An Orphan's Tale

Guardians of What Exactly?

Chapter 36: 

"What a minute? Where's my brother?" I asked realizing only three of the four members of the group were present. Yugi was nowhere in sight, and that didn't sit easily in my stomach.

"He ran ahead to take on Dartz after we found Joey. We were chasing after him before the whole rat ordeal." Tristan explained.

"Let's go then, he's not the only one with a bone to pick with Dartz." I snarled.

As we reached the building, I saw a figure lying against the wall. Blonde hair covered the woman's face; however, the others seemed to recognize her immediately.

"It's Mai." Tea announced with sadness in her tone. I had met the woman briefly during Battle City, but I never spoke more than a couple of words to her. If what the dweebs have been saying is true, she's the one who defeated Joey, so who defeated her?

"Oh man, don't tell me she lost her soul too?" Mokie asked. I simply shrugged.

"I don't mean to sound insensitive, but who's carrying her?" Tristan asked looking around the group. No one answered. I knew Seto wouldn't, and I wasn't strong enough, nor did I care enough.

Seto simply passed by her and pressed the elevator button. We all stepped inside and made our way to the roof. As the door opened, I felt a jolt in the air. The same eerie surge of energy meant one thing: someone played the Seal of Orichalcos. I looked up to see Yugi and one of Dartz's goons dueling with the green seal just now being activated.

"Pharaoh!" Tea called out.

"We're too late." Tristan said solemnly. I just narrowed my eyes and followed Seto as we took a few cautious steps forward.

We stood and watched as Yugi and this man argued about the Seal being played. Yugi was angered, but his opponent couldn't be more pleased despite the possible consequences. Then they talked about the Great Leviathan again and how it will rise once this duel is over. I rolled my eyes and focused on the duel itself.

"That's the same guy who beat Yugi last time." Tristan said. My eyes widened, and I heard Seto's gasp. I was unconscious and ten thousand feet in the air, drained from my own dueling encounter in the Seal when Yugi last faced this man and lost. This must be Raphael. I was now very weary of my brother's opponent.

"He has three monsters to Yugi's one; this duel could be over. What did my brother get himself into?" I said doing the math in my head. However, Yugi did have a face-down card. I prayed it was enough to get him another turn. Sure enough, despite the attacks, Yugi was able to bring his Kuribabylon back to the field to defend his depleting life points.

"Now what?" Tea asked.

"Yugi needs help; he's only got 1000 life points left." Mokie said looking at Seto and me.

"Who are you kidding Mokuba? He's won duels with far fewer points than this." Tristan said hopeful. I looked at Seto and could see the gears turning in his mind. His eyes narrowed as he continued to size up Raphael. What are you thinking Seto? I thought myself.

"Maybe he can turn this around, but not without a price. Yugi's deck has a lot of useful and powerful cards, but a lot of them take life points to activate. Life points he is rather short on at the moment." I mumbled more to myself, but I received a huff from the man beside me.

Yugi transformed his returned Kuribabylon into a new, slightly disturbing creature known as Kuribandit. Then, he used a magic card to summon his Dark Magician. Soon, the geeks beside us started cheering at Yugi's moves.

"He just gave up half of his life points." Mokuba stated and that changed their tunes slightly.

"Dark Magician destroy his Guardian Elma!" Yugi called out. I narrowed my eyes; the card was in attack mode, so it would do some damage to Raphael's life points. But I noticed Raphael also had two face-down cards.

"Activate trap card, Guardian Formation!" I knew it. His monster was safe.

"What a wimp, try fighting instead of hiding!" Tristan shouted at the servant. However, this duelist and his deck, despite the circumstances, fascinated me.

"Tristan, Raphael may be an unknown duelist by our standards, but he is obviously a force to be reckoned with if he beat Yugi once already and seems to be in control of this duel. How about you shut your mouth and let Yugi concentrate on the duel instead of hearing your useless commentary." Tristan paled at my words, and his mouth snapped closed.

Our attention now was back on the duel, and sadly, it wasn't something I wanted to see as Raphael started to summon his ultimate monster, Guardian Eatos. The creature that appeared was beautiful, angelic almost, until the Seal corrupted it by its darkness. As a counter move, Yugi sacrificed his Kuribo monster and was able to draw five new cards, but was only allowed to keep the magic and trap cards, which could save him or end this duel quickly.

"Yugi don't do it! That will just make Eatos stronger!" Mokie shouted.

"That's true, but it could've been worth the risk if he drew the right cards. I guess we will find out now." Seto said correcting his little brother's outburst.

"Yugi has a very strong and strategic deck Mokie. He wouldn't make that kind of move if he wasn't confident in his cards." I added.

Sadly, after Yugi's move, his Eatos' power grew to 7000 points, stronger than any monster combination in Yugi's deck. My eyes widened, but I kept my face otherwise unreadable. I hope he drew what he needed or had a plan B. Raphael's attack came, and we all braced for the worst, as we knew Yugi had no traps on the field to save him. However, we were all shocked when the sword his guardian held turned to stone and shattered before attacking Yugi's magician. His electromagnetic turtle saved him. On his turn, Yugi summoned his Big Shield Gardna in defense mode and switched his Magician to defense as well.

"He'll never win if he stays on the defense. Come on, Yugi, you have to have something up your sleeve." I said to Seto.

Raphael went for the obvious attack with Eatos to once again try to destroy his Magician, but Yugi had his Magical Hats magic card to spare him, but sadly, he lost his Gardna instead. Mokie continued to give the dorks reality checks when they got overly excited, and that's why I love him so much. For his age, he sees the big picture. That is most likely because of being raised by Seto, but still.

His magical hats worked, and he was safe for another turn, but Raphael summoned a fifth monster to the field.

"Alright, there's only one thing that can save him now. Let's see if he has what it takes to play it." Seto said ominously. He was right. Yugi's luck would run out eventually.

After playing Graceful Charity, he had a smirk on his lips. He drew what he needed.

"I've drawn the eye of Timaeus! Now I'll merge my dragon with my Dark Magician." I couldn't help the small smile that found my lips. I don't care for my brother's alter ego, but I didn't want him to lose.

"Combine to form Amulet Dragon! My new dragon gets 300 points for every magic card in the graveyard. And in case you haven't been counting, that's eight." So his dragon will get 2400 additional points, which is more than enough to destroy his Guardian Eatos! Yugi launched his attack, and his monster was destroyed.

"You'll pay Pharaoh, no one sends my Guardian Eatos to the graveyard!" Raphael said with the darkest look I've ever seen. Soon, the Seal started pulsating, much like when Seto and Alister dueled, but this time it seemed stronger. Raphael had changed; his voice was lower and more dangerous. He explained that when Eatos is sent to the graveyard, a new dark creature is summoned in its place.

"Say hello to my Guardian Dreadschythe." It looked disgusting, it looked like a zombie, but worse. As it roared to life, a surge left the seal, knocking Seto and me back. Seto steadied me, but his new creature continued to gain strength with a magic card that allowed Raphael to sacrifice his remaining monsters, giving him just enough power to destroy Yugi's dragon.

Amulet Dragon was destroyed, dropping Yugi's life points to 300.

"Seto, with his dragon gone, what is left? Timaeus was his last chance." I asked looking up at him.

"I don't know what he'll do. I know his deck better than most, and there seriously isn't one card combination I can think of to defeat Dreadschythe without losing first. His life points are too low." He said, continuing to focus on the duel.