Chapter 26 - Near the Brink of Death pt. 1

"The four Battle City finalists are now being transported to the top of the tower for the first duel of the semifinals." All four duelists were racing up the tower in their dueling terminals. Marik was smirking at Kay and she was glaring at him.

"Our shadow game awaits. I hope you're prepared to be swallowed up by the darkness and killed within the shadows. Can you sense the blood lust already?"

"Heh, you wish, Marik. I won't lose to you."

"Heh heh heh, so confident, are we?" They continued up.

"Well this is it." Honda frowned.

"I hope Kay can beat Marik."

"You and me both, Cat." Alex sighed.

"The duel starts now. Let's go!" Mokuba exclaimed, smiling. A door behind him opened. "Move it, or miss it." everyone could not help but be cheered up by the adorable little Kaiba. They ran for the door.

"Wait." Everyone looked at Duke. "Shouldn't someone head back to keep an eye on Mai? We sorta just left her."

"I'll go."

"Shizuka."

"Hey, it's no problem, Katsuya. And I don't think I want to watch another shadow game."

"Now that you mention it, I kinda feel the same way..."

"Tori, Shizuka, why don't you both keep and eye on Mai? We'll tell Kay you're rooting for her." They both nodded.

"Yeah." And with that, they ran off.

"So, shall we go?" Cat asked. Everoyne nodded and followed Mokuba.

The terminals finally reached the top and a half circle slot opened beihind them andm oved the terminals over a type of grid system to a designated position.

"Marik Ishtar and Kay Simms will face off in five minutes!" Roland announced. When Marik and Kay's terminals moved out of their paths into the sunlight and locked in on the roof of the tower, they each stepped off. Marik got there first. Kay was second. He smirked at her.

"Ready to duel?" Kay asked. "Or, rather, ready to lose and bring back each and every person who dueled you?"

"I'm prepared to duel, but your victory is not possible."

"We'll just see about that."

"Yes, we will." Kay looked around.

"So where the heck is everyone else?"

"Why do you want your little friends here? So they can watch you die?"

"Keep talking like that and I'll use this oppertunity to fling you off the tower. And there won't be any witnesses."

"you could, but I wouldn't die."

"...that's just freaky, dude." At this moment, Yami's terminal rose up. (That took a while) He stepped off.

"Hey Yugi." He smiled at her.

"Hello Kay."

"I hope you don't mind if I beat Marik for you. But, I'll try to leave the remains for you." He chuckled.

"I wish you luck."

"Luck schmuck. All I need is my deck and I know I can whip this guy." Seto's terminal rose up at long friggin last.

"This shouldn't take long."

"What was that, rich-boy?!" Kay yelled. Yami pat her shoulder.

"Kay, keep a cool head."

"hmph, sorry Yugi. He infuriates me."

"don't cloud your mind with anger. This duel may be the most difficult and dangerous one you'll ever face."

"Yugi." She smiled at him. "Pharaoh, whoever you are, thanks for looking out for me. But I can take care of myself. You worry about protecting everyone else. I'll win, just keep the faith in me." He was a bit surprised but then grinned and nodded.

"Alright." She winked and gave a thumbs up.

"Wake up, Kay. You don't stand a chance against his God card."

"Oh yeah? Just wait. Did you forget I designed many of the cards in this game? My deck is filled with many hidden surprises you could never dream of."

"Is that so?"

"Talk is cheap. I can only display my power on the field, so back off and let me fight my fight."

"Fine." She walked away. Yami forwned at Seto. "I'm the only one who can defeat Ra, so she'll fall the minute it's played."

"Kaiba, the Sun Dragonf Ra has powers we don't yet understand."

"Wrong, Yugi. I've uncovered the secrets of Ra. While you geeks were asleep, my computer was translating the Egyptian writing the no one else could. Kay," She looked at him, "you'll help me defeat his Sun Dragon."

"And what makes you say that?" she asked coldly.

"I'll be observing your duel very closely, so try to live long enough for me to see that dragon."

"I won't just survive that long, I'll live until his lifepoints hit zero." At this moment, Mokuba and the rest of the gang ran up the stairs and stepped outside.

