The Final Face Off Part II

'Take it from me,' Joey said. 'Marik's Winged Dragon of Ra is not a monster you wanna be messing with. Especially when it's in its Phoenix mode.'

'But Yugi's got an Egyptian God Card on the field too,' Tristan pointed out. 'Doesn't that mean Yugi and Marik are even now?'

'Not even close, Tristan.' Joey shook his head. 'Marik's Egyptian God Card is in a class by itself. Yeah, and I ought to know. When Marik attacked me with that monster, I was knocked out cold.'

'Poor Yugi,' Téa murmured.

YGO

'Now, Marik,' the Pharaoh said.

Malik looked at him with a confused expression. 'My Sky Dragon's special ability should rid the field of your Egyptian God Card! Go Slifer! Destroy Ra with your second mouth now!'

Slifer opened his second mouth and, with a roar, let the attack fly.

But Malik chuckled.

The Pharaoh's eyes widened. Slifer's attack hit Ra and were swallowed by the flames before being redirected into the air.

'Nice try, Pharaoh,' Malik said.

The Pharaoh drew back. 'Oh, no! Slifer's ability didn't work!'

'Did you honestly think you could defeat a creature as strong as my Winged Dragon of Ra that easily?' Malik sneered. 'Sorry, but Ra is invincible.' He crossed his arms. 'Now my divine creature will release its fiery wrath.'

YGO

Kaiba's eyes widened just for a moment. Ra's Phoenix ability is about to activate, instantly incinerating everything in its path. But Yugi has Slifer on the field. Does this mean that Yugi's Egyptian God will disintegrate at the hands of Marik's?

YGO

'I shall surrender 1,000 of my life points now,' Malik declared. 'Such a small price to pay.' He sniggered. 'Especially when it's my weaker self that's paying the price…with his body.'

Marik's arm evaporated into the darkness as Malik's life points dropped to 3,000. The boy was, mercifully, still out cold and didn't even stir despite how much it would have hurt. The Pharaoh narrowed his eyes. He couldn't imagine treating your host in such a cruel and callous manner.

'Now, Pharaoh,' Malik said, 'I can activate the Winged Dragon's most devastating ability. Behold! The Rage of Ra as it rids the field of your Slifer!'

The two God Monsters collided. Flames erupted over the field and the Pharaoh used his Millennium Puzzle to shield both himself and Yugi from the fire. The fire arched around both of them, even as Yugi flinched back. The heat was the most uncomfortable thing on the field right now.

'Sorry, Pharaoh!' Malik called over the roar of the fire, but your Egyptian God Card is no more!

When the flames cleared…Slifer was gone.

'No way!' Tristan called from below.

'Yugi!' Joey called. 'Don't give up!'

'That's just the beginning,' Malik said as the Pharaoh straightened up.

'What?' the Pharaoh demanded.

'You heard me,' Malik said. 'I plan to prolong your anguish for as long as I can. Until the Shadow Realm has claimed everything that you now possess.' Once again, he laughed maniacally.

The Pharaoh looked across at the boy hanging above him. Yugi, please tell me you're all right. He projected his thoughts, the way Sharee and Mayet usually did.

Don't worry about me. Yugi responded in kind. I'll be fine. You need to concentrate on defeating Marik, cause if he wins…the entire world will suffer.

The Phoenix form of Ra burned behind Malik. 'My Winged Dragon has completed its task. So I shall return it to my graveyard.' The flames went into his duel disk and the God Monster vanished from the field. Malik chuckled. 'That was a small taste of what lies ahead, but I assure you the worst is yet to come. I'll destroy your life points one-by-one as the Darkness slowly consumes your body!' He reached over and pressed a button on the duel disk. 'I activate my face-down card: a trap called Zombie's Jewel.'

The card in question flipped up.

'This card allows me to take a certain magic card from your graveyard and place it in my hand,' Malik said. 'And I have a feeling you know exactly what card I'm taking, don't you? It's the one card you possess with the power to bring back Ra.'

