Chaos Effect

Chapter 82: Chapter 82

"Can\'t be too much of a surprise," I said. "Only a few people left."

"Unless Seto has a surprise waiting for us," Mai muttered.

"What, like secret entries?" I asked. "Nah... Seto is too straight forward for that."

"You... do remember we\'re on a blimp right now, right?"

"Yeah and heading towards a tower. But when it comes to dueling and brackets he tends to be rather boring."

"...a tower?" Mai asked.

"Shhhh. Spoilers."

"Quoting River Song? Aren\'t you supposed to be The Doctor?" Mai teased. "Or does that mean I\'m the Time Lord and you are the companion."

"...you knowing Doctor Who is so fucking hot," I hissed, causing Mai to laugh.

"If you two are done flirting..." Seto complained.

"They are never done flirting," Renard said, bemused, from his seat next to us. "It\'s honestly rather inspiring."

"Makes you jealous you don\'t have that," Yuri chimed in.

"Please," Seto snapped, "like anyone wants the gooey mess those two are making."

"No," I told Mai firmly as she opened her mouth. "It might break his little brain if you make that joke." That got her to begin snickering, pressing her face against my shoulder. "Go ahead and just do the drawing, Seto. We\'re all ready."

"Finally," he complained and started up the Bingo Machine just as Ishizu walked in.

"I apologize for being late," she declared before making a beeline for Yugi like the Pharaoh was a magnet and her junk was made a metal. "I had to take care of some things. Have the next duels been decided?"

Tea, who was seated next to Yugi, twisted her head and shot Ishizu a death glare that had the Egyptian woman nearly stumbling. "He\'s doing it now. You can go back to your room and be secretive and elitist, we\'ll call you if you need to come out and give us some cryptic bullshit."

My eyes went wide and I heard Troy play the "DAAAAAMN!" clip from Friday.

"What exactly happened on Earth 2 anyway?" Mai asked. "Not that I\'m complaining as Tea with a spine and sass is a real treat but-"

"Yeah, I think Aiden might have unlocked some shit with his tampering," I admitted.

Ishizu quickly rallied. "I share my knowledge with those that can handle it. The future is a grand and terrible thing, Tea Gardner. Much like the past. To see it as it truly was and will truly be... it is a burden. One that is too great for many... small minds."

"Hey!" Yugi exclaimed, making it HIS turn to snap at the woman. "Don\'t talk to her like that."

Ishizu considered him for a moment before letting out a sniff. "You are far too emotional, Yugi Muto. It will affect the Pharaoh negatively when he prepares to duel."

"Uh oh," I muttered.

"What?"

"Well, you know how I have my berserk buttons?"

Mai nodded. "Like last week?"

~MC~MC~MC~

"-CRIME AGAINST NATURE!" Edwin roared, standing on his chair in the KaibaCorp executive restaurant. Mai had come to visit him for lunch and things had been going smoothly until the waiter had come by and gave them their menus. "SETO MUST BE DESTROYED FOR THIS!"

"What happened?" Martin asked, having arrived late and just caught the end of Edwin\'s rant.

Mai sighed. "They are only serving veggie burgers today."

"...seriously?"

"He grew up on a farm. Apparently this is like blasphemy to him."

Edwin pointed at the kitchen. "Can you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men! It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again! When the beat of your heart echoes the beating of the drums! No more veggie burgers when tomorrow comes!"

"Will you join in our crusade, who will be strong and stand with me!" Aria asked, waving a flag.

"Why are you protesting?!" Cassie asked.

"I don\'t know, I just like to!"

~MC~MC~MC~

"Yeah, that," I said. "Well... Ishizu just pressed the Yugi button."

There was a flash of light.

"She shouldn\'t have done that."

The Pharaoh slowly rose up and walked towards Ishizu, who tried valiantly to maintain her regal posture and bearing but I could tell that she was fighting the urge to fall to her knees in the presence of the Pharaoh. Whether that was out of respect for him or a desire to Torment his Obelisk was up for debate...

"Yugi affects me negatively?" the Pharaoh snapped. "That is impossible. When I awoke in this world my first instincts were of violence, cruelty, and pain. It was Yugi who gave me nobility and kindness. I would have become no better than your brother had I bonded with another... he made me a better man through his kindness. And his friends have given me support and aid during my darkest moments." He swept his eyes over to Tea, Tristan, Duke, and then much to my surprise myself. "Yugi could never do anything to harm me. Rather I fear I will harm him."

"You could never-"

"This is all well and good," Seto said, cutting Ishizu off, "but if I wanted to see Yugi\'s One Man Show where he pretends to be multiple people I\'d buy a ticket. This is my tournament and we are deciding the final rounds."

"Hear hear," Rex called out. "Let\'s get a move on, shall we?"

There was a PLUNK PLUNK as finally two balls entered the dragon\'s mouth and rolled out to the other two. Seto took them and looked them over before scoffing. "Of course... will have to deal with more of these theatrics. The next duel will be Ryou Bakura vs. Marik Ishtar."

"No."

We all turned to stare at Ishizu.

"Pardon me?" Seto said slowly.

"The duel will not be that. You must redraw lots."

Seto, the last strands of his already rather thin patience coming unraveled, glared at Ishizu. "This is the selection. There are no do-overs. If you are so scared your brother can\'t take on Yugi\'s little friend then you can try and convince him to quit. Otherwise you have no other course of action than to watch the duel."

Ishizu though shook her head, refusing to back down. "You do not understand, Seto Kaiba. This is not the duel that must occur. Not at this moment. The Spirit of the Ring must face the Pharaoh first."