"We're here bro!"

"Hey Mokuba." Kay smiled at him. Mokuba and Adelinda ran ove rto her and hugged her.

"Win, onee-san!"

"Good luck, Kay." She smiled and hugged them back.

"Now how could I lose with you two cheering me on? Thanks guys. You're more supportive than Kaiba." Kay glared at him and he roleld his eyes before walking away.

"So, did we miss anything?" Anzu asked. Kay shook her head.

"Nope." She walked past them, a serious look on her face and stood in front of Marik. A gust of wind blew to increase the drama of the moment.

"So...this is it...it's either win, or die." Kay narrowed her eyes. "Marik, I will not lose to you."

"Heh heh, we'll see if you feel the same way once our shadow game begins." Roland took his spot and everyone stood around the field to watch.

"The first duel of the Battle City semifinals is about to begin. To my left, Marik Ishtar. To my right, Kay Simms." The dueling stage rose.

"C'mon, Kay!" Cat cheered.

"Knock him out of here and get back Mai!" Kristen called.

"If you screw this up, you're answering to me!" Alex added.

"I get it, guys." Kay sighed. "Sometimes I question whether or not having my own cheer squad actually helps." Marik chortled wickedly. Marik and Kay both gained 4,000 lifepoints.

"Marik will begin!"

"Whatever happened to ladies first?" Kay mumbled.

"As you wish." Marik drew a card. "I play Gil Garth in attack mode." An odd metallic monster appeared with spikes on its arms and legs and it had 1800 attack points. "Then I shall place one card facedown and end my turn."

"Alright then." Kay drew a card. "I summon Dark Blade in attack mode and play two cards facedown and end my turn."

"Well, Kay's mosnter is at least the same strength so even if Marik destroys it, his mosnter dies too."

"It's not that simple, Anzu. Kay's actually in a bad spot."

"Huh?" she looked at Cat.

"Marik can summon another monster and even if it's weaker, he can attack with Gil Garth and she'll be wide open."

"What about her facedowns?"

"I don't know. But I never can stay calm when someone duels Marik." The millennium symbol glowed on Marik's forehead.

"The time has come to take this duel to the next level." Kay narrowed her eyes.

"Don't tell me..." A familiar fog filled the air and she glared. "Great. Just great." Everyone immediately grew uneasy.

"Not another shadow game!" Kristen exclaimed.

"C'mon, Marik, give it a rest!" Alex yelled.

"Heh heh heh, I don't believe in showing mercy. And your little friend acts so tough. Let's see if she can handle it better than Mai could." Marik raised his rod. "The darkness lusts for your life and blood. You're even younger than your friend Mai, which means you'll taste even more fresh."

"Ok, that is disgusting! I do not want to hear you talking about how I taste. A. It's sick and wrong. B. I'll rack you if you keep it up. And c. Cannibalism is NOT cool."

"Who said I'm the one who will be feasting on you?"

"You must really want a kick in the groin."

"You are not fooling anyone. I see the fear in your eyes."

"Well, you must be seeing things because the only thing that I'm afraid of is throwing up if I keep looking at your face, Marik. So bring it on, Mari.k I am not afraid of oyu or this twisted game of yours."

"Heh, fine. Prepare to feel the same pain as your friend Mai. Observes." A light blue glowing wire appeared from Kay's monster to her.

"What the heck is this wire?"

"You'll soon find out. As this game progresses, you will feel the same pain as your monsters."

"Look, chump. You tried this on Mai and it was all a head game. I am not going to fall for it."

"But I was not as powerful then. I have killed another since that moment and now my power is peaking. It will be much more difficult to break this illusion, if it even is an illusion."

"Are you here to blab or duel me because I'm falling asleep."

"Impatient, are we? Very well." He drew a card. "I'll summon Drillago in attack mode." A yellow monster made entirely of sharp drilled appeared with 1600 attack points. "Now, Gil Garth attack her Dark Blade and leave her defenseless."

"Oh no."

"look out, Kay." She smirked.

