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Feb. 24th, 2005 08:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spokeDuel 33: Terror Cubed!!!
We now leave your regularly scheduled insanity for a hospital drama! << Er, I mean, Grandpa has finally gotten there, which I suppose gives a rough indicator of how long it's taking all of this to happen? The doctors and a nurse - you can tell 'cause she is Nursely Uniformed, something I'm sure he'd appreciate if he were in any condition to do so. Poor guy.
Um. Story time. ^^; Grandpa, in the midst of what is described as 'Respiratory distress followed by an acute bout of angina secondary to pyschogenic shock!' thinks Yugi's name -
- cut to a dramatic full panel of Yugi staring at his cards in shock! Shock I tell you! And he proceeds to refreshing our memory on the whole 'Grandpa's life depends on me beating Kaiba!' :( thing. <<;;
Can I shake him now? Please? Pretty please and Seto with cherries on top? XD I'm receiving death threats for that image, apparently no one is putting cherries on him except maybe Kayura. If she wants to. He is thinking-and-not-saying things about Mokuba that I'd rather not hear at the moment. >>;; I mean, I am trying to pay attention to mocking Yugi-tachi, here!
This time they don't even notice the Supernatural Moment, for Honda has seen the door to the next game!
Honda: Yugi, look! There's the door the next game! We're getting closer to that jerk Kaiba one step at a time! ... << *pets Honda* I'm sure there is a middle ground, somewhere, between telling like it is and stating the obvious. -.-
But they run the last few feet to this door, and mercifully we are spared the possibility of worse statements of the obvious by a return to Seto. ^^ He is leaning back in his chair, chin in his left hand now, and musing to himself with this tired/bored expression. << >:p Stupid Yugi-tachi are boring him! *stabs them with pointys grabbed from Ryou, ignoring the way the bulk of headspace sweat drops and moves away from her and Ryou both*
Seto: So they've made it to "Death T-3"... Not outside the realm of chance, but... Looking over their progress, I see some factors I underestimated... They're a good team... Their close friendship has been the real key to beating the games... *thinking, while his mouth slowly curves into a smirk* I need to break up that union.. After all, friendship is just an illusion.. Everyone cares the most about himself... When they find themselves in real trouble, they'll soon betray their friends to save their own hides! That's where "Death T-3" comes in! Mmeh heh heh...
Then cut back to Yugi-tachi, with some sentences whose speakers are not made clear. However. Whichever of them said "Kaiba designed this theme park. You know it's gotta be something even more cheap and sadistic." has a slap coming! Cheap?! >:p
So they hurry into a room. A large room. A room that proves to be utterly and completely empty, despite their determined searching. Which includes kicking the floor, walking with their hands along the wall, and then Yugi looks up. You would think this would be a doomed effort, what with his height limiting his vision >:P but apparently not? Because he notices there is a hole in the wall, waaay up there. 10 meters up there, though I'm not sure which of them says that, either.
And then Yugi has a truly beautiful idea. >:)
Yugi: *head down, sad and worried expression* Maybe... *Jou turns at this point, with ..... next to him* Maybe... Maybe we're trapped here... ...and this was Kaiba's plan all along...
Bwahaha! XD I love it! Ooooh, I wish. Would have been funny in a horrible way.
Jou: *with his game face on* Yugi! Don't give up, okay?
Yugi, who somehow does not seem reassured : Okay... We'll just have to wait and see what happens. ...
What happens when Yugi-tachi has nothing to do? Nothing! They sit there, in the white expanse of nothingness, like a story waiting to happen. As none of them are intelligent enough to write that story, they are doomed. Teh End
See the white expanse of nothingness!
>:D
Okay, so that's not where the story ends... ^^;; In fact, they are about to descend into True Emotion.
They are briefly roused from the stupor of depression settling over them by Anzu remarking that Johji has gone to sleep. (Finally!)
Honda, with one eyebrow raised: This whole thing must be hard on a little, talking, pervy kid like him.
Silence once again. It finally starts to get to Yugi. : *thinking* We've been here ages... Nothing has changed... Maybe... Maybe it does end here... *starts crying, still thinking* Grandpa... Everyone...