"Yugi has already dueled Tristan," Seto stated.

"Maybe you\'d know that if you actually got out of your room instead of hiding away being all secretive," Tea grumbled, the Pharaoh coming to sit down next to her, patting her hand to try and keep her claim.

"The only people left to duel are you, your brother-" Seto said both their names with just enough of a disrespecting sneer to make it clear his thoughts on the Ishtar family, "-Odion, Rex Raptor, Bakura, and Mai."

Ishizu looked about at that and I decided it was time to deal with her little \'the future is written\' bullshit. "Oh, by the way... if you were thinking that Odion would take on Joey? Brom defeated him. He\'s out of the tournament."

Ishizu though set her jaw at that. "I am aware. Brom will be forfeiting his place so Joey might take his spot."

"Not possible," Seto said coldly. "Even if I was willing to allow Wheeler to sneak back into this tournament, which I am not, a duelist can\'t give up their spot to someone else. They also can\'t make deals to trade their opponents."

"I think that\'s because of you," Mai whispered to me.

"Fair."

"It will happen," Ishizu said. "I have seen it."

Seto scoffed "And Chaos over there has wet dreams about Mai. The difference is his could actually come true."

I whistled at that. "That was a good one. And accurate."

Ishizu narrowed her eyes. "You can not change fate, Seto Kaiba. No matter how hard you try. The power of my Millennium Necklace-"

"Will let me see Ronald McDonaldland and hang out with the Grimace, but only if we defeat the Hamburgler," Seto snarked. "Whatever. Someone go get Bakura and Marik and tell them it\'s time to duel." With that he swept past Ishizu, who narrowed her eyes before glaring at me.

"This is all your fault."

"I\'m to blame for many things," I admitted. "The ability for all of us to fucking swear, for one. But this?" I shook my head. "Even with me mucking things up this is just the Butterfly Effect. Not my fault."

"Isn\'t the Butterfly Effect part of Chaos Theory?" Rex asked.

I shoot him a look. "It isn\'t actually NAMED after me... is it?" My brow furrowed. "Someone look up Chaos Theory and see if it came about before Duelist Kingdom!"

"Jest all you wish, Edwin Chaos," Ishizu said, "but I will not stop working to save the world. You will not be allowed to continue to meddle. I will stop you."

I shifted Mai slightly. "Better people than you have tried, Ishizu. Better people than you."

~MC~MC~MC~

"I\'m not sure who we should be rooting for, to be honest," Tea said as she and her friends made their way to the dueling arena. It had become overcast but they\'d been assured by the pilots that there was no chance of rain (Seto had just scoffed when he heard Tristan ask about that and wondered if he was afraid of getting wet). "I mean... Marik is Marik."

"Yeah, which is why I\'m never gonna root for that creep!" Duke declared. "What he forced Yugi and Joey to go through... that is something I\'ll never be okay with!"

"But Bakura isn\'t our friend Bakura," Tristan pointed out. "The Spirit of the Millennium Ring is in control. And he\'s bad news." He shuddered. "I still remember what it felt like when he ripped my soul out of my body."

"Wait... what?" Koyo said, confused. "He... what?"

"The Spirit of the Millennium Ring can manipulate souls," Tea said. "Back at Duelist Kingdom he put our souls into trading cards... we\'d have been stuck in them forever if the Pharaoh hadn\'t been around to challenge him to a duel."

"And Edwin tricking him into losing," Tristan added.

Koyo blinked at that before asking, "And Marik... he can... control minds?"

"With the Millennium Rod." Tea reached up and rubbed her forehead, like she expected to find a scar or something from when Aiden had taken control of her mind. "It... isn\'t a fun process."

Tristan nodded. "He doesn\'t make it so that you are powerless to do as he commands. The Millennium Rod... it makes you believe what he is suggesting is the best thing ever. What you\'ve always wanted in the entire world. That\'s the worst thing... knowing that a part of you WANTS to do what you\'re doing."

"And these two haven\'t been kicked out of the tournament and put in a jail cell?" Koyo asked.

"Now you\'re sounding like Edwin," Duke said with a faint smile as they came to the arena, finding that they were the first ones to arrive. In fact it was likely they were going to be the only ones to arrive; Edwin and Mai had flat out said they had no interest in watching that duel. Renard had commented if Edwin did it was likely he\'d end up hurting them both when they stepped out of line and that would cause too many problems. So he had headed back to his room. Joey was still in a funk and Serenity had asked to be left alone for a while, saying she was tired though no one believed her.

"As for why?" Tristan said before nodding his head towards Kaiba who had just stepped out of the elevator, Pegasus, Rex, and Solomon a few paces behind him before Seto headed back once more. "Blame Kaiba."

Tea frowned at that. \'I think the only way someone could get booted from this tournament is if they threatened Mokuba, and even then it would be a close thing.\' She let out a huff. \'And if Marik has the final Egyptian God card like Yugi said he does there is no way Kaiba will let that slip through his fingers.\'

"I think," the Pharaoh said, drawing them all out of their thoughts, "that this is a rare case where we root for no one."

"That\'s gonna feel odd," Tristan said, rubbing the back of his head.

"No matter who wins we will still be in for a battle. Both have proven themselves quite dangerous... and I believe that neither will slink away when this is over."

"Which is why this duel should have never been allowed to occur," Ishizu said, causing all but the Pharaoh to jump in surprise.

"We are going to put a bell on you!" Duke declared, panting.

"Or a restraining order," Tea muttered darkly.