'No,' the Pharaoh said. 'Not that!'

'If you know then tell me!' Malik goaded him. 'I'm afraid you'll have to speak up. Well? I can't hear you!'

The Pharaoh glared at him.

Malik laughed again. 'I'll tell you! I'm permitted to regain control of the Monster Reborn magic card.' And, once again, he laughed.

The Pharaoh narrowed his eyes.

As soon as he had it Malik added it to his hand and ran his finger across the edge of the card. 'This magic card will allow my Winged Dragon of Ra to continue its onslaught. But since I just played my Zombie's Jewel card, you may now draw one card. Perhaps this is the card that can save you; the one Kaiba handed to you when our duel began.'

The Pharaoh looked down at his duel disk.

'Of course,' Malik continued, 'in the end, there's nothing that can truly save you. But perhaps you can delay your demise for a bit. So, draw. The Shadows grow impatient. Frankly, so do I.'

YGO

Kaiba watched critically.

'Hey, Seto,' Mokuba said, 'maybe Yugi can win if he draws the card you gave him.'

I doubt it, Kaiba thought. But it should be interesting to see.

YGO

Mayet and Sharee stood side-by-side, both nervous but one showing it more than the other. But Sharee wasn't visible to anyone who wasn't currently holding a Millennium Item.

Sharee, chewing her thumbnail, looked over as Téa spoke again.

'Yugi doesn't even have one monster on the field to protect him!'

Tristan agreed. 'If Marik brings back his Egyptian God Card, Yugi will be crushed!'

'Hold on,' Duke said and they looked at him. 'When Ra comes back it'll have zero attack points. That means it can't do any damage to Yugi's life points, right guys?'

'Wrong,' Joey said. 'Look, we don't know enough about Marik's card to assume anything.'

'What are you talking about, Joey?' Téa asked.

Joey stared intently at the field. 'I think Ra's got a whole bag of tricks we haven't even seen yet.'

YGO

'Pick wisely,' Malik sneered, 'for you know what becomes of those I defeat.'

The Pharaoh grunted in anger.

'Their souls are banished for eternity, and their treasures become mine to keep.' Malik pulled out the Millennium Ring. 'Just like this. Does it look familiar, Pharaoh? It's the Millennium Ring!'

YGO

'That belongs to Bakura!' Tristan exclaimed. 'He must've been sent to the Shadow Realm!'

'He was,' Mayet said.

Joey growled. 'We should've known Marik was behind that!'

YGO

Malik held up the Millennium Ring. 'This item is my trophy for eliminating your friend, and when I win this game I'll be adding your Millennium Puzzle to my collection.'

'Never,' the Pharaoh said.

Malik let the ring hang around his neck, now fully visible. 'Have you ever wondered what your defeat will be like? You'll face the same downfall as your friend, Bakura.' He laughed, once again. 'You'll enter the Shadows screaming, just as he did. And then you shall join the ranks of my other victims, Pharaoh.'

The Pharaoh narrowed his eyes as he thought about Mai…about Joey burning. Joey, at least, had fought back and recovered.

'No one has been able to stop the destructive rampage of my Winged Dragon of Ra,' Malik declared. 'And when it releases its rage upon you, you'll be cast into the dark abyss while I receive the ultimate prize: the boundless power of the Pharaoh. Now, then, draw your card so that the suffering can continue.'

We can do this, Yugi called down to him. We just have to draw the card Kaiba gave us. According to Kaiba, it could be our only hope of stopping Marik's Egyptian God Card! Kaiba put his faith in us, now we need to put our faith in him.

The Pharaoh closed his eyes. You're right, Yugi. He put his faith in his deck…and, while he didn't expect Kaiba believed in them, the Pharaoh didn't doubt it was a card that could actually take down Ra. He believed that Kaiba had sought to help them win this fight. He felt the magic moving through his deck as he reached down and he knew.

He knew it was the correct card.

So as he drew he didn't even look at it.

He slid the card into his duel disk.

He opened his eyes. 'I've placed a card face-down, Marik. My turn has ended.'