Here he collapses onto the floor, doubled over with tears flying from the movement and yells : I'm sorry! I'm sorry everyone! It's my fault ...! If I weren't here, this wouldn't have happened...
Jou goes solid eyed, he has Glare next to him, and he grabs Yugi by the collar of his shirt: That's enough, Yugi! Don't you dare say that again!
Anzu is staring with her mouth open, while Honda is yelling >:o : Stop, Jounouchi! What's the matter with you?!
Yugi, looking up into Jou's face which is maybe a foot away from his own: J- Jo....
Jounouchi: Don't say things like that! Yugi... Don't you understand why we came with you?! It's because we're friends!
Yugi: :o !!
Honda reaches out to touch Jou's hands and it doesn't show if he pulls them off or if Jou lets go then, but he's winking at Jounouchi and: Anyway... Jounouchi... Let go of his collar... You're not the same Jounouchi who used to beat him up, remember!
Just... this panel of Jou's hands still in the same position, but with Yugi free and looking up at him with his head angled down, and he does look a bit scared. :/ And then Jou, without turning around: Honda! We've been such stupid punks...
Honda's expression here is beautiful, eyes shut with this smile... it looks like regret and pain and nostalgia all tangled up. : Yeah... We were stupid punks all right...
Jounouchi: Living in a stupid society...... with stupid parents...... and my stupid self...... I never learned to like myself... ... until I met you, Yugi!
Yugi: *thinking* Huh?!
Jounouchi: You were this innocent little kid... everyone took advantage of you... At first, I couldn't stand to watch you! I thought you were an idiot.. But... I wasn't really mad at you, Yugi... I was mad at myself...
Honda: I know how you feel... I was the same. I would get so wound up... I just needed to pick a fight... it didn't matter who... some local punks... even a telephone pole... I would hit them with everything I had.... then I'd realize, the person I really wanted to hit... was me.
Anzu notices then that Honda's hands are clenched into fists, but she doesn't say anything. Just has a thought bubble with an exclamation point in.
Jounouchi reaches over to hold the Puzzle a minute, sort of lifting it with this sad, almost smiling expression: Yugi... you remember when I stole part of your Puzzle?
Yugi: ..... :o
Jounouchi: *serious* When I gave that back... You can laugh, but that took more courage than anything....
Yugi: .....! :o
Jounouchi's eyes have shut, and that sad smile : But, just then... I started to like myself a little bit... for the first time in my life...
And he grabs Yugi's shoulders and is once again yelling, solid-eyed, about a foot from the little guy's face ^^;; : Listen to me, Yugi! You know what friends are?! They're someone you like! And because of them you learn to like yourself! That's why I hang out with you, Yugi! So if it hurts, or whatever - Let me share it! That's what friends are for!
Yugi: *tearing up* Jounouchi... I... *tears streaming*
Jounouchi's eyes are normal again, and : I'm not giving up yet... So don't you give up either! 'Kay, Yugi...?
Yugi is wiping at his eyes with one hand, all endearing little kid like. ^^
Anzu: No one learns to like themselves on their own... It's a big game you play throughout your life...
The boys turn to look at her, Honda with that smile as when he last spoke, only his eyes are open now. Jou and Yugi are startled enough they were obviously lost in each other's eyes ---
I can't Take It!! I have to Mock Them!! *deep breath* *self-control* Story. Must finish the emotional part of the story. x.x
Anzu: Hey! Look at this white room! Doesn't it remind you of a blank canvas? I always thought that if I went somewhere special with my friends, I'd leave my name there to remember it by!
Yugi: Are you a tagger, Anzu?!
Anzu winks at them. : Heh heh... I've got a magic marker! *hands on her hips, looking as if she were bouncing on her heels or something* Put your hands out, everyone!
By now, they are looking at her like she's lost it. Jou : What are you up to, Anzu?!
Anzu: Just gimmie your hands!
And they hold their four hands out, and if you don't know what's coming you haven't seen enough of this show. ;p
Anzu: See? Smiley face
Someone, I think Yugi: What the ?!