"My brother and the Spirit should not have met this soon... it runs the risk of throwing the world into chaos." She looked at the Pharaoh and only the Pharaoh and Tea had the feeling that in Ishizu\'s eyes everyone else was no different than tiles on the floor or clouds in the sky: they existed but didn\'t matter. "My Pharaoh, you must put a stop to this."

"I do not control this tournament, Ishizu," the Pharaoh said, clearly trying to be polite to the woman though why he was attempting such a thing Tea had no clue. Ishizu had proven time and again that she couldn\'t be reasoned with and certainly couldn\'t be trusted. "I am merely a part of it."

"That is where you are wrong, my Pharaoh," Ishizu stated. "You are the very reason this tournament is being held. All the rest of us are merely pieces on the board in the game being played between you and the Dark God that threatens us all."

"Selene?" Koyo whispered to Tea.

"No, that\'s the moon goddess who is also Mai who wants to take Edwin away to be her sex toy," Tristan whispered. "The Dark God is apparently who the Pharaoh battled 5000 years ago."

"We lead such weird lives," Duke muttered.

"At least its not the Dark God wanting to make Edwin his sex toy," Tristan stated.

Koyo pressed his lips together and refused to say another word.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Mr. Exodia, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?"

"EXODIA! OBLITERATE!"

"Wait, no, I just wanted you to- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"How many licks does it take to the get the center of the a Tootsie Pop?"

"Oh god where are my legs!"

"The world may never know."

"We now return to CCN\'s coverage of the Battle City Tournament. Brought to you by Puss In Boots 3: Puss and Death Open a Bed and Breakfast. Here are your hosts: Marc Jeice and Scott Burter."

"Welcome back, folks!" Marc said with a grin. "We had a shocker of a match, with American Champion Brom Bones taking out Duelist Kingdom Quarter Finalist Joey Wheeler. And this next one is looking to be rather interesting, as we have two virtual unknowns who have been making waves nonetheless."

"That\'s right," Scott said, taking over. "Marik Ishtar and Ryou Bakura will be battling it out and if you are asking who they might be well... you got us! Because we don\'t know much about them either!"

"But let it never be said that CCN doesn\'t search out the answers for you! We turn to our Duel Monsters insider, Christopher Recoome, to get more info on these mysterious Duelists. What do you have for us, Chris?"

A truly MASSIVE man, one who made the already large Scott look like a teenager, appeared on the screen, grinning as he pointed right at the camera. "Let me tell ya, brother, it wasn\'t easy getting info about these two! Its like they just popped up out of thin air! But don\'t go thinkin\' that they will be leavin\' that quickly either as what I have learned shows that they can go the distance!"

Behind him a picture of Marik, his hood up so his face was half hidden in shadows, appeared.

"Marik Ishtar, according to government records, is the younger brother of Ishizu Ishtar, the current liaison of the Egyptian Government and executive curator of the Cairo Museum. While we haven\'t been able to learn much about him rumors state that he may be involved with the group known as the Rare Hunters, a team of duelists who worked together to find and obtain rare Duel Monster Cards. This team, if you haven\'t heard, has been wanted for questioning by several national governments for their potential involvement in thefts at the Bank of Cairo, the First Bank of Munich, and just yesterday damage done to the Washanu Tower."

The picture changed to that of Bakura, though much younger. Under it was the words \'Last Known Photo- Age 12\'

"Ryou Bakura, the son of British Diplomat Henry Bakura, has traveled the world in his youth, living in Britain, Germany, Washington DC, and now Domino City. A schoolmate of King of Games Yugi Muto, Ryou was there during the Duelist Kingdom finals when Yugi claimed the title. As for how he made it this far in Battle City the records are spotty, with it appearing he may not have even dueled once! Whether this is a glitch in the system, Ryou was given a special pass to compete, or some other nefarious action took place is something we at CCN will be investigating."

"Interesting stuff," Scott stated. "And now we go down to the Dueling Arena where the two combatants have finally arrived."

The camera switched to the Kaibacorp Blimp where Marik had just pulled down his hood, staring at Ryou as he activated his duel disc. "There is no shame in admitting defeat and quitting now. I won\'t think less of you. I know that you care little for these games and merely seek to take the Pharaoh\'s puzzle... you can have it when I\'ve drained all its power from it and made it my own! It can be a paperweight for all your broken and crushed dreams."

"How cute that you believe you can handle the power of such an item," Ryou said snidely. "You have barely managed to tap into the power of the Millennium Rod and you believe that you can consume all that lies within the Millennium Puzzle?" He chuckled darkly at that. "You suffer from delusions of grandeur."

"And you of adequacy," Marik charged. "I have brought hundreds under my sway. Who stands with you?"

"People do not stand with me. They lie under my foot."

Pegasus chose that moment to speak up. "Far be it from me to shame anyone for their kinks but is this really the time or place for such talk?"

The two duelists whipped around to glare at him but suddenly the intercom system went off and Kaiba declared, "Pegasus is right. Either duel or forfeit."

"Very well then," Ryou stated, drawing his cards. "If you are hungry for carnage, Kaiba, then far be it from me to deny my greedy audience the destruction and suffering they long for!"

"The only thing we suffer from is you two giving speeches," Kaiba stated. "Just duel."

"Did you follow any of that?" Marc asked back in the studio.

"Not one word but it sounded cool so let\'s go with it!"

~MC~MC~MC~

\'We must pay very close attention to this duel, Yugi,\' the Pharaoh thought as Bakura selected his first card.

