Clash in the Coliseum Part IV
'The power of our Egyptian God Monsters is equal!' The Pharaoh declared as the two of them battled for supremacy. 'But neither one will give up this fight!'
For once, Kaiba agreed with him. 'You're right. It must be a holographic malfunction!'
'Seto!' Mokuba called from below. 'Are you okay?'
The lights grew bright and brighter and brighter as the two God Monsters struggled against each other.
YGO
'Whoa!' Tristan exclaimed. 'This is nuts, man! That light is intense! What do you think's going on out there, guys?'
'Who knows?' Téa responded. 'But whatever it is, it's not good.'
I'm gonna need Tylenol after this, Sharee thought, her head already throbbing.
Mayet put a hand to her shoulder. It'll be over soon.
Mayet turned her head as her attention was drawn.
YGO
Malik had been watching the duel with some amusement up to this point. Now, he staggered forward in amazement. Intellectually, he knew this was what would happen when two of the Egyptian God Monsters were pitted against each other by the chosen few but seeing it was something else entirely. And he was sure he'd never even anticipated something like this.
Suddenly something caught his attention and he looked down.
My Millennium Rod is activating. He grabbed it and tried to reel it in. This was the second time this had happened – and both times Kaiba had been involved in the duel. Its powers are beyond my control! This is exactly what happened during Kaiba's last duel.
Was it possible that Kaiba had been the Rod's owner in Ancient Egypt and it still resonated with him, even though it now belonged to Malik?
YGO
With a final burst of light, both the Pharaoh and Kaiba found themselves travelling through a vortex of some kind. The Pharaoh noticed Mayet was there as well. Obviously, wherever they were going she was coming too. He wondered why. More than likely, it had to do with her connection to their ancient past.
What's up with my Millennium Puzzle? Yugi wondered (so Sharee was likely coming along too). The struggle between Obelisk and Slifer must have sparked something inside. But where is it taking us?
'This can't be real!' Kaiba yelled out.
They came out of the vortex and zoomed down towards what the Pharaoh knew was once his ancient capitol. All three of them finally came to a stop, hovering in midair over the land.
'It looks like an ancient city,' the Pharaoh said. He looked over at Mayet.
She nodded. 'Ancient Egyptian city.' She pointed to a river on the edge of the city. 'See that? That's the Nile.'
'Then where are all the pyramids?' Kaiba demanded.
'We're too early,' Mayet said. 'If anything construction on the pyramids has only just begun. Besides, the Pyramids were primarily tombs for the rich and powerful. They wouldn't have been located in the main city.'
Kaiba looked at her then looked down. 'This is completely destroyed though.'
Something about this place seems really familiar, Yugi mused as the Pharaoh looked over the ruins. Or is that feeling coming from you?
I think it's coming from me.
'Hey,' Mayet said. 'Isn't that Obelisk and Slifer?' She pointed across to a clearing in the middle of the devastation.
Kaiba and the Pharaoh gasped as they saw what she was pointing at. They both moved across with Mayet following more slowly.
'But they've been petrified!' the Pharaoh claimed as they stopped at them. 'What's going on?'
'Unbelievable!' Kaiba exclaimed. 'What could have done that?!'
The Pharaoh was wondering that himself. At that moment, the eye of his Millennium Puzzle glowed again. Lighting struck down and hit one of the structures that were still standing for some reason. All three turned and looked to where it had struck.
'Look at this dump,' Kaiba said. 'I'm guessing that no one's lived her for ages.'
Mayet sniffed. 'Or it was abandoned because its all been burnt out. You can still smell the smoke.'
Kaiba frowned and sniffed. He nodded in acquiescence.
'Yes,' the Pharaoh said. 'And the entire city is shrouded in a dark cloud.' He felt like he knew what that darkness was…but he just couldn't put his finger on it.
A sound from above drew all their attention. They turned.
'Look,' the Pharaoh said. 'The darkness seems to be coming from that palace. But what lies within?'
The area around them suddenly shifted.
And they suddenly found themselves yanked inside.
They found themselves hanging upside-down over a chamber of some kind, looking down on two figures. They looked like himself and Kaiba.
The Kaiba-lookalike laughed. 'Look at the almighty Pharaoh now!' He spoke in the tongue of Ancient Egypt but all three of them understood. 'It appears your once-prosperous kingdom has crumbled under your feet and is now in the merciless grip of the Dark One.' He raised the Millennium Rod. 'How does it feel to be virtually powerless.'
