Merger of the Big 5 Part III

'It's time for me to do what my associates couldn't!' Leichter declared. 'Defeat you two so we can all escape! You couldn't begin to imagine what monster lurks in my deck.'

'Tell me!' the Pharaoh demanded.

'Oh, you'll find out,' Leichter said. 'I'm about to summon it.' His magic card was still glowing. 'Thanks to my Altar of Mist, I can add any ritual magic card I want to my hand.' He did just that. 'And I choose this!' He looked up from his cards. 'Dragon Revival Ritual. This card allows me to summon my all-powerful Five-Headed Dragon.'

Rat rot! The Pharaoh knew exactly which card he meant. 'That's not true!'

'Very perceptive,' Leichter allowed. 'I must also have five monsters, each with a different attribute.'

'Well, I maybe missing something but I only see one monster on your side,' Joey pointed out.

'Correct,' Leichter said. 'You are missing something, Mr. Wheeler. Jinzo isn't my only Deck Master, remember?'

'Huh?' Joey asked. 'And what do you mean by that, Leichter?' Suddenly his eyes widened in realisation. 'The other members of the Big 5!'

'That's right!' the Pharaoh exclaimed.

'Their monsters count too!' Joey added. 'Cause all five of those creeps are using Tristan's body.'

'My five Deck Masters,' Leichter said, 'come forth. I call you all to the field.' As he spoke, the monsters entered the field and came to stand in a circle. 'First, the unstoppable Jinzo.' His voice changed to Gansley's. 'Then I summon the almighty Deep Sea Warrior!' Crump was next. 'Followed by the cunning Nightmare Penguin.' And then it was Johnson. 'Next I'll call Judge Man to the stand.' And, finally, Nezbitt. 'And, finally, I'll summon the superior Robotic Knight.' Then Leichter retook control of Tristan's body. 'Now listen to me, my five Deck Masters! I command all of you to join together, to form a creature of unparalleled strength and supreme power!'

All five monsters were joined together by white lines going between them and forming a…what did they call it again?

A pentagram, Yugi supplied.

Oh, yes. A pentagram.

The pentagram glowed brightly.

'Behold!' Leichter declared. 'The ultimate monster – my Five-Headed Dragon!' He burst out laughing as rocks began to fly upwards. A very familiar monster began to rise up out of the ground, replacing the five Deck Masters on the field. It looked exactly the same as it had in Kaiba's virtual game.

Leichter stood atop of one of the heads.

'We faced this beast before,' the Pharaoh declared.

'I know,' Joey said. 'How could I forget? It was the last time we fought these cyber creeps!'

YGO

'Ergh!' Mayet pulled a face.

'What is that?' Duke asked.

'The Five-Headed Dragon,' Mayet said. 'It was the Big 5's weapon of choice during the last altercation with had with them. That thing wiped out everyone except Yugi and Kaiba. I sure hope Yugi's got some kind of plan for that thing.'

YGO

'Let's just hope my luck is better than it was last time,' Joey remarked.

'Well, the good news is Leichter's Dragon can't attack until his next turn.' The Pharaoh hoped he wasn't about to eat his words.

'Huh?' Joey dropped his head. 'That's a relief. We have one turn to stop it.'

'Hold on,' Leichter said. 'I forgot to mention. My Dragon destroys every one of your magic, trap, and monster cards as soon as it's summoned.'

Joey cried out in alarm.

The Pharaoh braced himself.

The blast hit.

'Oh, no!' Joey cried.

Jinzo and the Dark Magician Girl shattered. The sight of his monster coming apart filled the Pharaoh with rage. He forced it down though.

Joey stepped forward. 'Look, Leichter, we got plenty of monsters in our decks! And it's our move.'

Leichter smirked. 'There's one more thing you should know. It's immune to almost all attacks. It cannot be damaged by fire, water, earth, wind, or darkness. It seems to me that your chances of rescuing Tristan just got even slimmer. And I think you all know what that means: it means four more of you will soon join him as part of the Big 5's newest corporate takeover. And just to make sure no one interferes with our plan.' He set a card and it appeared on the field. 'I place this card face-down. Good luck, gentlemen. Now use your last turn wisely.'