\'You\'re right,\' Yugi agreed. \'We\'ll have to face one of them in this tournament, I just now it, so seeing what cards and strategies they use will be our best way to find a way to win.\'

"I\'ll start with this," the Spirit of the Millennium Ring declared, "a phantom born of a miserable man\'s soul, who knew only petty greed and the need to hurt others: The Dark Spirit of Malice."

The ghost that appeared on the field was... wrong. Though it was a specter it was also a rotting thing, as if even in death it could not escape decay. Or perhaps, if The Spirit of the Millennium Ring was right, it was the soul of a petulant man and his very essence had begun to rot and wither even while he was still alive.

"That is it?" Marik taunted as Bakura ended his turn. "That is your grand move against me? Some cheap decoration one might find at a third rate haunted house?"

"How does he know of that if he lived his entire life in a tomb?" Duke wondered.

Marik held up his own card. "Allow me to show you a proper monster to summon to such a duel... but before that... I believe we should make this duel a bit more official?" He took out the Millennium Rod, the item glowing before the light it radiated twisted, darkening into black and purple energy that first dripped and oozed then rapidly enveloped the entire dueling area. The drones around the blimp quickly moved in as the darkness began to solidify and those watching the duel shuddered as an icy feeling crept down their shoulders.

"Brother, don\'t!" Ishizu called out. "Do not abuse your Millennium Item this way!"

Marik though ignored his sister. "Now then, is this not better? A proper arena for the likes of us?"

"Quite," The Spirit of the Millennium Ring declared, sounding rather pleased himself. His own item flashed and suddenly the shadows grew darker, more wild, as he poured on his own power to strengthen the darkness that was swelling around them. "The old ways are the best ways."

"Oh, I had forgotten how much I hated this..." Tea whispered, moving closer to the Pharaoh.

"What is going on?" Koyo asked, looking about wildly. "Is this a card effect?"

"No card effect, man," Tristan said. "This is a Shadow Duel."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Edwin?" Mai asked as her boyfriend suddenly swayed. "What\'s wrong?"

"I... whoa," he shook his head and tried to give her a reassuring smile but then he nearly toppled to the ground. "You ever take a step and it feels like you dropped down further than you expected? Yeah... that..."

At once Mai\'s eyes widened before there was a flash of silver and Selene was there, wrapping her arms around him. "Oh, my poor Endymion," she whispered, stroking his hair. "You were always sensitive to magic."

"Heh... surprised you aren\'t getting turned on right now," Edwin managed to snark. "Me all weak and helpless because of... whatever the fuck is going on."

"Two powerful mages, both steeped in Shadow Magic, are battling to decide the direct fate takes. The Key provided you some protection when it was just one but..." With surprising tenderness she guided him to a chair, hugging him close. "Focus on me... just me... soon your mental shields will regain their strength..." She held him close, silver runes appearing on her skin as she allowed more of her powers to come forth to try and shield him. "It has been a long time since I\'ve seen you like this," she said. "Sometimes I would come to your lab and every day find you a shaking wreck, struggling against the raw power of the cosmos, and need me to care for you."

"I\'m... shocked you didn\'t just abandon him," Edwin got out. He felt like he\'d been hit with a cold and the flu at the same time and even as Selene did her best to chase away the sudden assault on his senses he felt as weak as a newborn.

Selene looked at him, startled. "Why would I ever abandon you?"

"Because he was weak. Because he made you waste your time comforting him instead of him worshiping you."

The goddess huffed at that. "I have enough worshipers. You are something else, my Endymion."

Edwin slowly lifted his head up. "You... really are Mai. Under all this... you are her."

"Oh, you have it backwards!" Selene said with a laugh. "She is just a lesser aspect of me."

But as she said that she noticed the way Edwin\'s eyes narrowed at that and felt something... worrisome... flittering in her mind. So she just continued to hold him, allowing her own power to once more wrap around him and subconsciously re-teach him how to strengthen his shields, and did her best not to think about any of those pesky thoughts.

~MC~MC~MC~

"I will now summon my Juragedo to the field in attack mode!" Marik declared, placing the card on his duel disc. The fiend was a twisted thing, something that would not be able to exist in the natural world due to its distorted form. If it did suddenly come into being its existence it would be one of pain and misery... and perhaps that was the point. "Now attack and destroy his Spirit of Malice!"

The demonic creature suddenly launched forwards, its claws ripping through the Dark Spirit of Malice, tearing apart its phantasmic form till only tattered shreds of his being fluttered to the ground like tissue paper.

"For all your build up to that thing it didn\'t do much at all," Marik commented. "Did you only make it into this tournament by finding Locator Cards lying on the ground?" (Bakura-3900)

"As opposed to you simply having your minions provide them to you?" The Spirit of the Millennium Ring asked. He drew his next card. "And for someone who spent so much of their childhood amongst the dead you have little understanding of their power. What has fallen is never truly gone... it leaves a scar upon the living world, one that reminds all that encounter it that it was there. And sometimes that scar can be ripped open... and unleash all new pain."

"I really am not liking this duel," Tea said with a shiver.

"Beginning to think Edwin and Mai had the right idea of skipping out on this," Tristan added.

"I now activate Dark Spirit\'s Mastery, which allows me to send one card from my hand to the graveyard to add one card from my deck. As for which one... well, I will leave that as a surprise for you." He smirked as he placed the card in his graveyard and as he took out his deck to select the card he wanted the Dark Spirit of Malice popped out of his duel disc. "And because I discarded a particular card to the graveyard my Dark Spirit of Malice returns to my hand. Just as I warned you... the dead are never truly gone."