The three of them managed to flip right-side up.
'Kaiba, these are the two ancient figures we saw on the stone carving!' the Pharaoh exclaimed.
'Yeah, but I don't recall the stone carving mentioning that.' Mayet crouched down, even as she continued to hover in midair.
'What?' Kaiba demanded.
'It seems your counterpart is crying,' Mayet pointed. 'And he looks pretty blank in the face too.'
The Pharaoh took a look. Mayet was right! There were tears streaming down Kaiba's ancient incarnation's cheeks. But why? And…his eyes were flat and vacant. Was it at all possible that this "rivalry" was not the choice of Kaiba in his former life? Had something else – perhaps this "Dark One" – influenced or brainwashed him at a vulnerable moment?
That rather put things in a different light.
'Don't be ridiculous!' Kaiba scoffed.
The Pharaoh glanced over at him. Perhaps there might have been a deeper reason he refused to believe…
His past self's Millennium Puzzle began to glow.
'Look, Kaiba!' the Pharaoh exclaimed. 'It's my puzzle!'
His past self lifted a hand. 'What has happened, Seth? Why have you allowed him to overcome you?'
'Seth?' Kaiba asked doubtfully.
'No, no,' Mayet said. 'That makes sense. Ancient Egyptians – especially the upper classes – had names fashioned after their Gods. Seth was the Ancient Egyptian God of the sky. Lord of the desert, thunderstorms, foreign lands, eclipses, and earthquakes.'
Seth drew their attention before either could think of a response to that, by answering the question the Pharaoh had put to him…in a fashion.
'I have no allegiance to the Dark One,' he said. 'But I have no allegiance to you either. I am here to finish our battle and prove no one can overpower my Millennium Rod!'
'The Millennium Rod?' Kaiba murmured.
'Even in my darkest hour, I shall defeat you!' the Pharaoh's past self declared.
'Then let our duel begin, Pharaoh! The moment I've been waiting for is here!' Seth spread his arms and began to glow with power. 'I will finally take you down!'
'Really?' the Pharaoh's past self asked. He glowed as his own power pulsated.
'Yes!' Seth stated. 'I shall be forever remembered as He Who Defeated the Pharaoh! Now, prepare yourself, for it's time to meet my ultimate beast.' The ground shook and the stone tablet behind him rose up. 'She will show you no mercy!'
But, at the same time, the Pharaoh's own stone tablet rose up behind him.
'Let's duel!' they both declared in unison.
Seth raised the Millennium Rod above his head. 'Behold my dragon!' The Blue Eyes White Dragon emerged from the tablet with a roar. Its tail curled around Seth, almost protectively.
Kaiba, of course, instantly recognised it. 'Blue Eyes White Dragon!'
The Pharaoh's past self raised his hand. 'Now, you shall meet my loyal servant! Show yourself!'
The Dark Magician emerged from the tablet behind the Pharaoh. He was dressed the same, but…he was as dark-skinned as both the Pharaoh and Seth had been in Ancient Egypt. And his hair under his coned hat was black rather than purple. There were markings under his eyes.
This was the Dark Magician as he had originally been.
'That's the Dark Magician,' the Pharaoh murmured. 'This is the ancient conflict that Ishizu spoke of!'
And, according to Ishizu, Yugi added, these are ancient versions of ourselves.
Yes, the Pharaoh agreed. But I don't think Kaiba will be receptive to it. Once I work out what happened for this conflict to take place to begin with, I may work out how to open his mind to the possibility.
'I'm afraid you don't stand a chance, Pharaoh!' Seth declared down below.
As he spoke, the tablet from the museum rose up between them; neither seemed to notice.
The Pharaoh, in the present, stared down at it.
It's the ancient tablet, Yugi whispered. Kaiba and I were destined to battle!
And, just like that, they were yanked back through the vortex.
YGO
Who invoked the power of my Millennium Rod? Malik thought in outrage.
YGO
'Look, guys,' Téa said just as Mayet and Sharee snapped back to the present.
'Yeah,' Tristan said. 'That light is getting dimmer. But why?'
Sharee slumped forward in her seat.
'Owwww,' she muttered.
YGO
The Pharaoh and Kaiba had fallen to their knees on the field. Both God Monsters were gone.
'Kaiba?' the Pharaoh called. 'Are you all right?'
'I'm fine.' Kaiba panted in air for a few minutes more. 'What just happened?'