'What am I supposed to do?' Joey wondered aloud. 'It's got 5000 attack points and only one kind of monster can beat it.' He looked over. 'Any ideas, Yugi?'

'We can do this, Joey,' the Pharaoh said. 'Trust your Deck Master.'

Joey smiled. 'Yeah. My Deck Master.' He turned back to Leichter. 'Here we go!' Joey drew. 'Come on…' He muttered to himself and then narrowed his eyes as he considered the card he'd just drawn. Then he looked back up at Leichter again. 'All right. You'll never get me and my friends. Got that, Leichter?' He set his cards. 'First, I'll place these three cards face-down on the field.' The cards appeared in front of him. Then he looked over his shoulder. 'Swordsman, it's all you out there now.'

Good. That would allow him to make the move he needed to.

Joey looked ahead again. 'I call my Deck Master to the field.'

The Swordsman moved out onto the field.

The Pharaoh nodded.

Joey smiled. Then he addressed Leichter again. 'That's all from me.'

'Good work, Joey,' the Pharaoh said. 'I know what I have to do.' He looked at Leichter's Dragon.

I just hope it works, Yugi said.

'It's my move. Here goes!' The Pharaoh drew. He'd drawn Magical Hats.

I may need this in a little while.

'Now I call my Deck Master to the field!' the Pharaoh declared. 'Dark Magician!' The Dark Magician moved onto the field.

'You've made this too easy,' Leichter boasted. 'Your Deck Masters can't touch my Dragon. And the best part is once I destroy them, you two lose and your bodies are ours!'

The Pharaoh closed his eyes and bowed his head, recalling the information he needed.

'Hang in there,' Joey said. 'I'm here for you.'

The Pharaoh grinned. He opened his eyes and lifted his head. 'This duel's not over, Leichter, and it's our move. We'll show you what real teamwork can do.'

'Very touching,' Leichter sneered. 'But I'd say five heads are much better than two! How do you plan to defeat our Dragon?'

'The same way I did the first time we fought it,' the Pharaoh said.

'You can't,' Crump said.

Nezbitt added. 'That won't work now. Last time you summoned Master of Dragons Soldier.'

'It's true,' Leichter said. 'You can't play Master of Dragons. You don't have the cards you need to summon it to the field.'

The Pharaoh set a card. 'Yes. But I can summon a monster that's just as powerful.' He played the Polymerisation card he just used. 'By combining our two monsters together in order to form…' The Dark Magician and the Flame Swordsman fused into one being. '…Dark Flare Knight!'

The monster hummed seriously as he appeared on the field. A whirlwind suddenly formed around the humanoid monster and he was launched up into the air. While he looked weaker, on the surface, there was a little detail about Dark Flare Knight that he only knew for one reason.

'Take a good look, Big 5,' the Pharaoh told them. 'This is the monster that will bring about your destruction, and return Tristan to us!'

The Dark Flare Knight landed in a crouch.

'You challenge our Dragon with that?' Leichter demanded incredulously.

'Yes,' the Pharaoh said. 'Dark Flare Knight is a combination of our Deck Masters, just as your Dragon is a combination of yours. And Joey and I have faith in our Deck Masters.'

Leichter sneered. 'You fool! That new monster of yours is a creature of darkness. And our Five-Headed Dragon can only be beaten by a creature of light.'

'We'll see,' the Pharaoh said cryptically.

Leichter drew back, stunned. But he quickly recovered. 'Yes, we will.'

'Dark Flare Knight,' the Pharaoh said. 'Prepare to attack now. Your target is their Five-Headed Dragon.'

The Dark Flare Knight nodded and lifted his sword. With a single vocal sound, a beam of light shot out of the sword. On the other side of the field, Leichter predictably gave his own attack order. The Five-Headed Dragon returned the blast from all five of the beast's heads. The two blasts clashed. The power struggle was brief, but the Dark Flare Knight was overwhelmed and destroyed.

…So it seemed.

The Pharaoh covered his face against the gust that resulted. Their life points stayed intact.

Unlike the last time something like this happened, Leichter noticed. 'What's this? How can you two still be standing?'