"What a relief that must be for you, seeing as I am about to add you to their ranks," Marik stated.

But The Spirit of the Millennium Ring merely shook his head. "Don\'t promise such things until you are able to actually deliver upon them. Now then, I will set this monster in downface defense mode and set one card on my side of the field... and end my turn."

"Very well," Marik stated as he drew his card. "I\'ll start by attacking your downface card with my Juragedo." The demon rushed forward and as it attacked the Sangan that The Spirit of the Millennium Ring had placed in defense mode another one appeared on the field. "And I use its first effect to special summon a second to my side of the field. And when it appears I gain 1000 life points." (Marik-5000)

"Now the gap between those two has only increased!" Koyo declared.

"Brother," Ishizu warned, "you are meddling with powers you do not understand." She took a step forward. "Can you not sense it? The great darkness that comes from this one? He is not merely some dark soul that has possessed a body... he is a fragment of the great enemy, returned again!"

"Wait," Tea said, looking over at Ishizu, "you mean the Spirit of the Millennium Ring..."

"Is the very evil the Pharaoh once sealed away? Yes, Tea Gardner, yes it is. The Spirit of the Millennium Ring is the true evil that the Pharaoh is destined to defeat." She glanced over at Tea and asked, in a hopeful tone, "Do you understand now what we face? The danger and the power? This is why it has been so important that you follow my commands. The path-"

"Your commands, dear sister?" Marik asked, cutting her off. "My my my... someone is getting lofty in their desires. One would almost think you believe yourself to be the hero of this tale and not the Nameless Pharaoh."

"I am but his servant. As are all of us."

"Not me, of course," the Spirit of the Millennium Ring stated with a smirk; he was quite enjoying the little show that was being put on before him. "But all the rest of you... little puppets for your glorious golden Pharaoh. Sitting on his throne, making his will your\'s as he tugs at your strings and makes you dance." He chuckled at that, loving how the fools were setting him up so wonderfully to stir the pot and get them riled up.

Sure enough Marik declared, "I am no one\'s servant! I am my own man!"

"You are a servant of the Pharaoh!" Ishizu exclaimed. "It is our duty to aid him in this!"

"How long?"

Ishizu turned and looked at the Pharaoh.

"My Pharaoh, what-"

"How long have you known that the Spirit of the Millennium Ring was the true threat I faced?" he asked coolly. "How long have you known... and hid that information from me."

"I... I could not... that is..."

"You\'ve made her tongue-tied, Pharaoh!" Marik taunted. "I am impressed! Do you see, sister? You fail even him with your games!"

"These are no games!" Ishizu pleaded before turning once more to the Pharaoh, moving towards him, reaching out for him, but stopping when she saw his glower. "Please my Pharaoh... you must listen to me-"

"But only when you wish to speak," the Pharaoh said, eyes narrowed. "When you wish to remain silent I am to remained dutiful and quiet, allowing you to decide when I have the right to know the most important of information. I am beginning to wonder if your brother wasn\'t correct... if you do not believe that you are the hero of this story. That you wish to control me."

"My Pharaoh, that is not at all true."

Tea spoke up in that moment. "Then why don\'t you tell him everything? All the secrets you\'ve been keeping to yourself, the lies you refuse to let go of? Why don\'t you just admit everything here?"

"You wouldn\'t understand," Ishizu said, her tone cold and dismissive. "You are just a child..."

"You are, what, 3 years older than me?" Tea said.

"With that comes wisdom. You clearly lack it which makes your constant comments to the Pharaoh, leading him away from the path he must take, all the more wicked."

"Wicked?" Tea said, eye twitching.

"Hey!" Duke and Tristan shouted.

Ishizu though merely glared at Tea, reaching up and touching her still tender nose. "You believe you have a role in this... you do not. You are a child who has stumbled upon greatness and rather than being happy that you are allowed to witness the salvation of the world you falsely believe that you have the right to take part."

"I-"

But Ishizu cut her off. "My family has been working towards this moment for 5000 years. Your ancestors were still living in mud huts trying to make fires while we were preparing for this day to come. So you will remember your place and be quiet." Ishizu\'s eyes flashed and the Millennium Necklace began to glow. "For I can look into your past, Tea Gardner... and reveal all you wish never to come to light-"

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" the Pharaoh thundered and everyone started at the boom of his voice. "You DARE threaten my friend?!"

"She s no friend of yours, my Pharaoh," Ishizu informed him, steeling her spine and staring right at him. "She is a distraction from your destiny-"

"Tea has stood with me during some very dark and dangerous moments," the Pharaoh declared. "She was with me during my early days, when she saw me at my most cruel. When I was willing to kill to get what I wanted. Not out of a sense of righteousness or justice... but a demented glee at being able to challenge others and to win. When Yugi\'s grandfather was injured and Yugi and I faced off again Seto Kaiba it was Tea\'s friendship mark that reminded me that I could win the day. She traveled to Duelist Kingdom only to support me and stood by me during my many duels. Weevil. Mako. PaniK. The Paradox Brothers. Mai. Edwin. She held faith that I would win and gave me the courage when I had none to continue on. Her and Joey and Tristan. And when Pegasus himself brought the full might of the Shadow Realm against me it was my friends who protected Yugi\'s spirit so I might defeat him!

"And you dare stand there and say she has no place at my side? That you, who have withheld information from the moment we met and conspired with Kaiba and others behind my back, have more say in what actions I take? Such things are given, Ishizu, they are not your right because of your blood!"

