Chapter 23
Flight of Fear: Part 2
"The Sky Fortress"
The KaibaCorp Boeing continued to fly toward a mountain as Mokuba kept trying to get a message out with his cell phone. "Mayday! Mayday! This is KC1, does anyone copy?! We're losing altitude, fast! Repeat, we're losing altitude and we've lost control of the plane!" he said, urgently. "Mokuba, is that you, sir?" said a voice on the other side of the call, it was Roland. "Roland, thank goodness. Listen, there's no time to lose. We have no flight crew and the plane's heading towards a mountain! Get me someone who has flight experience to help me try to gain altitude, fast!" Mokuba stated.
"Yes, right away, sir." Roland replied. Meanwhile, the duel continued on the roof of the plane. "You're going down, Kaiba, in more ways than one." Alister said. "You're a laugh riot." Seto replied. "Thank you, and now, its on with your demise. I play my Junk Dealer magic card." Alister said. "With this, I can refurbish any two of my monsters and bring them back to the field with half of their original attack points. Welcome back to the field my Science Soldier and my Cyber Soldier of Dark World." he explained before his two monsters reappeared, now with 400 and 700 attack points, respectively.
"Next I'll summon Cipher Soldier in attack mode." he added before his new monster, a level three, Earth attribute machine/effect monster with 1350 attack points and 1800 defense points, appeared. "And thanks to the Seal of Orichalcos, they all get a power boost." he continued before his warriors increased in power, first Science Soldier's attack points rose to 900, then Cipher Soldier's attack points rose to 1850 and finally Cyber Soldier's attack points increased to 1200. Meanwhile, Mokuba was getting instructions on how to get the plane to level off and regain altitude.
"Okay, I flipped the red switch and I'm about to try and get the plane to level off." he said before successfully doing so at last. "Got it!" he shouted. "Okay, Mokuba, pull up!" said the voice on the other end of the call, who was actually someone from the air traffic control tower from Tokyo International. Meanwhile, the duel continued.
"I activate my trap, Soldier Revolt. It only works when Science Soldier, Cipher Soldier and Cyber Soldier of Dark World are on the field at the same time. And since they're on the frontline, I can send every card on your side of the field and in your hand straight to the graveyard." Alister revealed before Seto's set card and his XYZ-Dragon Cannon were no more. "Next, I activate a magic card called Sky Union, which allows me to sacrifice all three of my soldiers!" he continued before his three soldiers were gone.
"Now I can summon my true ultimate weapon to finish you off!" he declared before a portal opened in the sky. "Come forth, Air Fortress Ziggurat!" he commanded before a level eight, Wind attribute machine/effect monster with 2500 attack points, now increased to 3000, and 800 defense points, came down through the portal. Meanwhile, Mokuba kept trying to pull up. "Mokuba, our radar shows you're too close to the mountain. Are you pulling back as hard as you can?" the air traffic controller asked, to which Mokuba confirmed.
Finally, the plane pulled up and leveled out, just barely grazing the top of the mountain. "You made it! Now go ahead and reactivate the autopilot, sir." said the air traffic controller while Mokuba breathed a sigh of relief. "That's the best idea I've heard all day." he replied before doing so. The youngest Kaiba then ended the call and headed back to rejoin his brother. "I did it, Seto! I saved the plane from crashing!" he said with pride. But that changed to worry when he saw Air Fortress Ziggurat high above.
"You don't stand a chance! I now possess the most destructive machine in all of Duel Monsters, and its guns are all pointed at you!" Alister declared. "Hold on, I've seen the face on that flying fortress before!" Seto said in surprise. "That's because Pegasus struck a deal with the makers of the Mobile Suit Gundam toy line to make a series of cards to be used as prizes for contests involving the toys. I was inspired to get it because it reminded me of my dearly departed little brother's own Mobile Suit Gundam action figure. The same one I carry with me to remind myself that your stepfather took my brother away from me." Alister explained.
