And thanks to the special ability of my Deck Master, an additional 700 life points are added to my total.' His life points flew up to 10,000. He took a card and set it. 'Now, I'll place, Spiritual Energy Settle Machine. It lets me keep a spirit monster on the field after I discard one card from my hand.'
The Pharaoh leaned up and looked at him. He started to push himself up.
'You may as well stay down, Yugi,' Noah told him. 'It's all over.'
'Don't listen to him, Yugi!' Téa called from down below. 'Get up!'
Noah smirked down at her. 'Silence!'
A final bolt of lightning came down.
With a scream, Téa was turned to stone. 'Yugi...!'
'Téa...' The Pharaoh looked down. He then turned his attention to the only person left; the one person Noah couldn't petrify. 'Mayet!'
'What?' Noah asked.
Both the Pharaoh and Mayet ignored him.
Mayet answered his unasked question. 'They have been turned to stone, but I can still feel their hearts.'
The Pharaoh nodded and closed his eyes. Noah's voice faded and was soon drowned out as the Pharaoh entered his mind space, his physical body rising. As he walked down the corridor, he smiled. Yugi was waiting for him at the door to his Chamber of the Mind. The boy smiled.
'She's right,' Yugi said. 'Come on!'
Yugi led him into his Chamber. 'All you have to do is look inside your heart and inside your mind, and you'll see that your friends are never far. They're all right here.'
As he said, one by one, they appeared around them: Joey, Téa, Tristan, Duke, and Serenity. He looked over as the door opened and Mayet and Sharee walked in too. They all smiled. The Pharaoh looked around at them, and then he looked down at Yugi. 'I think I understand now.'
Yugi nodded. 'As long as our friends are in our thoughts they'll never be too far away.'
'Well put, pal,' Joey said. 'We'll always be right here in your mind, no matter what.'
'That's right,' Téa agreed. 'You may not remember your ancient past yet, but you still remember us.'
The Wheeler siblings nodded.
'That's true,' the Pharaoh said. 'But I'm afraid I have nothing left to fight with.'
An unexpected voice sounded from behind him. 'That's pathetic!'
The Pharaoh turned to see the Kaiba brothers were here too. Kaiba led his brother over. 'Are you telling me my future's in the hands of a quitter?'
'Kaiba?' the Pharaoh asked. 'Mokuba?'
Kaiba stopped in front of him. 'You can't let that little punk, Noah, win this duel, Yugi.'
'I know,' the Pharaoh said.
'Then get back in the game and face him like a man. Remember, you have my cards too. And with the power of my deck in your hands, you can't lose.'
The Pharaoh looked down at the deck. 'There may still be a chance. It lies in Kaiba's deck.'
'Don't mess up,' Kaiba said. 'You've only got one shot left.'
With that, the Pharaoh left the Chamber and opened his eyes, looking across at Noah. 'I will save my friends. Just watch me.'
Noah looked down his nose at him. 'You insist on humiliating yourself, don't you?'
'I won't stop until you're defeated, Noah,' the Pharaoh answered. He drew. He drew exactly what he needed. 'Now I play Card of Sanctity!' He set the card on the field. 'So we both have to draw from our decks until each of us is holding six cards in our hand.'
He heard his friends in his mind.
'Yugi,' Joey said.
'We're all here,' Téa told him.
'Now draw six cards,' Tristan added.
'One from each of us,' Téa continued.
'That's right, pal.' Joey rounded it out.
'Take this.' Kaiba handed him the final piece.
'Don't give up!' Joey encouraged him.
'Here you go,' Téa said.
'This is for you,' Tristan told him.
'I hope it helps,' Serenity stated.
'Now give that brat a spanking,' Duke finished.
The Pharaoh looked over his shoulder. Mayet shot him a thumb's up.
With the six cards in his hand, the Pharaoh had the perfect strategy. The hearts of all our friends are in these six cards! He looked up. 'I feel sorry for you. Thanks to the support of my friends, I'm about to defeat you. And that is something you'll never understand.'
Noah looked stunned.
'I play Monster Reborn!' With his first card on the field, the Pharaoh had a very specific idea. 'It can revive any monster you sent to the graveyard, including Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon!'
The Blue Eyes appeared on the field with a roar.
Noah stared up in shock. 'It can't be!'
'Oh, yes, it can,' the Pharaoh corrected him. 'Remember, Noah, this duel began as you against Kaiba. And you destroyed his Blue Eyes White Dragon so I was able to bring it back! Now I activate this card!' He set a second card on the field. 'Polymerisation!'
The card activated and flipped up.
'This allows me to fuse the Blue Eyes on the field with the two other Blue Eyes in my hand!' The monsters in question appeared on the field and quickly fused together. 'Now, behold the power of the Ultimate Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!'
Noah drew back, a fearful look on his face.
'The strongest monster in Kaiba's deck!' the Pharaoh declared. It had an attack strength of 4500. 'I'm afraid there's more. Next I'll activate my Quick Attack magic card!' The card appeared on the field and flipped up. He called the attack. 'This lets the Dragon attack right now!'
With a roar, the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon let loose a triple White Lightning Attack, directly at Noah's monster. 'Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi is finished!'
Sure enough, with a pained roar, the spirit monster was destroyed.
Noah grunted and covered his face with his arm as his life points dropped down to 8300. 'It's not over yet!'
'Noah, you're wrong,' the Pharaoh corrected him. 'Thanks to the next magic card in my hand.' He lifted it so Noah could see before he played it. 'De-Fusion!'
Noah drew back in fear.
'It separates the Ultimate Dragon back into three separate Dragons,' the Pharaoh said as just that happened, 'each with 3000 attack points.'
Noah squirmed as he panicked. 'No! Wait! There must be something I can do!' He looked at his cards.
'You've been exposed as the frightened child you truly are,' the Pharaoh said calmly.
Noah looked up at him in shock.
The Pharaoh regarded him. His situation was one to be pitied, yes, but the Pharaoh would certainly never permit his own children to behave like that – no matter the circumstances. 'For Kaiba, and Mokuba, and for all my other friends as well,' the Pharaoh called the attack, 'Blue Eyes White Dragons, attack!'
The Blue Eyes White Dragons each began powering up their White Lightning.
Noah cried out in alarm.
'Wipe him out!' the Pharaoh ordered.
The three Blue Eyes White Dragons attacked with an attack force of 9000.
'This madness is finally over, Noah!' the Pharaoh declared.
