Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Forgiveness ❯ Victory ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: If I owned Mai, she would have been shown winning more than one duel, and that one by default!

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Since Mokuba and Yugi were judged by the innkeeper as too small to drink or be inside the tavern, Mai and Joey had been the only ones to go in and get alcohol. Joey had just taken the drink pressed upon him, the new champion, to be polite, as Yami had confirmed that the virtual alcohol would affect his reflexes in the game.

And Joey hated beer. Because his father loved it.

Mai however, being over the legal age, was chugging it. While staring unobtrusively at Yugi and Yami, seated as far apart as they can get. Finally, she put the glass down.

"Okay." She turned to Joey. "Mind clueing me in? Why are there too Yugis?"

Joey shrugged. "Well, you're not going to believe me, but that one," he pointed to Yami, who had heard the question and was listening, "Is some kinda spirit. Yugi brought him to life when he solved the puzzle. You remember, that huge thing he was wearing? Anyways, he used to help our Yugi," he pointed to Yugi, who was staring off into space, "duel."

"Yeah, I kinda figured." Mai said, staring into space. "I would have noticed two Yugis running around on the island, and the red eyes and stuff… dueling tends to make you superstitious. I have a forty card deck and only three Harpie Ladies. Yet I always get one in my first hand in a duel, no matter how much I shuffle. Everyone has some story, of drawing the perfect card when any other would have screwed them over… we don't talk about it much, but it's real. Everyone knows it is."

"The heart of the cards." Yami acknowledged.

"Huh?" Mai said. Yugi had started listening by now.

"The monsters are real. They can help you, or not." Yami shrugged it off. It was no big deal to him. Simply the way things were.

"Whoa." Mai breathed. She'd always known, inside, that her Harpies were real, but…

"Anyway… You, Yami. Why did you say goodbye like that, after our duel? I mean, here we both are. Why'd you think we'd never meet again?"

Yami looked away. Yugi tried to pretend he wasn't listening. Finally, Yami sighed. "Pegasus… he stole Yugi's grandfather's soul. We came to the tournament to get it back. You remember, the duel with Kaiba?"

"The one that made Yugi act all weird? It… it wasn't just that he lost, was it?"

Yami sighed. "Seto… he was losing, but Mokuba's soul had been stolen as well. The one who won would go on to face Pegasus, and try to reclaim the lost. Seto said that he would jump if we attacked and he lost. He would have had no reason to live, having failed Mokuba. I knew that…" Yami swallowed. "Seto would have had no chance against Pegasus, not having a Millennium Item. He would have failed, and his soul would have been taken as well. Him losing, was the only chance Mokuba had of being saved. So, I attacked. And…" Yami looked away.

"I stopped you." Yugi said blankly. "And I guess you had a point. Seto lost. But… why didn't you tell me why?" He looked at Yami and glared.

"There wasn't time. And after… would you have listened to me?" Yami said softly.

"And then you killed Pegasus. Why should I listen to you now? After you…" Yugi fisted his hands. Then he stood up. "Let's go rescue Seto."

"Finally! Mokuba said, getting up as well. But he still glared at Yugi.

"What the hell?" Mai asked.

"I'll fill you in as we walk." Joey said, getting up and offering her a hand, which she batted away.

When they got to the edge of the desert, Mai was seething about the Big Five. Joey activated the Niwatori card, and they rode off. There were some monsters along the route, but they were easily dealt with.

Finally, they got to the temple Mokuba's informant had said he had seen a prisoner brought to. When they got inside, it was a giant maze. Joey groaned. "Not this again?"

"Huh?" Mai asked.

"Yugi and I ran into some eliminators who used a maze. We kicked their asses, with Yami's help, but it was annoying."

Suddenly, they heard a scream. Joey and Yami ran into the maze, Mokuba following them. The others ran after a moment later, when they saw a labyrinth tank behind them.

Yami's Dark Magician destroyed tank after tank, until they found a girl in the maze, attended by a fairy.

They skidded to a halt.

"Whoa, Mokuba! That girl looks like you!" Joey exclaimed.