The Pharaoh looked up at him. Something terrible had happened to him, personally, in Ancient Egypt. That terrible event was the likely reason Kaiba refused to believe in magic or their shared ancient past. And, as he'd said to Yugi, until he knew what the event was he could not address it.
Perhaps it was best to take a page out of Sharee's book.
'That's up to you,' the Pharaoh responded.
'Hm?' Kaiba looked up at him, suspiciously.
'I can give you my usual answer, or we can say it was a hallucination caused by whatever just happened to the holograms,' the Pharaoh stated, pushing himself to his feet.
Kaiba studied him for a moment and then he stood. 'I'll take the hallucination answer.'
'Very well,' the Pharaoh said. 'I believe it's still your turn.'
'Seto!' Mokuba called from below. 'What happened to the Egyptian God Cards?'
Kaiba glanced back and answered. 'They destroyed each other.' He turned his attention back to the duel. 'All right. I'll place one card face-down on the field.' He set the card and it appeared in front of him. 'I don't need an Egyptian God Card to defeat you.'
And he was back to form.
The Pharaoh drew. 'It's my move now.' He looked at the card.
Oh, no! Not Gizelle! Yugi exclaimed. I can't wipe out Kaiba's life points with this! It's too weak!
But there were few other options. 'All right. I summon Gizelle, the King of Mythical Beasts in defence mode.' He set the card and his monster appeared on the field.
Kaiba chuckled. 'If that's all you've got, you're done!' He activated his face-down card and it flipped up. 'Behold my trap.' A copy of Gizelle appeared on Kaiba's side of the field.
'What?' the Pharaoh demanded.
'Yes,' Kaiba said. 'My cloning trap card has made an exact duplicate of your King of Mythical Beasts, Yugi. Too bad. Looks like we're tied again.'
'Then I shall place one card face-down now.' The Pharaoh set the card. 'That ends my turn.'
'Sorry, Yugi,' Kaiba said, 'but you've just made your final move.' He chuckled. 'For the monster that I now hold in my hand is the key to your ultimate demise.'
And that told the Pharaoh all he needed to know.
'All I need to do is sacrifice the Gizelle I got from you and I can summon it to the field.' Kaiba chuckled again. 'So prepare to feel the wrath of my Blue Eyes White Dragon.'
'Blue Eyes?' the Pharaoh asked. 'But how? You need to sacrifice two monsters for that.'
'Is that so?' Kaiba retorted. 'You should know that things aren't always what they seem.'
'Enough talk, Kaiba,' the Pharaoh stated. 'Just make your move so we can end this duel.'
'Yes. Ending this duel is exactly what I'm about to do.' Kaiba took a card from his hand. 'Thanks to this magic card! Yugi, you were correct. Summoning Blue Eyes usually requires two sacrifices. However, thanks to my magic card that rule no longer holds true. This card is the key to unlocking my great beast and wiping you out!' He turned it around. 'Behold: my Cost Down magic card!'
The Pharaoh's eyes widened. 'Ah!' Now it made sense.
'Now my Blue Eyes White Dragon is instantly reduced from an eight-star monster to a six-star monster.' He played the card. 'The time has come! First I sacrifice my Gizelle clone!' With a roar, the clone was taken off the field. Then he played the card in question. 'And now I summon Blue Eyes White Dragon!'
With a roar, the Blue Eyes White Dragon appeared behind him.
'All right. It's time for me to finally put an end to this feud right now!' Kaiba declared. 'Blue Eyes, attack his Gizelle with White Lightning!'
Blue Eyes opened its mouth and let the blast loose. Gizelle was instantly destroyed and the Pharaoh braced himself against the after-effect of the blast.
Kaiba laughed. 'You may as well throw in the towel, Yugi. Your only monster's gone. And unless you can summon something with more than 3,000 attack points, this duel is over!'
The Pharaoh looked down at his deck.
I've only got one chance to defeat Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon, Yugi said. But it's a long shot. The Pharaoh shut his eyes. If the images of the past we saw are true, and history is repeating itself, then in order to take down Kaiba's Blue Eyes I have to summon my Dark Magician.
On the outset, it didn't make a lot of sense. The Pharaoh felt, right down in his bones, that the power scaling rules he used to fight with were different from the ones in Duel Monsters. Now, the Dark Magician was 500 attack points weaker than the Blue Eyes White Dragon. But there would be a way to do it.
Also…he had to take into account that Kaiba had two more Blue Eyes White Dragons floating around in his deck, or perhaps in his hand.