Anzu: Listen up! Even after we graduate and go our separate ways, if we're ever alone... ...we just have to think of this smiley face... (And her smile turns sad) ...and we'll remember being here, and being friends! Even when I'm studying dance in New York, I'll always remember the time I spent with you guys.
And their faces just light up, smiles all around and it's so sweet.
Jou: ....! I got it!
Anzu: The ink of the marker will wear off... but in our hearts, the ring will always be there!
Honda: Okay!
Yugi: Yup!
Of course. This. Is when doom strikes. ... I am torn between sympathy at their predicament and joy that things are moving again. >:)
So they hear a noise and look up to see a huge block falling from the ceiling, and just get out of the way in time. There are gasping statement of the obvious again, and Anzu scoops up the still sleeping Johji as they dodge the blocks.
We cut for one panel to Seto: Now then! Let's see how many make it out of that room without being flattened....
More statements of the obvious as they dodge in panic, and another cut to Seto: *thinking* Mmm heh heh... That's right, run.... In this game, your numbers are a liability! Stop to worry about someone else, and you'll be squashed by a cube! You can't win this game without sacrificing your friends!
Yugi: This is like dancing with death!
Jou: There's no place left to run!
Yugi: Everyone climb on top of the cubes! The point of the game is get out of the room!
Finally! Yugi's height comes in handy, as this is clearly the experience of someone used to climbing and using stools speaking! >:D XD
There is more panic and yelling as Yugi realizes they can't stay near the edges of the room lest they get boxed in, and then - as Jou is calling to Honda to toss Johji to him, and Jou is wondering how the kid can sleep at a time like this?
Anzu notices something. : ! Hold on! There's a rhythm to the timing of the falling cubes! Maybe there's some rule to where they fall as well......
Yugi, with his chirpy expression: I get it! You're trained as a dancer! You've got a talent for reading rhythms!
Anzu, sadly, does not seem to have heard him. Her eyes are closed, trancelike, and she's listening to the falling cubes. This thoughts makes me dizzy, as any one of those cubes could crush her at any minute!! But she's utterly focused, counting in her thoughts according to what pattern she thinks she's heard : One.. two... three...
I can picture this, really? One fluid motion, eyes opening, hardly turning but to raise her arm, pointing two squares over as the next cube falls: There!!
Jounouchi: That's awesome! You knew where the next cube would fall! ...I want to say something like, 'Whoo-hoo, we're not gonna die!' Except I don't really have the heart to mock them now. Not after the touching scene previous. >.< Augh, they got to me.
Anzu, with a stressed cheerful expression: If the timing of the falling cubes is rhythm and the places where they fall are the steps of a dance.... then it's like the cubes are following a simple dance!
Note that they are now moving again. >>
Yugi: I get it! the mechanism of this game is too big for the computer controlling it to be too complex! They had to keep it simple!!
Jou: So the cubes only know easy dances!
Honda, a bit more stressed than the others: So all we have to do is stay light on our feet... like dancers... and make it to the exit! This game's easy if you know where the cubes are going to fall!
There seems to be a time-lapse that isn't shown, where Anzu was guiding them and then. >.<
Jou, Johji and Anzu are on the last two blocks, right at the exit - but Honda is a full two squares down (which makes it just a little bit taller than he is) , and Yugi is below him.
Jou: Hang in there guys! We're almost to the exit!
Honda: Hurry up, Yugi!
This, this gave me a heart attack first reading. Honda has a block above and behind him bearing down, Anzu turns with this expression like shocked anger and: *thinking* Huh?! The rhythm changed ...?! *out loud* Honda, look out!!
Jounouchi: Honda! Are you alright?!
Honda, seeming to lean back against the block: Phew... that was close...
Anzu: Be careful, the rhythm is getting faster!
Honda: All right, let's move!! ...!! And the panel. With his eyes gone solid and white, and the electrical background. ;_;
Jounouchi: Anzu and I are out! Yugi! Honda! Get up here!
Yugi is just now on the level with Honda, and Honda just reaches out to him, yelling : Yugi! Give me your hand, quick!
Yugi looks up, he hasn't quite pulled himself over the edge: You go first, Honda!
Honda: >:o Just give me your hand, before the cubes block the exit! And he grabs his wrist and lifts him up to Jou Jounouchi! Take Yugi!