Malik's eyes widened in shock.

He wasn't the only one.

YGO

'What's going on?' Tristan asked.

'Yugi didn't even look at that card,' Duke observed.

'I've never seen Yugi do that before,' Joey said. 'He has no idea what he just played.'

'What's he thinking, guys?' Téa demanded.

They all turned their heads though…when Mayet chuckled.

She looked at them. 'It's cute you guys think he has no idea what he just played.'

YGO

Mokuba looked up at his older brother. 'Hey, Seto. What card do you think he just drew?'

Kaiba didn't answer.

'Seto?'

But Kaiba's mind was racing. This is ridiculous! There's no way Yugi could know what card he just put on the field! He glanced at Ishizu. Then he looked up with widened eyes.

Something in his mind niggled him…

Like…like…there was a way Yugi could know what he just played.

And…what it was.

He told himself it was the look on Yugi's face that did it.

YGO

Malik recovered to chuckle. 'It seems that the impending threat of the Shadow Realm has clouded your thought patterns. You must have given up. Why else would you place a card on the field without looking at it first, Pharaoh?'

'Marik, you wouldn't understand,' the Pharaoh said.

Malik scowled. 'All right. Back to the duel.' He drew. 'My move.' He took a card from his hand and played it. 'I play Monster Reborn.' He chuckled as the flames returned to the field. 'Winged Dragon of Ra, returned to the field!'

The Pharaoh braced himself against the gust, and sent a mental warning to Yugi. He would need to brace himself for the Pharaoh's next move.

'Rise, my beast!' Malik commanded. 'Stand beside me, and together we'll win.'

Ra returned to the field, but not in Phoenix form.

'I shall now activate my Egyptian God Card's most devastating ability,' Malik crossed his arms across his chest, 'making Ra completely indestructible and sealing your fate, Pharaoh.' As he spoke, the Shadows crept in. They covered him for a moment before withdrawing and smoke looked to be rising from Malik.

'Explain yourself, Marik,' the Pharaoh snapped. 'What's happening to your body?'

'I'm transforming my life points into Ra's attack points,' Malik answered.

'What?' the Pharaoh demanded.

Again, Malik laughed. 'My monster's absorbing my strength.' His body – his body, not Marik's – began to vanish until they were left with only an eye hanging in the air. 'Of course, a small amount of my power will remain with me so I'm not gone completely.' Flames erupted around that eye.

'And you think it's wise to weaken yourself like this?' the Pharaoh asked. 'You're risking your fate on one move!'

YGO

Joey had been right!

'Marik almost completely disappeared!' Tristan exclaimed.

'That's nuts!' Joey declared.

YGO

Kaiba watched the, admittedly unsettling, display on the field.

Let's see if Yugi survives this.

YGO

The eye widened, displaying the veins that shouldn't be able to exist. 'This is all that's left of me, Pharaoh! The rest has fused together with Ra!'

The Pharaoh looked up, both stunned and disturbed. As Malik had said, he had merged into the forehead of the Winged Dragon of Ra.

Malik laughed. 'I have become one with my Egyptian God Card!'

The Pharaoh drew back.

'This is the same tactic I used to destroy your friend, Bakura!' Malik informed him. 'I've created a beast that can wipe you out with one blast, but transferring all but one of my life points to Ra!' His life points dropped to 1 while Ra's attack points flew up to 2,999. 'Now my Egyptian God Card has almost 3,000 attack points!'

'No!' the Pharaoh cried out.

'Oh, but there's more!' Malik crowed. 'Next I'll sacrifice my Juragedo, and transfer its strength to my Winged Dragon of Ra as well.'

Juragedo exploded in flames and Ra's attack points rose again.

'Watch its power grow!' Malik cried. 'Ra now has 4,699 attack points – more than enough to destroy you. Just one attack and this duel is over!' He laughed maniacally.

YGO

'That monster is way too powerful!' Joey declared. 'If Marik attacks Yugi's life points directly, Marik wins the Shadow Game!'