And this is my last chance! If I don't draw the card that I need now, Kaiba wins the duel and I'm out of the finals. Putting his faith in the Heart of the Cards, the Pharaoh drew. 'Stand back, Kaiba!' He looked at the card and smirked. 'This duel won't end quite as quickly as you've been imagining it will.' He held up his card. 'I use Monster Reborn to bring back a monster from my graveyard.' The Pharaoh played the card and then took the card that his duel disk spat out. 'I revive the Dark Magician!'
Kaiba gasped.
'Now, Dark Magician, come forth!' The Pharaoh played the card and the Dark Magician appeared on the field.
Kaiba glared across the field.
There's so much about this ancient feud that's still a mystery, Yugi mused. As well as the possibility it wasn't a feud at all. What were we fighting over in the first place? And who eventually won?
'Now then,' the Pharaoh took a card from his hand and played it, 'I shall place one card face-down.' The card appeared in front of him.
I hope this works, Yugi said. Cause if it doesn't, Kaiba's monster will crush mine. His Blue Eyes has 3,000 points and my Dark Magician only has 2500. That means one attack by Kaiba and my Magician's a goner. So it's all up to my face-down cards to save me. Luckily, I have a Magic Formula card which can raise my Dark Magician's attack points by 500. Then it'll be equal in strength to Kaiba's Blue Eyes. So my monster would also be destroyed. I guess it's all up to destiny now.
'Go, Kaiba,' the Pharaoh said.
'You disappoint me, Yugi,' Kaiba drew. 'Now, let's move on. First, I'll place one card face-down.' The card appeared on the field. 'Then I'll activate my Card of Demise. This magic card allows me to draw until I'm holding five cards as long as I discard my entire hand after five turns have passed.' He played it and began to draw.
'Is that all you've got?' the Pharaoh demanded. If Kaiba didn't attack, it meant he knew what they had planned.
Sure enough, Kaiba said, 'Sorry, Yugi. But this little strategy of yours is no secret to me. So I'm afraid it's not going to work. You're planning to take me down with your two face-down cards. Well, guess what? I've got a plan too.' He lifted one of the cards he'd just drawn. 'Behold this: a monster that will seal your fate!'
The Pharaoh's eyes widened as he recognised it. 'Oh, no!'
'I summon Lord of Dragons!' The monster was summoned to the field. 'As long as it's on the field, my Blue Eyes is safe from all magic and trap cards.'
And there went his strategy. 'That may be so, Kaiba. But my Dark Magician in more powerful than your Lord of Dragons.'
'Then go ahead and attack it, Yugi!' Kaiba dared him.
Kaiba may have a plan to stop my attack, Yugi suggested. But, in order to win, I'll have to try.
'All right! My move.' The Pharaoh drew. 'I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in defence mode.' He played the card and Beta appeared on the field. 'Dark Magician, attack his Lord of Dragons now!'
The Dark Magician attacked.
Kaiba laughed before activating his own face-down card. 'Too bad, Yugi! I reveal my trap card.'
The Pharaoh made a sound of alarm.
'Magical Trick Mirror!' Kaiba's Trick Mirror appeared on the field. 'Now I can take one magic card from your graveyard and use it as my own for one turn. And I know exactly which one of your old cards I need to get my hands on. Monster Reborn!' The card appeared in the mirrors.
'And why's that?' the Pharaoh demanded.
Kaiba chuckled. 'Now I can bring back an old friend. Behold, the rebirth of my Egyptian God Card!'
The entire field shook as God Monster rose up once more.
'It's Obelisk!' the Pharaoh exclaimed.
'Very observant, Yugi,' Kaiba said.
'But Egyptian God Cards can only be revived for one turn,' the Pharaoh pointed out.
'True,' Kaiba agreed. 'But one turn is all I need to block your Dark Magician's attack.'
'Hold on!' the Pharaoh cried out.
'Too late,' Kaiba responded. 'It's time for Obelisk to absorb your attack.'
The Dark Magician fired at the Lord of Dragons, but Obelisk moved his head in front of the Lord of Dragons and he took the blast instead.
'This can't be!' the Pharaoh exclaimed.
'Say goodbye to 1500 life points!' Kaiba crowed.
The backlash knocked the Pharaoh back a few steps and he dropped to one knee. His life points dropped to 1500.
Kaiba gloated. 'It looks to me like you're out of options. It's over!'
Kaiba began to laugh again.