"Here's how it works." he added before a level one, Wind attribute machine/token monster with 0 attack and defense points appeared from the mouth of the fort and landed on the battlefield in defense mode. "Every turn, my fortress will release one Robot Token to protect itself in case you choose to attack." he explained. "Your move, not that anything you do can possibly save you now." he concluded as the Robot Token's attack points rose to 500 due to the Seal of Orichalcos.
"Look, punk, I have no intention of letting your little toys stop me and I'm through playing around." Seto stated before drawing. "Seto, stop the duel, please." Mokuba pleaded. "Mokuba, I've never backed down from a challenge and I don't plan to start today." Seto replied. "But what if you lose? I mean, what if there's more to that Seal of Orichalcos card then we know?" Mokuba asked. "We can save that for if we ever find Pegasus, but right now, I have to focus on giving Alister the defeat of a lifetime." Seto answered. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two more times." he said before doing so.
"I'll set a card face down to end my turn." he concluded. "Looks like you didn't really have a big plan to beat me. Now you'll be reduced to a soulless pile of dust thanks to Ziggurat. How appropriate that you now face the agony that me, my family, and every Bosnian felt at the hands of both the Serbs and your stepfather." he continued. "I already told you, what our stepfather did has NOTHING to do with Seto! We never supported any of his war-related enterprises!" Mokuba protested.
"Mokuba, stop. We don't have to defend ourselves to him." Seto said. "How right you are, in fact, there's no way you can defend yourself against my Air Fortress Ziggurat. You might want to start saying goodbye to your little brother down there, because this all ends now! I've been waiting for this moment for years, and now its here!" Alister replied before drawing. "Now, Air Fortress Ziggurat, attack his life points directly with Sky Cannon Blast!" he commanded before the fort pointed all of its guns at Seto. "Say goodbye to the rest of your life points!" the Swordsman declared before the guns fired while Mokuba called his brother's name.
"You just triggered my trap!" Seto revealed. "No trap card can stop Ziggurat!" Alister replied. "Don't be so sure, because this is no ordinary trap, it's called Magical Trick Mirror and it allows me to use one of your own magic cards!" Seto retorted. "No way!" Alister said in surprise before he realized Seto was targeting a card in his graveyard. "The card I picked is one from your graveyard, Junk Dealer! And I'll use it to bring my Judge Man to the field to protect my life points!" the multi-millionaire revealed before his creature appeared, only with 1100 attack points.
The attack from the fortress landed and blew Judge Man to SMITHEREENS, DRASTICALLY lowering Seto's life points all the way down to 100. "Big deal, at least I get another Robot Token out of it." Alister pointed out as another token came down upon the battlefield, now with 500 attack points. "While you on the other hand are down to your last 100 life points." he added before he got a great shock to see helicopters coming towards the plane. "Looks like my rescue team is a little early." Seto said. "I knew they'd show up." Mokuba added before a transport helicopter flew alongside the plane.
"I say we split." he suggested. "Not yet." Seto replied before he and Mokuba saw Roland aboard the transport helicopter. "It's Roland!" the youngest Kaiba said with relief. 'Those are Gozaburo's choppers. He IS just like his adopted father!' Alister thought as rage built up inside of him before he UNLEASHED his anger and caused the Seal of Orichalcos to unleash more energy, enough to shatter the windows of the plane and make the craft lose all of the pressure built up inside it. "Pilot, drop the ladder, we have to get them off the plane immediately!" Roland said with great urgency.
Suddenly, the plane flew into a cloud cover, preventing the helicopters from getting a visual. "They flew into a cloud bank, we'll have to wait until they come out again." said the pilot. "They've disappeared from radar, sir!" said the co-pilot in surprise. "It must be a thick cloud cover." Roland figured. "We'll find them." the pilot said, hopeful. Meanwhile, Mokuba hung on for dear life so he wouldn't get sucked out of the plane. "You alright?!" he called to his brother, but Seto didn't answer.