Jou, reaching: Got 'im!
Next page, and he's pulling Yugi in, somehow he looks even smaller almost curled up next to Jou like that, and Jou is getting a bit annoyed - C'mon Honda!
Anzu: What're you waiting for?
And it's that same smile as before, only all softened and regretful and just - resigned. : This is as far as I go...
And then Jounouchi sees it. Sees it and his eyes go solid and the electric background: H-- *thinking* Honda's jacket... caught under the cube!!
And it pans out behind the others so we can see Yugi and Jou looking at Honda, and he's stuck his left hand in his pocket and the right is giving them a thumbs-up : Goodbye, guys...
Yugi: Honda!
And it looks like maybe they were about to go back in there, but a cube falls - their hands are both right at it and Jounouchi.
Jounouchi: * shocked/ >:O * Hondaaa!!
End, Duel 33, Book 4. ...Luckily, I bought 4 and 5 together, or this would have been driving me nuts. I hate cliffhangers. ...Does anyone actually like cliffhangers?
Onward: Book 5.
Duel 34: Arena #2! So, the tiniest of recaps, showing Honda saying goodbye. And then, Jounouchi and Yugi reacting. Which as you can imagine... the train is most definitely pulling into Angst Central Station.
The boys eyes are solid, and Anzu just looks - shocked, but not as ..emptied as the boys. Their hands fall away, and Yugi is looking up at Jou even as he starts... hunching down. Like he's starting to collapse inward, and I don't think he notices because he's focused on Jou.
Yugi: Honda is.... Honda is......
Jounouchi: >:O I won't believe it!! Honda can't be gone!! You can't get rid of that idiot so easily....
Yugi. Actually scares me sometimes. And I might rant about the wrongness of his being more concerned about his friends not liking him than about the killing itself, but this is. This goes beyond just the solid eyes, something about the stretched-out look of them and the lines of his face. It's like a white heat is building in there, and he's curling down slowly around it trying to keep it in.
Yugi, thinking all of this: *turning slightly away from Jou* Honda is.... Because of me, Honda is.... Why.... My friends, my grandfather... taken from me... Curse you ... Curse you... Kaiba!!
By now he has several 'Rrm' floating around him. <<;
Anzu notices him, and she goes solid eyed: Yugi... *reaches out a hand to touch his shoulder* Honda's all right! I'm sure he's alive!
Jounouchi is so caught up about Honda he hasn't turned around yet... : Honda! Listen up! We're gonna go on ahead -- but you use that hard head of yours to get outta that fix! We'll be waiting for you...! You idiot!
He has tears at the corners of his eyes when he turns to the other two: C'mon! Let's go, Yugi, Anzu!
Anzu: Wait.... Yugi's acting strange... Something's wrong...
Only now does Jou notice him, and his eyes go solid again, and.
Scene change. Elsewhere in the Station, which is variously known as Kaiba Land, Death T, Subtitled - 'I would ask what's wrong with these boys if we weren't getting there...'
Seto is still watching. >:) For the first time, we see he has a chess set with him in the control room, and so he muses:
Seto: If this is chess... Yugi is the king... Jounouchi is the knight... And Honda must be the rook... *he knocks over a piece, it says 'topple' ^^ * The rook has been captured. The countdown to checkmate has begun...
A voice! << Like we can't guess who... "They don't give up easy... do they, big brother?"
Seto hardly turns his head: Mokuba ...?
Mokuba. *chokes* Mokuba. Is wearing a fur lined coat just like the one Seto had on near the beginning of the arc. I cannot but laugh at this. XD
Mokuba, with a tiny smirk: They’re almost at the final stage! And you know what that means! *loses smirk* Do you remember your bet with me? The one we made before you started the "Death-T" plan?! We bet on which stage of the theme park Yugi would die in!
Seto: Yes...
Mokuba: >:O And you bet on "Death T-5"! Isn't that right, big brother?!!
Seto. Has not turned around. This was my first cue something was very creepily off, here. >.< : You bet on Death T-4, didn't you...?
Mokuba has his hands in fists now. And >:O : Of course I did, you jerk! "Death T-4" is the stage where I fight Yugi!!!