The Pharaoh straightened up. 'We're unharmed because of Dark Flare Knight's special effects. Sharee and I were supplied with access to the database of Deck Masters. That's how I know this. First, it prevents me from losing life points when it's destroyed. But that's not all it does, Leichter. Our Deck Masters are gone, but notice that Joey and I are still in this duel.'

'No!' Leichter cried.

A glowing figure appeared on the field in front of the Pharaoh. 'I'm afraid so. Thanks to Dark Flare Knight's second effect. Whenever that card's destroyed, Mirage Knight is then summoned to take its place.' The glowing figure centralised and then took the form of the new monster.

'That's your new Deck Master?' Leichter demanded. 'Nice try, Yugi, but this Knight's too weak also. So why did you go to all this trouble just to bring that to the field?' His eyes – or Tristan's eyes – widened. 'Unless Mirage Knight has a special effect as well!'

'You're beginning to catch on, Leichter,' the Pharaoh said. 'Now, Mirage Knight, attack his Dragon!'

The gold-armoured Knight attacked, moving at blinding speed.

The Five-Headed Dragon counterattacked again.

'He may look weak,' the Pharaoh said. 'However, first impressions can be deceiving. So observe closely now, Leichter.' Mirage Knight flew right into the attacks. 'The special ability of our Mirage Knight is about to seal our victory. You see, it is able to absorb all of the attack points of the opposing monster, giving our monster 5000 extra attack points.'

Mirage Knight's attack points flew up to 7800.

'What?' Leichter drew back. 'Oh, no! Now it's more powerful than our Dragon!'

'And there's one more thing you may want to know.' The Pharaoh repeated his own words right back at him. 'Mirage Knight is a creature of light, and you know what that means, Leichter. It's exactly the kind of monster I need to destroy your Dragon!'

Leichter drew back with an angry sound.

'And once it's wiped out, this duel will finally be over,' the Pharaoh added.

The Mirage Knight came down and slashed the Five-Headed Dragon right across the torso. It was destroyed with a pained roar and an explosion of light.

'Your Deck Master is now gone!' the Pharaoh declared. 'And since my Mirage Knight had 7800 attack points, your life points are gone! This duel's done!'

Leichter came to a…strangely dignified landing. 'That's funny. I don't feel like a loser.' His life points only dropped down to 600.

'Oh, no!' the Pharaoh exclaimed. 'His life points didn't drop to 0!'

Joey drew back. 'That attack should've wiped him out! Explain yourself, tough guy.'

Leichter chuckled, and that turned into laughter. When he recovered himself, he did explain. 'Did you forget about the face-down card I played earlier? It's known as A Deal With Dark Ruler.'

Not good! 'What?'

Joey cried out in alarm and drew back.

The card in question flipped up.

'I should have known,' the Pharaoh growled.

'Oh, well,' Leichter said. 'This trap card prevented me from receiving any damage when your Knight destroyed my Dragon. All I had to do was give up half of my life points. A business decision that was well worth it in the end, wouldn't you agree?'

'But you should still lose cause your Deck Master's gone,' Joey pointed out.

Leichter chuckled. 'That would have been the case, had it not been for the second effect of my Dark Ruler trap card, Mr. Wheeler.' The card stretched up. It flew up and then reformed into a new duel monster. 'It summons Berserk Dragon as my Deck Master. Looks like your big plan didn't work, boys.'

Mirage Knight separated into Dark Magician and Flame Swordsman again.

That surprised Joey. 'Hey, Yug. What happened to our Mirage Knight? It's gone now.'

'Mirage Knight only stays in play for one attack, Joey,' the Pharaoh explained. 'Then it splits into the two original monsters that were used to summon it.'

Serenity called from above. 'Please don't let them destroy your Deck Masters!'

Joey turned to call back a reassurance to her. 'Don't worry about a thing, Serenity, cause Yugi's turn's not over yet. You can do this.'