'Oh, no!' Téa cried.

'There's gotta be something left he can do!' Tristan insisted.

YGO

Malik called out the attack. 'Now, Winged Dragon of Ra, attack his life points directly!' The Winged Dragon opened his mouth and the attack began powering up. 'It's all over, Pharaoh!'

'Sorry to disappoint you!' the Pharaoh snapped.

'What?' Malik demanded.

'I reveal my face-down card!' The card in question flipped up, revealing… 'Fiend Sanctuary!'

Both Kaiba and Malik gasped in surprise.

YGO

That is the card I gave him, Kaiba thought. The one card that can save him from Ra's attack. But Yugi placed the card on the field without even looking at it. So how could he have known that he played the right card? This doesn't make any sense!

And then…Kaiba rationalised.

It must be some sort of a trick. Now let's see if it works.

YGO

'Behold the magic of Fiend Sanctuary!' The Pharaoh declared. 'Watch and learn!' The symbol appeared on the field, glowing brightly. It flashed and smoke began to rise out of it.

'No!' Malik insisted. 'What do you think you're doing, Pharaoh?!'

'This magic card was given to me to help me take you down,' the Pharaoh retorted. The avatar of the card emerged out of the smoky hole in the circle. 'Now, meet the instrument of your destruction!'

'What is that?' Malik demanded.

Truth be told, it looked like one of those models that artists used to draw people with. It just had lines of baubles for arms and a lower body made of the same baubles.

'It's called a Metal Fiend Token,' the Pharaoh said.

YGO

Kaiba had decided to just enjoy the show. 'Thanks to my magic card, Ra will attack that Metal Fiend Token instead of attacking Yugi's life points.'

YGO

'Keep your eye on the field,' the Pharaoh said.

Malik cried out in alarm. 'That token is casting a reflection on me!'

'Yes,' the Pharaoh agreed. 'That's precisely what it's doing, Marik. You know why? Because I am no longer the target of your Egyptian God Card's attack. Now it shall attack you.'

Once again, Malik cried out in alarm.

'And,' the Pharaoh added, 'if I remember correctly, you've given all but one of your life points to Ra, which means you'll be wiped out by the hands of your own creature, Marik.'

'Ra won't destroy me!' Malik insisted.

The Pharaoh held up a single finger. 'With only one life point to protect you, I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice in the matter now.'

And, for a third time, Malik cried out in alarm.

YGO

'You go!' Téa cheered.

'We knew you'd outsmart that freak!' Joey called. 'Nice move!'

'You the man, Yugi!' Tristan threw in.

'Now, go ahead and finish this guy off!' Duke told him.

YGO

The Winged Dragon of Ra glowed with the impending attack.

Then he fired.

'Marik!' the Pharaoh barked. 'As soon as your attack hits my token, this duel's over!'

Malik cried out in alarm.

The Pharaoh braced himself as the flames ripped over the field. He covered his face and grunted against the heat.

Then the flames cleared.

'Nice try, Pharaoh!' Malik snapped.

The Pharaoh looked up, and cried out in alarm himself.

'It looks to me like your little magic card didn't work. You were a fool to believe you'd win this duel that easily.' The smoke cleared and revealed Malik was standing on the field again, intact. 'You were never in control! I've been toying with you the whole time!'

'How did you survive?' the Pharaoh demanded.

Malik laughed.

'How did you escape that blast?' the Pharaoh demanded.

'I played a magic card, just like you,' Malik said. 'And it stopped Ra's attack before it destroyed me.'

'Impossible!' the Pharaoh gasped. 'What magic card?'

The card in question flipped up and the Pharaoh instantly recognised it. He recognised it because it was the card Malik had taken from him when he took Monster Reborn.

'It was the De-Fusion magic card I took from your deck, Pharaoh,' Malik said. 'It separated me from my Winged Dragon of Ra just before its attack. That cancelled out the battle before it began, thus saving my life points.' He chuckled. 'So your strategy failed, and now I'm stronger than ever!'