But as the Spirit of the Millennium Ring watched the foolish Tombkeeper continued to press on. "My Pharaoh... your memories are not what they should be. You yourself admit you do not remember your own past. You admit that when you first awoke you were cruel and violent."

The Pharaoh\'s jaw worked at that and the Spirit of the Ring couldn\'t help but wonder what life would have been like if he\'d been able to get to Little Yugi and the Pharaoh first, when they\'d first joined together. What would life had been like if he\'d been able to corrupt the boy, to get him to embrace the darkness found in all of mankind, and in turn corrupt the Pharaoh. It would have been so delicious to make the \'savior\' of mankind into his general, commanding the shadows and darkness to destroy the world he\'d sacrificed his memories to save.

\'Ah well,\' he thought to himself, \'I can dream about that after I have regain my true strength and left this world a smoking crater.\'

"Do you not see," Ishizu stated, once more moving towards the Pharaoh, "that perhaps your judgment is not what it should be? That it would be better to trust others who know you better? Who understand what lies before you... to guide you?"

"You know," Pegasus said, "it seems to be that if one were evil... such a claim would be the perfect one to make."

"...what?" Ishizu said, slowly turning towards the creator of Duel Monsters.

"Merely that the Pharaoh, as you said, has no memories. He has nothing to tell him what you are saying is true."

"I am trying to help him," Ishizu stated. "Aiding him so he might save the world from the great darkness-"

"Are you just going to keep repeating that, over and over?" Marik complained. "There are more words the tongue can say than \'the coming darkness\', my sister!" He let out a scoff. "I begin to wonder if the Coming Darkness is not yet another set of chains father created! That the threat is no threat at all but rather something to entertain the Pharaoh in this life much as the ancient spells and magics of the priests were in his first life!"

The Spirit of the Millennium Ring found that rather amusing.

Pegasus spoke up. "You claim that but that doesn\'t mean you actually seek to do that. A true evil, a sinister and wicked one, would come to their enemy not in the guise of an enemy but as a friend." He waved his hand towards his own chest. "Take me, for example. I have found that while it is easy to rant and rave and scream you get far more done through soft words and polite actions. Even when dealing with those I believed to be standing in my way, seeking to stop me from achieving all I desired, I still showed them respect. Was polite to them. Gave them every chance to walk away. And while it didn\'t work with the Pharaoh there have been plenty of others who accepted."

"And you would know of evil, wouldn\'t you Maximillion Pegasus?" Ishizu said, raising a single eyebrow as she stared at the man.

"I do," Pegasus stated. "I have been that evil... and I have faced that evil."

The Spirit of the Millennium Ring merely smirked at that.

"And I tell you now that you will not defeat such evils in the world through demands and the false belief that you know better than all. That isn\'t the path to defeat evil... it is the path to becoming it." He looked over at Marik before sighing, shutting his eyes. "The three of us... we\'re all on the same path. You have taken the first steps, Ishizu. Your brother is heading down it fully. And I am at the end. I am trying to find a way to return to the beginning, to take the path I should have taken... and as I pass you I tell you that you need to turn around as well."

Marik scoffed at that. "How many times in history has the white man seen someone they believed belonged in chains striving to break free... and claimed that they wished to \'help\' by guiding them to the \'correct\' path." He glowered at Pegasus. "You would have me back underground, never seen, to soothe your own fears that your time might be at an end-"

"I am in no mood for your political bullshitting," Kaiba declared over the intercom. "Either duel now or forfeit your spots... all of you."

Tea let out a squawk of protest at that but Ishizu merely stared at the speaker, as if she expected it to look back at her.

Marik, for his part, chuckled at that. "For all his faults I will give Kaiba the fact that he understands why we are all here! So let me show you my power! will tribute my first Juragedo, which will increase my second\'s by 1000 attack points!" He laughed at the first fiend disintegrated, turning into dust that swept onto the second, which let out an otherworldly roar as it doubled in size. "And now my Juragedo, attack this pretender directly!"

The fiend roared and rushed forward, slashing right at the Spirit of the Millennium Ring\'s chest... only for its hand to stop inches from his flesh, the monster struggling as slowly its limb was pulled away.

"I activate my Dark Spirit of Malice\'s effect, discarding it from my hand to resurrect my Cursed Necrofear." The blue skinned ghost appeared in full, holding onto Juragedo\'s wrist and forcing its hand towards her own stomach. With dispassionate control she forced the monster to dig its fingers into her belly, shattering her into pieces. "And I use it to protect my lifepoints."

"So what?" Marik said. "You brought back that little ghoul only for it to be destroyed." He looked over at his sister. "This is the threat you believe your precious Pharaoh will need to give his all to defeat? If that is true then I believe Wheeler\'s little sister could manage against him just fine."

The Spirit of the Millennium Ring though shook his head. "I would suggest not taking your eyes off the situation you now find yourself in. The ground you trod isn\'t as solid as you believe."

"What are you talking about?" Marik demanded.

The Spirit of the Millennium Ring tapped on his duel disc. "You see, I have decided that it is time to write out your end... and the spirits will aid me. I activate Destiny Board."

On the field the trap activated, revealing a Spirit Summoning Board. A skeletal hand suddenly formed out of the darkness of the Shadow Realm, grabbing into the spirit caller before fading away, leaving it to move slowly along the board before stopping at the letter D. When it did the letter appeared above the Spirit\'s head, glowing and crackling with sinister fires straight from the underworld.