The Pharaoh ground his teeth. He hadn't anticipated having to continue fighting after destroying the Five-Headed Dragon, but he'd have to hit what was pitched, so to speak. And he knew exactly what card he'd need to use. It was, rather fortunately, already on the field. 'All right, Leichter, now I activate Magical Hats!' The Hats appeared on the field, concealing the Dark Magician. 'So you'll have to find my Deck Master to destroy it! And next, I shall activate my Deck Master's special ability: I'll spend 1000 life points, which allows my Dark Magician to duplicate the effect of any magic card on the field. And I choose Magical Hats, which hides Joey's Deck Master as well.' The Hats appeared and concealed the Flame Swordsman.

The Pharaoh's life points dropped to 1000.

'Thanks, Yug,' Joey said. 'Now let's hope these geezers aren't good at hide and seek.'

'We'll see,' the Pharaoh responded. 'The rest is up to fate, Joey. Let's hope for the best.'

'I'm not too worried,' Joey remarked. 'He's got a one in four chance.'

But Leichter chuckled. 'Well, I have to disagree, Mr. Wheeler. Your math's a bit off. The odds are slightly more in my favour. And now it's time! My move!' He drew. 'Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Your little hat trick. A nice attempt, but since my new Dragon can attack four monsters at the same time, your hats won't work.'

Rat rot!

'Whoa!' Joey exclaimed. 'That means he can't miss!'

'One of us is about to lose,' the Pharaoh stated.

'So this is it?' Joey asked nervously.

The Pharaoh frantically tried to think of something that could save them, but he was drawing a great, big blank. 'I'm afraid so. One of us is about to lose his Deck Master.'

'Aw, yeah? I don't think so!'

The Pharaoh looked over at him. Did Joey have something…Oh, that was right! Of course! Joey had set three cards in his last turn. While the Pharaoh didn't have a move ready to defend them with, Joey certainly would have. And he'd just have to trust that it would save them.

Leichter threw his head back and laughed for a moment. 'Prepare to lose it all, Wheeler.' But then he stopped. Then he smirked. 'Hold on. I think I'll target Yugi first.'

The Pharaoh tensed and ground his teeth.

'Huh?' Joey demanded.

Leichter barked out the order. 'Attack, Berserk Dragon! It's impolite to wear hats in a place of business. So destroy all four of Yugi's Hats, along with his Deck Master!' The Dragon opened his mouth and shot out four fireballs.

Inside his head, Yugi cringed. I tried my best, Tristan!

'Don't give up, Yugi!' Joey called and then gave the order. 'Flame Swordsman, protect Yugi with your life!'

The Pharaoh was expecting but he was not expecting that. 'No!'

The fireballs hit.

'Now both of your Deck Masters are gone!' Leichter sneered.

'Noooo!' Serenity howled.

'I win the duel!' Leichter crowed.

But…the Pharaoh noticed that neither his nor Joey's life points dropped. And that wasn't all he noticed.

Okay…how? The Pharaoh looked over at Joey.

Slowly, the smoke cleared.

'You there, Joey?' the Pharaoh asked.

Soon, the smoke cleared enough for him to see Joey standing there. He was perfectly fine. He smiled.

'It's Joey!' their friends exclaimed from above.

'But how?' Leichter demanded, and then he looked over as the smoke cleared. 'The Dark Magician survived?' Even more smoke cleared, allowing the field to be seen very well. 'And so did the Flame Swordsman!' His eyes widened for a moment. 'Cheaters! How can your Deck Masters be standing?'

'Take a look, Leichter.' Joey indicated his flipped-up card. 'I used my trusty Silver Dollar trap card.'

'Explain yourself!' Leichter demanded.

'All right,' Joey said. 'First I saved Yugi's Dark Magician by forcing my Swordsman to take the brunt of your attack, then my trap card kicked in a saved my Swordsman.' With its purpose served, the card vanished from the field.

'That card only saves weak monsters.' It suddenly hit the Pharaoh. 'Of course! Joey weakened his Swordsman when he used its special ability to power up his Rocket Warrior. So when Leichter's Dragon attacked, Joey's Silver Dollar trap saved his already-weak Swordsman.' The Pharaoh smiled. 'That was an excellent move, Joey. You managed to save us both.'

'Well, you'd have done the same thing,' Joey said. They both turned back. 'So, what do you think about that?'

'Look kid, I'm not through with you by a long shot!' Leichter raged. 'And neither is my Dragon! So prepare to lose your bodies!' The Dragon went to attack again. But then it's attack points dropped to 3000.

