Rock Bottom: Season Two

Face-Off

"Thank you, Yugi." Ryou pulled his friend into a brief hug. "Thank you for not holding back."

"I would not dishonor you by dueling less than my best," was Yugi's warm reply before releasing him and stepping back.

"It is time for the final duel of the semifinals!" Roland announced, and the two teens walked back towards their friends.

Joey hung back reluctantly as Seto walked to the center of the platform, Noah doing the same and the two meeting in the middle.

"Duelists, please shuffle each others' decks."

The silence was tense between them as they complied, eyes narrowed at each other in thought and malice.

"I think we need to agree on the stakes of this duel before we begin," Seto said when Noah's deck was shuffled and ready to be returned to him.

"What stakes do you propose we play for?" Noah seemed amused. He was so confident of his own victory that he might agree to more than he should.

"Winner takes all, for the Millennium Items and the god cards."

Noah smiled sinisterly. He had two of each, Seto only one, but they were still powerful and that god card was why he had hosted this tournament in the first place. He needed to win it in order for any of this to be a success.

"And, if I win, Ishizu's soul is freed from the Shadow Realm."

"Agreed. And if I win, your soul joins hers there." Noah held out Seto's deck to him, and they took back their cards from each other before Seto held out his hand.

"Do you promise?"

"Yes."

They shook hands, sealing the deal with a gesture that Seto hoped the Shadow Magic would accept as binding.

"You've got this, Seto!" Joey cheered as his friend turned his back on Noah Kaiba. This was out of his hands, and all he could do now was trust.

Shadows seethed at Seto's feet as he walked back to his mark. When he reached it, he turned around and activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

The shadows leapt into the air, spreading out overhead and underfoot until they encompassed all three individuals—Seto, Noah, and the referee—in the Shadow Realm. All of the others remained on the outside, behind a wall of magic.

"It shouldn't be a surprise that I'm turning this duel into a Shadow Game," Seto said calmly. "Nobody on the outside can see or hear us, and vice versa."

"That's a pity. I was planning to give them quite a show." Noah activated his own duel disk. "I was thinking something along the lines of..." Noah put a finger on his chin as if coming up with an idea in the moment. "Tying you up and seeing what it takes to make you beg to be freed."

Don't let him upset you, Seth warned, preparing to mount a defense of Seto's mind the instant he felt Noah attempt to spy on them.

I don't plan to.

"That doesn't sound much like a duel."

"Maybe not, but I think your little friends would get a kick out of seeing you the way my father used to see you."

"You don't know as much as you think you do," Seto replied calmly, drawing his starting hand. "For this Shadow Game," he said, shifting the conversation away from Gozaburo Kaiba. "Whenever a player loses life-points, they will be ripped straight from their soul with all the pain that implies."

"Sounds like fun." Noah grinned, his own starting hand drawn as well. Roland flipped a coin and it gave Noah the first turn of the duel.

"I draw, and for my first turn, I summon Mystic Tomato in attack mode."