"Is that supposed to frighten me?" Marik asked, folding his arms over his chest. "So you\'ve learned how to spell... I suppose that might be frightening to a toddler but to me it is nothing but boredom."

"I assumed it would frighten you because you have the intelligence of one," the Spirit of the Millennium Ring stated. "But it doesn\'t matter if you are scared now... you will be clutching at your head in terror when I spell your final fate and cast you into the Shadow Realm!"

"You have done little to show that you can do that. All I have seen is weak monsters-"

He suddenly froze, a cold wind whipping around him, and turned just in time to see Cursed Necrofear appear behind his Juragedo, destroying it.

"WHAT?!" Marik shouted. "How can this be? How did you manage to defeat my monster?!"

"Cursed Necrofear isn\'t a demon or a zombie... it is a ghost. And a ghost can never be killed. They merely fade away, waiting for their chance to return. Such as now, when she has destroyed your demon and sent it to the graveyard. And I\'m afraid your monster wouldn\'t be so easily returning as my Cursed Necrofear did." The Spirit of the Millennium Ring smirked as he drew his next card. "And now... it is my turn."

"Do as you wish," Marik declared. "It will not help you. Your monsters are weak like you and on my next turn I will destroy them all just for my own amusement. So get your smiles in now as next turn I will be wiping it, and you, off the face of the Earth!"

\'Oh, we will see about that,\' the Spirit thought to himself as he looked over his hand. \'You were so focused on boosting your lifepoints that you failed to realize that with Sangan\'s destruction I was able to add a new monster to my hand.\' He smirked as he stared at the only light monster in his deck... but a worthy one nonetheless. \'With Jowgen the Spiritualist I will destroy any monster that you special summon to the field, meaning that attempts to reduce the deficit in monsters between our sides of the field simply won\'t work. Jowgen will banish any special summoned monster on your side of the field, meaning that all you can do is try and summon monsters that can stand against my Cursed Necrofear... and the entire time the Destiny Board moves to spell out what your fate shall be. I wonder... does your sister see your destruction, Marik?\'

~MC~MC~MC~

"Chris, mind telling the folks at home just what the Destiny Board is and what it means for this duel?"

On the television screen Chris Guldo appeared, the trap card Destiny Board superimposed behind him. "Destiny Board is of course based on na Ouiji Board or Spirit Summoning Board if you are trying to avoid copyright claims. The idea is supposed to be that they are used to summon spirits but usually work become multiple people are holding the Spirit Reader at the same time and cause twitching and spasms that make the Caller move to different letters on the board.

"As for the Trap Card Destiny Board this card is part of a 5 card instant win strategy. Each turn Bakura is able to add one of the letters of the Destiny Board to the field at the cost of a Spell/Trap zone. When all five cards are placed on the field one\'s opponent automatically lose the duel."

"Sounds rather risky though for the duelist using it," Scott commented. "They lose spots to set up spells and traps and I imagine if one is destroyed that can cause problems in forming the word."

"That\'s right, Scott," Chris stated. "But there are ways around this! Reports of successful Destiny Board completions have involved stall tactics and card protection. If that is Bakura\'s route is that would mean that Marik Ishtar could be in for trouble."

"Thanks Chris," Marc said. "Now, back to the duel!"

~MC~MC~MC~

"I will now set this card on the field," the Spirit said, one downface card appearing. "And I will attack with my Curse Necrofear directly!"

Marik grimaced as he was hit by a wave of bewitched wind that thundered all around him, forcing him to brace his legs so he wasn\'t sent flying through the air (Marik-2200)

"What do you think, Pharaoh?" Tristan asked. "Who is going to win this?"

"I don\'t know, Tristan," the Pharaoh answered.

\'The Spirit of the Ring is certainly setting up different options,\' Yugi said, appearing next to the Pharaoh.

\'Indeed,\' the Pharaoh agreed, folding his arms over his chest. \'Cursed Necrofear is a dangerous card that will be difficult for Marik to defeat. And if Bakura\'s entire deck is built around the ability to constantly returned phantoms to the field then it will be hard to score strong blows against him.\' He narrowed his eyes. \'It is his downface that I\'m worried about though.\'

\'What do you mean?\'

\'Perhaps he merely set the Destiny Board as a distraction, to draw Marik\'s eyes away from what he planned to make his true strike. But... I think he wants to win with it. That spelling his word of doom to automatically win the duel would be far more devastating than merely defeating Marik with an attack.\'

\'That does seem like the Spirit\'s style,\' Yugi agreed. \'He doesn\'t want to win he wants to leave his opponents broken. That\'s why he toyed with us during Duelist Kingdom.\'

\'Exactly Yugi... and I have a feeling that downface card is going to assist him even more.\'

\'Then Marik is going to be defeated?\' Yugi asked.

\'I didn\'t say that,\' the Pharaoh replied. \'I think it is very dangerous to count out someone like Marik Ishtar. He nearly defeated us in our duel against Strings. I can only imagine he will duel all the stronger with the deck he is currently running.\'

\'Because that is his personal deck,\' Yugi stated.

\'Exactly.\'

"Now then," Marik said, moving to draw his next card, "I think-"

"Hold that thought," the Spirit of the Millennium Ring taunted, tapping his duel disc, "as it appears the board has more to say! I activate Sentence of Doom!" The trap card flipped up and suddenly the Destiny Board began to go crazy, the Spirit Reader rushing about so fast it was hard to tell what was happening. "I return now my Dark Spirit of Malice and my Sangan back to my hand thanks to my card\'s effect. And with that... you are now utterly trapped!"