Seto actually seems to have a tiny smirk, though the angle is odd here. By this time I am wincing, and it's about to get worse. : Yes, I know, Mokuba... I bet on the final stage of the theme park, "Death T-5"... The final game of "Duel Monsters" !
Mokuba, still same as before: You know what I mean! You bet on Yugi, instead of me, your own brother! How do you think that feels?!
Seto: And I still feel the same. You can't beat Yugi. I opposed your participation from the beginning.
Mokuba: >:/ 'Grrr'
Seto: Mokuba... you tried to show me up by challenging Yugi to a game before, didn't you ...? Do you think I don't know the outcome of that game?
Mokuba is just. Crushed. All ;_; : ...... Th-That's not.... *head hanging* I... I just.... I just thought you'd like me if I beat him...
And. This. Showing weakness was a mistake here. This is the closest I have actually come to hating Seto's guts. He turns for the first time, just far enough for eye contact, and he glares
Seto >:O : Know this! There is no such thing as brotherly love in the gaming world! Until you figure that out, you will always be a loser, Mokuba!!
Mokuba cringes and his eyes are solid for a minute with a 'gulp' but then: >:O I'll show you! I'll beat Yugi myself!
He then turns his head to yell at a pair of minions behind him : You! Are the preparations for "Death T-4" ready yet?!!
Minion 1: Yes, sir!
Minion 2: Yes, Master Mokuba!
Mokuba: Then let's go!
He stomps out and Seto doesn't even turn around, both their eyes are still solid. x.x
...Mokuba looks so much younger, stomping along with his fists clenched and his teeth gritted. I would coo if I didn't think he'd try and tear my throat out at this point. : *thinking* Just you watch! Today I'll finally show my brother that I am a gamer!
Cut, switch scene. Yugi is still freaking out Jou and Anzu. Solid eyed, mouths dropped open, and on their knees in front of him - I wonder if they are perfectly correctly translating Jou's reaction here...
Jou: :o Yugi! Are you okay, Yugi? Do you need your insulin or something?
Yugi: *gasp!* .... ....I! I can't hold it back! Something inside of me...
Anzu, with a pained smile: Yugi... you're just tired from all the stress... It's okay...
Yugi's eyes squeeze shut : No... I... *they open, and he looks so tired* There's something I've kept secret from you...
Jou and Anzu with the solid eyes and : ...?!
Yugi hunches over, one hand to his head and one in a fist resting on his knee : I think there's another "me" inside myself that I don't know about...
It could either or both of them saying this, they both have their mouths open like so : :O Another Yugi?!
Yugi's eyes are hidden by his next words, but his hands are cupped around the Puzzle without touching it : Ever since I solved the Millennium Puzzle... there's been times when I black out... I think I'm changing into someone I don't know about...
Jou looks at him with this frowning O.o expression.
And his hands are clenched again and he has little round tears at the corners of his squeezed shut eyes. : I'm scared... I've just become friends with you guys... I was afraid that if you knew about the other me... You might leave me!
Jou's expression here is kind of sad, but calm. : Yugi... I swear to you... Even if there is another person inside of you... We'll always be friends!!
And Yugi, looking up at him with the wide-eyed slightly exhausted relief : *thinking* ...! Jounouchi!
Anzu chimes in : He's right! We'll always be friends!
Yugi looking at her, and then at Jounouchi : *thinking* Anzu... Guys... Thank you...
Jou: Okay! Let's keep goin'!
And they all start to run forward again, with Anzu carrying Johji and calling to Yugi - who is the only one we see look back, even as he's running, : *thinking* Honda... I promise to come back for you...
And as they get closer to the open door in front of them, they start to hear cheering. And as they come into the light of that door, their jaws drop open like they can't believe what they're seeing - which is another huge crowd, and a gigantic Monster Chess playing field. (Think Harry Potter, only with mountains on it and no chessmen) Across from them, Mokuba stands in his little fur coat, with his arms crossed and two minions at his back.
Yugi: Th-This is... the second arena!
Mokuba: "Death T-4!" Welcome to my stage! Yugi!!