"Kaiba, you proved that I was right about you from the moment we met. You're nothing but a heartless tyrant, just like your stepfather Gozaburo was! Why else would you use his private fleet of helicopters to try to rescue yourself and your brother? You think showing off something like that makes you strong whenever you cause hurt and misery to innocent people like my dead little brother, Mikey?!" Alister ranted. "Are you done ranting yet? It's my move." Seto replied before drawing, though Mokuba was worried.
"I have just the card needed to take you down. I activate Soul Exchange!" he continued. "Now each of us can choose monsters from the opposing side we're facing to sacrifice." he explained. "Go ahead, try to get yourself out of this." Alister dared. "You should be careful what you wish for, Alister, because you just might get it." Seto replied. "Fine, thought I doubt playing it will do any good, Ziggurat is magic-proof." Alister said, smugly.
"That's why I'm using it on your two action figures." Seto replied before both Robot Tokens vanished from sight. "Now I can call my ultimate monster to the field, my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" he declared before his best monster graced the field in all its majesty for even Roland and the chopper pilots to see. "It looks like we're even now." Alister said, knowing that both Air Fortress Ziggurat and Blue-Eyes White Dragon were matched in terms of attack points. "Looks can be deceiving, but you'll find that out later." Seto replied.
"You talk a good game, but I know that deep down, you realize there's no way you can win." Alister claimed. "Think about it, our monsters are equal in attack strength, only mine can't be destroyed." he added. "We'll see." Seto replied with a confident smile. "Fine then!" Alister said before drawing. "I'll set a card face down to end my turn, and since my turn is done, that means I get a new Robot Token to protect myself." he added before said token appeared.
'He gets one of those from that Air Fortress every turn, making it impossible to attack Ziggurat itself.' Mokuba thought. "Too bad your robot can't stick around!" Seto said before drawing. "Blue-Eyes, send his tin can to the trash heap, with White Lightning!" he commanded. With one blast, the Robot Token was eliminated. "I'll set this face down to end my turn." he added. "That was your last chance." Alister said before drawing. "And now, its time to end this duel and gain the sweet vengeance I crave." he added. 'Mikey, this is for you, and for all the people who suffered in Bosnia at the hands of Gozaburo Kaiba.' he thought.
"I activate Toy Robot Box!" he declared as his card activated. "All I have to do is send my entire hand to the graveyard, so that I can summon three more Robot Tokens." he explained before his hand was discarded and three new Robot Tokens took to the field. "Next I'll sacrifice one, allowing me to summon my Spell Canceller in attack mode." he continued before his new monster, a level five, Wind attribute machine/effect monster with 1800 attack points, now increased to 2300, and 1600 defense points, appeared.
"As long as this is on the field, you can't use any magic cards. I just punched my ticket to victory!" he declared. "Soon, every man and woman like you will be erased from this world." he added. "But I thought you hated violence." Seto replied. "The violence of war, yes." Alister clarified. "Then what would you call this grudge you have against me? This duel and the first time we did battle are part of a war between humanity and your little cult!" Seto retorted, shocking Alister. "You're wrong. Doma is saving this planet. If people like you continue to exist, the entire world will crumble." he said, trying to stay true to what Dartz taught him when he first joined Doma.
"So you say, but what if your little brother were still alive?" Seto wondered, causing Alister to pause. "What'd you say?" he asked. "Would you still join with Doma and try to wipe out mankind if that meant hurting him?" Seto asked. "How dare you!? Its your fault that he's dead!" Alister retorted, sharply. "Nice try, but don't you think it's time that you accepted the truth?" Seto replied. "What truth? Explain yourself!" Alister demanded. "As a brother, its was your duty to protect him at all costs and you failed, Alister! Your little brother was killed because of you. Stop trying to blame everyone else." Seto replied. Alister was enraged.