"Trapped?" Marik asked with a frown. "How am I trapped you jabbering loon?"

"Allow me to explain... I so do love to see the looks on the faces of the doomed as I explain their eternal torment and how they have no chance to escape!" He gestured at his Curse Necrofear which was lightly stroking the broken baby doll it held in the crook of its arm. "My Necrofear will just keep returning to the field, destroying your cards if you do manage to bring something that can overcome it. And if you do manage to find a way to prevent it from resurrecting itself I can simply discard once more my Dark Spirit of Malice to return it again, restarting the entire process! Next turn I will summon Sangan to the field, which will load my hand with new fiends. And all the while the Destiny Board will continue to spell out the message that reveals your fate. In fact I do believe it is time for another letter to appear by sending my Sentence of Doom to the graveyard!"

Next to the glowing D and E that hung above the Spirit of the Millennium Ring the letter A appeared.

"Can you guess it?" he asked. "Can you predict what is coming? Oh, what could it be? D-E-A. Whatever might I be trying to tell you? Do you know, Marik? Shall I tell it? Death... Death is what awaits you! I will cast your soul into the shadow realm, to be tortured by the darkness that dwells there for all eternity! That is your fate, one you have no hope in escaping! At the end of your next two turns I will reveal the final letters and with it will come you defeat!" And with that the Spirit of the Millennium Ring threw back his head and laughed.

As did Marik.

"Uh oh," Duke muttered. "He either cracked or he\'s going to do something nasty. And I don\'t think anyone\'s gonna like what happens next!"

"My next turn?" Marik asked as he finally stopped cackling. "My next turn? There will be no next turn... I have no need for it! You made a mistake, you fool, and it was drawing this duel out! You were so focused on your traps and your spirits that you never noticed what I was doing!"

"What you were doing?" the Spirit of the Millennium Ring asked, not sounding worried at all. "All I\'ve seen is you flailing about, trying to keep up with me."

Marik though shut his eyes. "Traps... how do you think my ancestors protected the tombs they were forced to guard? And ghosts? You small minded fool... I grew up amongst the dead. They do not terrify me, they are an old comfort!" He held up a card. "But this... this will show you fear. I activate Ancient Chant!"

On the field piercing golden light suddenly shot down from the sky, piercing the Shadow Realm and cutting through the darkness, causing the hidden terrors within to retreat.

"Powers great, powers small. To each of you hear my call! To help me in this fight bring forth your glorious light! Upon your might I do appeal to undo the lock and break the seal! Let all those gather see as you bring your might to me! WINGED DRAGON OF RA!"

Marik\'s duel disc glowed the same golden light as that which was tearing apart the Shadow Realm and from his duel disc flew out a single card, which he claimed.

"Yugi..." Tea whispered, "does that mean..."

"I think it does," the Pharaoh answered. "He\'s going to summon his Egyptian God Card!"

"I now summon to the field Ra\'s Disciple, which allows me to summon two more from my deck to the field!" The three priests, wearing golden headdresses modeled after the skulls of birds of prey, appeared on the field. "And with Ancient Chant performed my Winged Dragon of Ra will gain the attack and defense of all the monsters used to summon it!"

The Spirit of the Millennium Ring though merely smiled. "That will do you little good, Marik. While it will defeat my Curse Necrofear it will not see my lifepoints fully destroyed. And then my turn will come and I will return Curse Necrofear to the field... I suppose we can find out if she can slay a god." He smirked at that, clearly imagining how wonderful it would be to send a God to the graveyard. "But even if she can\'t I can simply shift her to defense mode along with my Sangan and ensure that you can not touch my lifepoints... and by that point the final letter will be revealed!"

"Did you not hear when I stated that there would be no more turns after this?" Marik challenged. "I will be defeating you right now!" He held up a card. "Behold the card I drew just now, the one that will end you and send you into the very darkness you thought would consume me! I activate Soul Crossing!" The spell flipped up and suddenly two of the Ra\'s Servants began to glow... as did Curse Necrofear.

"What... what have you done to my ghost?!" the Spirit of the Millennium Ring demanded.

"Used it to bring about something greater! Soul Crossing allows me to tribute monsters on either side of the field to bring forth my Egyptian God! So now I tribute my two Ra\'s Servants and your Curse Necrofear-"

"You can\'t do this!" the Spirit roared. "I won\'t allow it!"

"YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!" Marik declared before lowering his head and closing his eyes. "Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry. Transform thyself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight."

On the field the three monsters turned into particles that began to reform into a great golden sphere. As Marik chanted though the sphere began to crack like an egg, even brighter light shining from within.

"Envelop the desert with your glow and cast your rage upon my foe. Unlock your powers from deep within so that together we may win."

The shell pulled apart, becoming a pair of great wings, and all couldn\'t help but stare even as the light burned their eyes, the Egyptian God hidden within making itself known.

"Appear in this Shadow Game as I call out your name, Winged Dragon of Ra!"

The Spirit of the Millennium Ring desperately shielded his eyes as Ra appeared fully on the field. "No... no, this can not happen! This is my moment!"

"It never was your anything!" Marik roared. "You were but a minor footnote in my quest to claim my destiny! Behold the power of the Winged Dragon of Ra, Pharaoh, and know that this too is your destiny! Winged Dragon of Ra... BLAZE CANNON!"

The Pharaoh watched on as the Egyptian God fired a blast of golden flames at the Spirit of the Millennium Ring, wiping out his lifepoints...

And leaving nothing of Bakura in its wake.

(Spirit of the Millennium Ring-0000)