"Tell me about it." The girl complained. "I used to be tall and blonde. I had to act like a helpless damsel, but at least I looked good! Then those bastards reprogrammed my character! And my lines still suck! There's no justice."

Suddenly she switched from cynical to innocent, Yami to Yugi. "Oh, thank you brave heroes, for rescuing me! I was lost in this maze!"

Mokuba interrupted. "Do you know where my brother is? He was taken prisoner."

They started to hear voices crying out behind them. "Adina! Where are you, princess?"

"Over here, with these brave heroes!" Adina yelled.

Turning back to them, she said, "Let me take you to the palace, and I will tell you what has befallen your friend."

On their way out, there was a Gate Guardian. Joey summoned the Red Eyes and looked at Yami.

"I don't have that card in my deck!"

"Yug'," Joey yelled. "Summon the Summoned Skull!"

"Okay!"

"Go, Polymerization!" Yami yelled.

"Activate Dragon Nails!" Joey said.

"Black Skull Dragon, attack!" Yugi pointed.

The Gate Guardian was destroyed. "We make a pretty good team, just like with the Paradox Brothers." Joey said, trying not to be too obvious.

"Yes." Yami agreed.

Yugi was silent. He remembered.

They rode in a carriage to the castle. When they got there, Princess Adina was told to skip the info about the dragon, and just tell them if there was any way to the Castle of Dark Illusions Kaiba was being held captive in. Kaiba knew, but giving away info would be cheating. She recounted a legend about heroes escaping the castle, which had a barrier which Duel Monsters could not pass, with a flying ship.

They were give clothes suitable to their status as heroes. Mai approved, but Joey ended up dressed as a barbarian. He was not mollified by being told that outfit went to the strongest hero.

"Kaiba's gonna laugh…" He lamented.

"No, he isn't." Yami said. "He isn't laughing now."

"Huh?" Joey and Yugi said.

"He has the puzzle, so we can share thoughts. And no, he can't tell us how to beat the game. That would be cheating."

Yugi's eyes narrowed. A mind link? Was Yami influencing Seto's mind, like he had Yugi's? But had he enchanted Yugi? He must have!

"Don't worry, in the later stages of the game you can get upgraded armor." Yami said to comfort Joey.

"Armor would be good, given that life points don't regenerate in this." Joey agreed.

"You lost life points?" Yami grabbed Joey's duel disk. "Here." Yami handed Joey a card. It was a trap with an angel on it. "When you take damage, this will increase your life points by a thousand. I'm sorry, I used all the instant increase cards on Mokuba, since Seto was so worried."

"Thanks, man." Joey took the card.

Was Yami helping because he didn't want to lose the game (and lose Seto), or just to help Joey? Yugi didn't know what to think. And did Yami love Seto? But Yami had said he loved him! `He's just using both of us. He's lying to at least one of us, and if you would lie about that he can't really care for either of us. And he was willing to let Seto die! I saved Seto, why isn't he grateful to me? But… Seto lost to Pegasus. Yami was the one who rescued Mokuba… why did he care about Mokuba and Grandpa enough to kill for them? Was he just mad at Pegasus and wanted to switch hosts? Aargh! I don't know what to do!'

Yami noticed Mokuba sneaking off. They'd brainstormed in the carriage. Wasn't Seto going to be surprised?

They decided to search the town library for records of the flying ship, when alarm bells rang. The castle was under attack! Swarms of Duel Monsters filled the skies. Yugi tried to activate Black Hole, but a Ninja destroyed it. Another captured Adina in a net.

Joey and Mai tried to rescue her, but they couldn't. She was carried off to the castle, and then the monsters departed.

Once they had gone, `Mokuba' collapsed to the ground. "Oh no!" he said in a feminine voice. "They've taken Mokuba!"

Yami smiled.

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Kaiba frowned. He was getting bored. And why had Yami cut him off?

Suddenly, the Witty Phantom reappeared. "Ha ha." He said in a bored tone. "Your brother was disguised, but we saw through it. Here he is!" The Phantom gestured and Mokuba appeared on the ground.