"That's it! You're going down!" he shouted with great hatred. "Ziggurat, strike him down with Sky Cannon Blast!" he commanded. "Your Blue-Eyes is history!" he added as the air fortress turned its guns on the dragon. "Alister, unlike you, I plan to protect my little brother, by winning this duel no matter what, now watch and learn!" Seto declared. "You were so busy ranting and raving that you failed to consider my trap card." he added as his trap sprung. "Oh, no!" Alister shouted. "I activate Tyrant Wing!" Seto declared as Blue-Eyes White Dragon's wings started to glow and get MUCH bigger.
"By equipping this card to my Blue-Eyes, I've given him an extra 400 attack points. So in case you're in too much shock to do the math, that means my dragon is strong enough to destroy your air fortress!" he explained as Blue-Eyes' attack points rose to 3400. "You can't!" Alister said in surprise. "I won't let you endanger my brother's life or my own!" Seto shouted. "Blue-Eyes, take Ziggurat down, now!" he commanded before, with one mighty White Lightning attack, Air Fortress Ziggurat was brought down in a massive explosion.
"Your floating scrap heap is gone!" the eldest Kaiba declared as Alister's life points lowered to 1000. "But that's impossible." the Swordsman said in disbelief. "Could've fooled me." Seto replied. "As soon as I crush your puny defense, you'll have no monsters left." he added. "Who needs monsters? I've got the power of the Orichalcos Stone on my side. And once this plane crashes, the Seal will absorb all three of us." Alister replied, clearly implying he had gone insane. Right at that moment, one of the engines gave out.
"You know you can't win so you're going to give up on your own existence?" Seto asked. "You're not just the biggest coward I ever met in my life, but by trying to take me and my brother with you, YOU'RE INSANE!" he stated. "I'm not insane, I'm doing all this to save humanity." Alister replied. "Face the truth, punk, you're too scared to admit you and Doma lost this one." Seto retorted. "Alister, what would your little brother think if he saw you acting like this?" Mokuba asked, causing Alister to pause before looking at Mokuba. As he did, he thought he saw Mikey, his dead brother, before having a flashback to his final moments with him in Bosnia.
"You're just mad at yourself because you let him down." Seto said. "Well, it looks like you're about to let your own little brother down, too. Because you can't save him or yourself. Even if we do continue the duel." Alister replied. "Try me." Seto simply said, almost daring Alister to do something. "But Seto, the plane..." Mokuba said, worried. "You claim that I'm insane? You're the one who's nuts! I've got three monsters up against your one dragon. You could never defeat me before this plane crashes, even if I were to end my turn right now." Alister said.
"Then what are you waiting for? Go ahead and end your move." Seto replied, daringly. "All I need is one more turn. Just one more is all that's needed to take you down and save both Mokuba and myself." he added. "Okay, then, if you're so confident, go ahead and try to stop me. This duel is still on, Kaiba, and I end my turn." Alister replied. "Big mistake, Alister, but you'll see that for yourself as soon as I draw my next card." Seto stated. 'This is it. My last shot at victory. It all ends one way or another with my last draw.' he thought before drawing, putting all his faith in that one draw, tapping into the Heart of the Cards.
Seto saw what he drew and smiled. "I summon, The Fang of Critias!" he declared before his Legendary Dragon appeared above the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "Next I fuse my dragon with my Tyrant Wing trap card, to form the Tyrant Burst Dragon!" he added before his new monster, a level eight, Light attribute dragon/fusion/effect monster with 2900 attack points and 2500 defense points, appeared while Blue-Eyes' attack points returned to normal.
"But it doesn't end there, for next I'll use this Polymerization card in my hand to fusion summon Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon!" he declared before his greatest monster, a level eight, Light attribute dragon/fusion/effect monster with 3400 attack points and 2900 defense points, appeared in even greater majesty than the previous dragons he had summoned. "Now, my Blue-Eyes, destroy all three of his machines!" he commanded before, with one INCREDIBLE blast that ripped through the clouds, Alister's tokens and Spell Canceller were gone. "I guess, you win." the defeated Swordsman said as his life points hit 0, ending the game.