"Reveal, face down!"

"What?!"

"Remember this? It's a handy little trap called Reinforcements. And it just boosted my Dark Blade's attack by 500. Now, attack with Dark Slash of Demise!" Dark Blade slahsed and obliterated Marik's monster. He doubled over a bit and grabbed his chest and his lifepoints dropped to 3500. "How do you like them apples?"

"Heh, well, I should have seen this. You're not as weak as I may have thought. Fine, make your move."

"I will." She drew a card. "I sacrifice my Dark Blade to summon my Curse of Dragon." Dakr Blade vanished and Kay's dragon appeared with 2000 attack points. "Go, attack his Drillago with Hell Flame." Curse of Draogn reared its head and blasted Drillago to bits. Marik grunted at the pain of the attack and his lifepoints went down to 3100. "Well, so much for your Drillago. And here you thought it'd be an easy win."

Marik snickered and looked up, millennium eye on his forehead glowing. "Heh, you've had your fun." He draw a card. "But now it's time fo rme to end all that with this. My tribute burial card. Now I can bring back one monster card from each of our graveyards and sacrifice them to summon an even stronger creature to drain you of all will and strength with a brutal onslaught."

"Well let's see what ya got, Marik."

"Gil Garth, Dark Blade, I sacrifice you to summon this, the mighty Helpoemer." Yeah, it's this blue corpse-like monster on a gold and orange shield like thing. It's really weird to describe it. It's just ugly and freaky, ok? It has 2000 attack points. "And I can assure you that this new monster of mine is more than her appears to be."

"Well, he's ugly. I give him that."

"I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

"Hm." Kay raised an eyebrow, surprised he did not attack.

"That Helpoemer must have an important power that's crucial to his strategy if Marik didn't attack and destroy my Curse of Dragon." Kay drew a card. "I summon Koumouri Dragon in attack mode." The purple dragon appeared with 1500 attack points. Marik laughed.

"You foolish girl! You've fallen right into my trap. Raveal facedown card. By summoning a monster in attack mode, you activated my Hidden Soldiers trap card. The gives me the ability to summon any monster with four stars or less. Meet my Plasma Eel." A metal snake-like beast with dark blue pincers and two sharp yellow points on each side of it's head.

"It's cute compared to the rest of your monsters." Marik looked a bit annoyed at the fact that she had called one his monsters "cute."

"You won't think it's cute for much longer when I activate its special ability. The power of Plasma Grip!" Plasma eel moved forward and clamped to Kay's Curse of Dragon, sinking its pincers into its head and binding the rest of the dragon with its body. "Now for the fun part. When my eel attaches itself to a monster, it lowers that monster's strength. So your dragon loses 500 points. And, due to our little game, you feel that monsters pain."

Curse of Dragon was shocked by Plasma eel and Kay felt as if her own body was being shocked. She fell to one knee, trying to shake off the feeling.

"Fight it, Kay!" Yami yelled.

"Hang in there!" Alex, Cat, Anzu, and Kristen yelled.

"Well, now, are you beginning to regret dueling me?" Marik asked, a manic look in his eyes. Kay looked up, panting.

"So...that's what you put Mai through..." She stood up, eyes cold and angry. "Now that I know how she suffered I swear...you are going to pay..." He laughed evilly.

"Is that so?"

"Yes. You can blast at me all you like, but I promised Jounouchi that I'd bring Mai back. And even if he is a pain, I promised I'd do it. So if I have to die to kill you, I will do so!" She straightened, loooking just fine. Marik wa sin shock.

"What?! You should be on your knees, begging for mercy."

"You wish, bub. I am not gonna stay down like a weakling. And you failed ot notice that even though your eel shocked me, I have my little face down card right over here."

"Hm?"

"Reveal trap card: Two-Way Fire." (Note: Original card here.) "This trap card can only be activated if I have two dragons on the field and if you have one monster with 1500 attack points or more. This trap allows me to lower one of your monster's attack points by 150 for each star on my lowest level monster on the field. Koumouri dragon has four stars, so Helpoemer loses 600 attack points. That's not all. The second effect of this card is I gain 100 lifepoints for ever star my highest lever monster has. Curse of Dragon is a five star monster, so I gain 500 lifepoints."