Now Yugi was really going to have to brace himself. There was only one way to keep the Metal Token on the field now.

YGO

That was some quick thinking on Marik's part. Kaiba smirked and closed his eyes. 'Well, just as I suspected. Yugi wasn't able to successfully use the card I gave him to defeat Marik.'

Ishizu said nothing.

However…There is one more thing Yugi can gain from the magic card I gave him. Let's see if he's smart enough to figure it out.

YGO

'Now that I've regained every one of my life points, my weaker half regains his body from the Shadow Realm,' Malik said. 'For now.'

Marik's lips moved as he hung there. '…Odion…help…'

Out of the corner of his eye, the Pharaoh saw Ishizu's eyes widen.

'Now, Ra,' Malik said, 'return to the graveyard!'

Ra vanished from the field again.

Malik took his magic card and held it up. 'And I'll place my Monster Reborn in the graveyard as well.' He did just that. Then he selected another card from his hand. 'Next, I'll put this face-down on the field.' He played the card and it appeared in front of him, concealed. 'That's enough damage for now.'

YGO

'That creep!' Joey exclaimed. 'He's gonna bring back his Monster Reborn card to summon Ra just like he did before.'

'Come on, Yugi!' Tristan called. 'Stop this guy!'

YGO

'It's my move now.' The Pharaoh drew.

'Your Metal Fiend may be protecting you,' Malik said, 'but it costs you 1,000 life points each turn to keep it on the field.'

The Pharaoh looked over at Yugi. He's right, Yugi. And as I lose life points, I also lose a part of you to the Shadows.

Even more of the boy's body had vanished but he kept a calm demeanour. Just do whatever it takes to defeat him.

All right. The Pharaoh turned back to face Malik. 'My move.' He drew. He looked at the card in his hand and then looked back at his partner. I'm sorry to have to put you through this, Yugi.

No problem, Yugi responded. Just win!

'I give up 1,000 life points to keep Metal Fiend on the field,' the Pharaoh declared. His life points dropped to 2300. Yugi grunted in pain.

'Suit yourself, Pharaoh,' Malik sneered. He chuckled. 'After all, it's Yugi who suffers just so you can keep a useless creature on the field. It seems like a desperate act to me.'

YGO

Kaiba's lips quirked. Perhaps Yugi does know the second function of my magic card after all. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

YGO

Thank you, Kaiba. I knew your card would save me the moment you handed it to me! Whether you believe it or not, our spirits are connected. The Pharaoh began. 'All right. Let the duel continue! I reveal,' the card in front of him flipped up, my magic card.'

'Oh, no!' Malik exclaimed. 'Not multiply!'

'Yes,' the Pharaoh said. 'This card allows me to increase the number of Metal Fiends I have on the field from one to three!'

Malik stared in horror.

YGO

Kaiba watched, impressed. 'Well, looks like Yugi did it! He figured out how to make the most of my magic card!'

YGO

The Metal Fiends twirled as lightning began to crack. 'I sacrifice my three Metal Fiend Tokens,' they were destroyed by the electricity, 'to play this!' He raised the card above his head. 'Obelisk the Tormentor!'

With a final burst of light, the final Egyptian God Monster began to emerge.

'Behold!' the Pharaoh declared. 'The Egyptian God Card I won from Kaiba!'

Obelisk towered over the field with a low growl.

Summoned with the help of two of my friends, the Pharaoh thought. Obelisk let out a mighty roar.

'Stare into the face of defeat, Marik!' the Pharaoh stated.

On the sidelines, he heard Tristan shout. 'This is awesome!'

Malik stared up at Obelisk, legs braced and teeth clenched. 'How could I let him do this?'

'All right, my Egyptian God Monster,' the Pharaoh called, 'attack Marik's life points now!'

With a roar, Obelisk punched out at Malik.

AN: I am NOT accepting artworks and commissions.

And if I am continually sent requests DESPITE the above statement, the statements in the last few chapters, and the statement in the summary, this is the last fic that I will be posting on this site.