'Joey,' the Pharaoh said, 'did you see that?'

Joey grinned. 'You bet! His Dragon just lost attack points. Just in time for my turn.' He drew. 'Check out this move, Leichter. Reveal my face-down card.' One of the two remaining card flipped up. 'Knight's Title! Now I'll add this magic card to Yugi's Deck Master.'

The card glowed and the Pharaoh watched in satisfaction as his Deck Master transformed.

'It transforms Dark Magician into Dark Magician Knight!' Joey said. 'Now, thanks to my Deck Master's special ability, I can transfer most of its attack points to Yugi's.' The Flame Swordsman's attack points dropped to 100. 'Since this power only works on warriors, I had to transform Dark Magician first.'

Leichter growled.

A sword appeared and Dark Magician Knight took the sword. His attack points flew up to 3200.

'3200 attack points?' Leichter demanded. 'That makes it stronger than my Berserk Dragon!'

Joey looked at him. 'That should do the trick. Now why don't you do the honours, Yugi?'

'With pleasure, Joey.' The Pharaoh nodded.

Joey turned back to Leichter. 'I end my turn.'

'We make a great team, Joey. Together, you and I are about to topple the Big 5.' The Pharaoh turned back to Leichter too. 'You five are done! My move!' He drew. 'And now, Dark Magician Knight, attack their Berserk Dragon with Sword of Dark Magic Attack!' Dark Magician Knight held his sword out in front of him and lifted two fingers to his forehead. The magic visibly made its way up the blade. 'Carrying with him the combined strength of both our Deck Masters, our Knight cannot be stopped!' The Knight opened his eyes. He slammed his palm of the flat of the blade and drew it up to the end.

The blade glowed bright.

The Dark Magician Knight slashed it through the air before charging forward and slicing Berserk Dragon in two.

The Dragon shattered.

'There goes your Deck Master!' the Pharaoh declared. 'That means all five of you automatically lose this duel.'

Leichter stared in shock.

'Now, return Tristan's body as you promised!' the Pharaoh barked. He wasn't completely confident the Big 5 would hold up their end of the bargain. 'And run back to Noah! We've all had enough of you.'

Leichter fell to his knees.

'It was a pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen,' the Pharaoh felt the inexplicable need to quip.

YGO

Mayet moved to the Pharaoh's side.

I'm not dead sure they're going to give back Tristan's body.

You and me both.

Tristan rolled up to the other side.

'Well?' the Pharaoh asked expectantly. 'Now it's time for you five to give Tristan his body back.'

The Big 5 sat up and glared. 'I believe you've mistaken me for someone who believes in playing fair.'

'Say, what?' Joey demanded. He raised a fist. 'All right, it's go time!'

'As you wish.' Leichter stood up and all five members of the Big 5 jumped out and launched themselves at the group.

While the rest of the group flinched back, the Pharaoh and Mayet both automatically lifted their hands. Like before, a golden barrier appeared. It stretched over and protected them and their friends. But the Big Five were stopped before they even got to the barrier the ancients had erected.

They were all plunged right back into Tristan's body. One of them grabbed at his chest. 'Hey! What's going on?'

Noah's voice echoed from above. 'Breaking my rules again, are we?'

Leichter looked up. 'Noah!'

'You five fools have failed me for the last time!' Noah declared. A bright light took up residence at Tristan's chest.

Around the ancients, their friends loudly questioned what was going on.

Then Tristan's body was gone in a bright light, along with the Big 5.

'They disappeared,' Joey murmured.

'Oh no!' Téa exclaimed. 'They took Tristan's body away with them!'

The little robot monkey at the Pharaoh's feet stared down with what Mayet imagined were supposed to be teary eyes. 'I don't believe it! I'll be stuck in this monkey suit for the rest of my life!' He made sad monkey sounds. 'And I'm feeling more like a monkey and less like me every second! This stinks!'

Serenity knelt down and picked him up. She hugged him and his face immediately lit up.

'I'm here for you, Tristan,' Serenity said.

'On second thought,' Tristan remarked. 'I can learn to live with this.'