Two bursts of flame appeared, one was red and one was blue .The blue flame hit Kay and boosted her lifepoints to 4500. The other burned Helpoemer and zapped some of its attack power form it. Marik groaned in pain as the flames licked Helpoemer. Marik's lifepoints fell down to 3000.

"Heh. I just keep chipping away at your points. You might have strong monsters, but my traps act like leeches and I can still bring you down." Marik laughed evilly.

"I confess, I'm amazed you've lowered my lifepoints tihs far so soon in the game. But I have to thank you."

"Excuse me?"

"By attacking my Helpoemer, you have caused your own demise."

"How is that? What are you planning, Marik?"

"It's simple. When you sent my Helpoemer to the card graveyard, you activated my monster's special ability."

"Enlighten me, what does it do?"

"Patience, my dear, for you're about to find out and I doubt you'll like it."

"Don't call me 'my dear'! That is just friggin weird!" Kay yelled.

A blue spirit flew up and flew into Kay's graveyard.

"Helpoemer is in your graveyard now."

"And I take it that's not good?" she asked dryly.

"Heh, it gets much better. Now it can destroy you from within your own duel disk."

"Could you specify a bit more? What exactly will it do from within my graveyard?" A ghostly hand appeared. "What that?!"

"Time for you to learn Helpoemer's special ability. Say farewell to random card from your hand!" The hand snatched a card and dragged it to the graveyard.

"Hmph." It had dragged her Unity card. A helpful magic card but not too great a loss.

"Yes, and I'm afraid there's plenty more where that came from. For as long as my Helpoemer remains in your graveyard, you'll lose one card every turn." Kay glared.

"And you think that scares me? The card graveyard is still a part of the field, and it can be used in numerous ways." Marik frowned. "You might help me out by sending special cards to my graveyard, Marik. It could assist me in bringing forth some of my best cards."

"You're bluffing."

"I guess you'll have to wait to find out."

"So what's the deal with the card in Kay's Graveyard?" Anzu asked.

"It removes one card from her hand with every passing turn."

"This could be a big problem for her."

"It's my move." He drew a card. "Farewell." He placed two cards on the field. "I'll place two cards facedown and end my turn." Kay drew a card. "I play one card facedown on the field and switch Koumouri dragon to defense mode. And now, Curse of Dragon, attack him directly!"

"Ha-ha! You fool, you have allowed me to activate my card of last will. Now I can draw five cards. Looks like my hand is full, now which of my new cards should I use against you first? Let's see..."

"Who cares? My attack is still going to wipe out a nice big piece of your lifepoints."

"I activate negate attack."

"Damn." Kay's dragon stopped.

"So much for that. Now your Battle phase is over." He chuckled. "And now I reveal my facedown, Coffin Seller."

"What?!"

"Now each time one of your monsters is sent to the graveyard, 300 lifepoints are deducted from your total."

"No way!"

"Yes, and there's more. Much more. Remember Helpoemer?" The hand lashed up and snatched a card. Kay frowned. It took her Cyber Jar. That was one of her best special effect monsters. Kay also lost 300 lifepoints and they were down to 4200.

"It's over for oyu. I've devised a fullproof system of depleting your lifepoints each turn without having to do anything at all."

"You want a medal? There's hundreds of strategies like this, and they can all be eliminated."

"Well, don't forget my Plasma Eel is still attached to your Curse of Dragon which lowers its attack points even more." Curse of Dragon was shocked and it lost attack points and Kay was shocked too. "My move." He drew a card. "At last." Kay panted and glared at him. Those shocks were taking a lot out of her. "first I'll place this card facedown on the field. And then I'll activate this, Premature Burial. This allows me to summon any monster that resides in my graveyard."

"Well? Which freak show of a monster is going to darken the field again?" she asked.

"Once I give up 800 lifepoints I shall revive Drillago from my card graveyard." His lifepoints fell to 2200. "But there's still more. Next I'll sacrifice Drillago so I can bring forth thisw card." A strange, blue fiend of some sort with 1500 attack points appeared.