Kaiba's eyes bulged out. "Why the hell are you in a dress, Mokuba?"

Mokuba, embarrassed, struggled out of it. "To get to you! The princess said she was the target, so I pretended to be her! Yami agreed it was a good plan!" He pulled out a card from his deck. Immediately, it started to rain. The rain rusted Seto's chains, and he was free from the rock. "Oh yeah! Solemn Wishes! Darn, I wanted to cut you loose." Mokuba pouted.

"Ahem? You can still bash me. I'm supposed to fight you." The Phantom said.

Mokuba smiled. "All right! Guardian Angel Joan, bash him!" The angel walked up and tapped him with her sword, causing the Phantom to go into a very funny histrionic death scene. Yami laughed with Seto and Mokuba.

--We're on our way.-

Seto took his deck from Mokuba and proceeded to get his first Blue-Eyes back and wreck havoc on the temple. Muahahaha.

As he busted through the floor into the main chamber and slid down his Blue-Eyes' neck with Mokuba, he saw them.

"Yugi. Valentine. Wheeler." He acknowledged. He looked at Yami. It was obvious how conflicted he was. He seemed tugged by ropes in two directions, to go to Seto's side, and his Aibou's.

Seto solved his dilemma by walking over to him. "All right. I beat the mini-bosses here, so we've cleared this temple. But we still have to beat all the rest…"

"No, you haven't beaten this temple. There is still the Mystic Dragon!" A voice proclaimed viciously from the air.

"No!" Seto yelled. "I escaped, the sacrifice didn't happen, so therefore the Dragon can't be summoned!"

"Who cares about the rules? Prepare yourselves!" And the duelists found themselves in a room that looked like the inside of a computer chip, facing a huge dragon.

Yami sprung into action. "I use Polymerization to fuse the Dark Magician and Buster Blader to create the Dark Paladin!" But the fantastic monster fell to the ground.

"Ha ha ha! Only dragons can fight here!"

"Curse of Dragon!"

"Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

"Blue-Eyes, arise!"

"Emerald Dragon!"

Yami smiled. "Yugi! Summon the Black Luster Soldier! Seto! Summon the blue-eyes Ultimate!"

"Even the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon is no match for our dragon!" Another voice proclaimed.

"You got it Yami! Activate Polymerization!" Three dragons roared.

"But… the Soldier isn't a dragon!" Yugi said.

"Trust me! Please!" Yami asked.

"Please, Yugi!" Seto added.

There was a long moment of silence. Finally, "I activate the Black Luster Ritual, sacrificing Gaia the Fierce Knight and Kuriboh to summon the Black Luster Soldier!"

A light appeared in Yami's eyes."I activate my third Polymerization! Fuse, Black Luster Soldier and Ultimate Dragon!"

The Soldier mounted the huge dragon. Power flowed from all the dragons on the field to it, increasing its power to nine thousand! "Yugi, Seto, order it to attack!"

"Attack!"

The Mystic Dragon was obliterated.

"As you cheated, you deserve to pay for you crimes! Penalty Game! Illusion of Reality! Stay in this realm forever!"

"NO!!!" the Big Five screamed, as they felt their souls separate from their bodies.

Suddenly, a hole opened up beneath the Duelists. When they opened their eyes, they were on a platform standing before the Princess. She praised them as wonderful heroes and opened up a portal for them to return home. As she sang the spell, she was revealed as the Mystical Elf.

The others ran through, but Yami motioned to Yugi that he wanted him to remain behind. When the others left, the scene faded, leaving them in shadows.

"Seto's safe, let's duel! I'll seal you away forever!" Yugi said grimly.

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Why does everyone think my Yugi is horrible and stupid!? Why! He's just doing what he thinks is right, being brave and fighting the evil spirit! Siiigh.

I got hooked on Y/Y/S by Shi-koi and Solitaire and Xpyne too.

I hate it when they fight too. So… why am I writing this story again? I hate plot bunnies!

Oh, and the rain in this chapter and the last is three of the permanent trap Solemn Wishes. Raises your life points by 500 every time you draw a card.