Soon, both players were back in the plane. "Wait, why's the Seal of Orichalcos still on the field?" Mokuba asked as the seal closed in around Alister before running up to him. Alister then looked up and thought he saw his dead brother. "Mikey? Is that you?" he said in confusion. Alister was hallucinating at that point, imagining that he gave his dead brother back his Mobile Suit Gundam action figure. Soon, his hallucination ended as he felt his soul being ripped out of his body. "Alister, are you okay?" Mokuba asked before the man collapsed. The boy checked on him immediately.
"He's alive, but he's in some kind of coma." the younger Kaiba said. "How can a Duel Monsters card do that?" Seto asked. "I wish I knew, but he's not waking up." Mokuba replied before holding up the busted, broken and burned Mobile Suit Gundam figure. "I guess that card is more dangerous than we know." he added before they suddenly felt turbulence. "Mokuba, stay here with Alister." Seto ordered before running off. As Seto ran, the plane continued its nosedive until he reached the cockpit and took the controls. "I'll save him. I won't let my little brother get hurt no matter what! Do you hear me, Alister? This plane won't crash!" he said as he pulled up as hard as he could.
Right at that moment, his deck started to glow brightly. At the same time, so did Yami's deck. "What's this?" he said in surprise. Then Joey's deck started to glow. "Huh? What's going on?" he wondered. Then, on top of those occurrences, the Mane 7 saw their marks glowing, indicating that their own magic was triggered by this event. "What's with our cutie marks?" Fluttershy asked. "Something must be triggering them." Twilight figured, which was exactly what Rarity and Spike figured as well. "Everyone, look!" Yami said in surprise.
They all looked up and saw all three Legendary Dragons, Timaeus, Critias and Hermos, aiding the damaged Boeing. While Kaiba didn't realize what was happening outside, he saw that the plane was heading right for a forest and a lake. Soon, the plane came to a landing right in front of the lake. "Check it out! Those dragons saved that airplane and I have a feeling that if Critias was there, Kaiba was aboard that plane." Rainbow said in surprise. "Definitely something you don't see every day." AJ added, but then, both groups noticed one another.
They all headed toward the plane. "If this is one of Kaiba's planes, I bet he and Mokuba are both aboard." Tea figured. Right on cue, they saw him come out of the plane with Alister in his arms. "Well, look at whose become a hero." Rainbow said with a smile. "I can't believe it, how'd I manage to land in a forest where you all just happen to be?" Seto wondered. "First of all, this is the Tonto National Forest. Secondly, we all JUST got here. Thirdly, what happened to make your plane crash in one of Arizona's national forests?" Pinkie replied.
But before Seto could answer, Roland and the entire KaibaCorp helicopter fleet came in for a landing. A bit later, Seto explained what happened. "Wait, you dueled this guy on top of a moving plane? Color me impressed." Rainbow admitted. "Me, too." Joey added. "Don't you all have somewhere else to be? Like back home in Domino City?" Seto asked. "Kaiba, we can't just go home now, we have to get to Florida and continue our path to finish what we set out to do, stopping Doma and their leader, Dartz." Twilight replied.
"So, please, at least give us a flight to our next destination." Yami added. "I'm surprised that someone like you would ask me for help, after the way I've treated you and your friends in the past." Seto responded before Roland came running up. "Mr. Kaiba, Mokuba, are you alright?" he asked. "We're fine." Mokuba answered. "Good, but I have terrible news." Roland said. Meanwhile, in Phoenix, at Doma headquarters, Dartz received a call.
"Master Dartz, I just received word from our business division." said a voice on the pager. "Yes? Go on." Dartz replied. "The takeover was a success. Congratulations, master, not only do you have Industrial Illusions, but KaibaCorp now belongs to you." said the caller, indicating that Dartz's company front bought the 51 shares of KaibaCorp necessary to take it away from Seto. Now, Dartz owned the two companies responsible for making and popularizing Duel Monsters. The only question that remained was; what would he do next?