"What is that thing?"

"I've summoned an unstoppable creature known as the Legendary Fiend. This beast gets stronger by 700 attack points each turn. Now make your move, if you dare." Kay draw a card.

"I play pot of Greed. I get to draw two more cards." She drew two and smiled. "Now I play the magic card Graceful Charity and draw three cards then discard two." She did just that. "Now I play Mystical Elf in defense-"

"Not to fast. I play Nightmare Wheel!" Her Koumouri Dragon got stuck in the torture wheel.

"What are oyu doing?!"

"Your pitiful littl emonster is now held captive by my nightmare wheel, which means he can't attack me or defend you as long as my trap card remains on the field. So basically, he's completely useless to you."

"Fine. I play Mystical Elf in defense mode and I'll switch Curse of Dragon to defense mode." Her dragon switched positions. "Now, your move."

"Drain her, Plasma Eel! Weaken her Dragon and her body." The normal shock, we know it. Kay gasped and coughed. Everyone gasped.

"Kay, are you OK?" Cat yelled. She looked up.

"Yes...for now..."

"Let the duel continue." Marik drew a card. "Oh, you also lose 500 points due to my nightmare wheel." Kay's points fell to 3700.

"Gee, thanks for letting me know."

"And my Legendary Fiend gains 700 attack points." Its power grew to 2200. "Now, feel his wrath. Legendary Fiend, attack her Mystical Elf." Mystical Elf was slashed and Kay grunted.

"God, that hurts..."

"And there's more. Everytime one of oyu rmonsters goes to the graveyard-"

"I lose 300 lifepoints. I get it, ok?" she snapped. Her points fell to 3400.

"Good, you paid attention. Next I'll play one card facedown and end my turn. Make your move, although it's hopeless."

"Kay...this is not looking good."

"Kaiba-sama, Onee-san can still win, right?" Adelinda asked. He looked at her.

"It's small...but if he doesn't play his god card, Kay might be able to win." Adelinda nodded and Mokuba looked in surprise at Seto's words.

"My move." She drew a card. "I play the magic card soul release. It lets me remove up to five cards from either my graveyard or yours. And I choose to remove Helpoemer."

"Oh no."

"Your monster only works if its in my graveyard, but when it's removed from play, it's of no use." Helpoemer vanished and Kay smirked.

"She did it!"

"And next I'll play this card, Heavy Storm."

"No!"

"Yup, it destroys all magic and trap cards on the field. So say goodbye to those pesky traps of yours." Marik growls as all of his traps were destroyed. "But that is not all. Next, I'm gonna summon a personal favorite, Lord of Dragons in defense mode. And his special effect renders all traps, magic, and monster effects useless on my dragons, so your Plasma Eel can be a pretty accessory for my dragon, but that's about it."

"It's already been drained so what does it matter?"

"True. But my dragon is not the star of this show. Check out one more magic card in my hand. It's called Flute of Summoning Dragon."

"Yeah! Now Kay can summon any two dragon monsters from her hand."

"Go ahead, you can't possibly have a dragon powerful enough." Kay snickered.

"Remember when I said my deck is full of surprises? Well, this one wa sone I've been dying to show everyone." Marik frowned and everyone else looked confused and intruiged. "You see, this card is so rare, everyone thought only four existed in the world, now one's destroyed and there's only three." Kay pointed at Seto. "And Kaiba has the only three." His eyes widened.

"No, she can't mean-"

"I do. I special summon one dragon and that dragon is the Blue Eyes White Dragon." The gorgeous white and blue dragon rose from the card hologram and threw back its graceful neck, roaring. And it had 3000 attack points. Marik stared in disbelief.

"No way...how can you have that card?"

"Hey, I got it for my birthday. And now, your fiend is finished. Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack with white lightening." Blue Eyes reared its head and unleashed its white lightening. Legendary Fiend died and Marik's lifepoints fell all the way down to 1400. "I warned you about my power. And come next turn, my dragon will wipe you out!"

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