Yugi : Mokuba!
Mokuba: Yugi! This is a battle between you and me! Leave your friends where they are and come to the duel box alone!
Yugi's rumbling starts again, with his little frowning face, but Jou starts before he can say or do anything : Yugi! It's too dangerous for you alone! I'll go too!
Yugi: *determined* >:/ No! Let me go alone!
Jou: Yugi...!
Yugi: It's okay! I'm not a weakling anymore! I'm not alone! I have my friends! I have you guys no matter where you are!
Jou: I'm glad...
Yugi: It's thanks to you, Jounouchi... you and Honda. You taught me what real courage is!
Jou: Okay!
And Yugi looks forward, with a much clearer determined look, and... : And I... I won't be afraid anymore... of the other me...
Que the rumbly dramatics of his changing - Jou's mouth falling open as Yugi's eyes shut, and the boy is surrounded by 'Rmb' and the other two are just a little freaked for some reason. Ha!
Anzu: :o Yugi...
Jou: o.o He's doin' it again...
Watch as Yugi dramatically transforms! Their surroundings are replaced by the nifty lightning background! The Puzzle is lifted slightly by the Wind That Does Pharaoh's Hair! <<;; Nooo, I'm not having a fit of joy at the chance to mock Pharaoh... not meee. Sadly, it's not much of a chance, as I'm really trying to put off the Inevitable Angst. x.x
And he turns to them, once his hair is properly spiked, and : Jounouchi!! Anzu! I will win!!
And he walks off, with his hands in his pockets, while Anzu and Jou are left standing, just. Like. This. :O With sweat drops! And Jou : *thinking* Th-This is the other Yugi...!
The crowd mocks as Pharaoh walks forward to the duel box - and Pharaoh, upon entering and seeing who his opponent is?
Mokuba: Yugi! congratulations on making it to Death T-4! Too bad for you it was just a warm-up!
Pharaoh: *looking down at seated Mokuba* :Pft! You again? Haven't you learned your lesson, brat?
Mokuba: *gone solid eyed* Heh heh... The "other" Yugi, huh? That's just fine... Yugi! I'll let you in on something! The last stage you're trying to get to... the final arena with my big brother... is on the floor above this one... See? That elevator takes you there!
Pharaoh: So I've to beat you to get to it...
Mokuba: Like you have a chance! You're going to die at this stage! Along with your friends!
Cut to the henchmen, and the guns, and the hostage situation. <<;;
Pharaoh: Jounouchi! Anzu... *clenched fists* Mokuba... you little...
Mokuba only laughs, but Jou keeps his cool and tells Yugi not to worry about it, just beat him at his own game.
Then there is a tiny speech of telling Yugi that they will be playing Capsule Monster Chess, the virtual reality version - hence the giant board beneath them. And then. And then... and I can't help the laughing beaming, he's just sooo darned cute!! XD
Mokuba: Let me give you a demonstration! Watch closely, Yugi! This strong piece is like me! It will do battle with this pathetic, low-level piece like you! The virtual monsters appear on the field below! Now fight! Bwahaha! I'll destroy you just like I destroy this weak little monster!!
Armorsaurus - Level 5 : Roarrrr! *blasts*
Hyumoko - Level 1 : *toasted* P
E
E
P
!
And then. solid eyes and that >:D : Of course, the loser will play a penalty game - "The experience of death"!!
Pharaoh : O.O *thinking* "The experience of death...!!" ... ... ... << Yeah, where have you heard that before, you little *mutter grumble seethe*
Mokuba: *cleared eyes but still >:D* Now, the game begins! *thinking* I will defeat Yugi! I'll be the one to destroy him! I'll show my brother! Heh heh heh heh!
Pharaoh: I'll take you on, Mokuba! *thinking* I have to win to make it to the final stage... and Kaiba!
In its own panel, in a flood of light : Wait for me, Grandpa!!
Duel 35: Board Game Deathmatch
For a 'recap' this time, one panel that shows the arena below them, while the game is named and the penalty game mentioned. Which is nice, not excessive. >> Not that it ever gets excessive, nooo. :P Oh, and Pharaoh and Mokuba glaring at each other and thinking their respective lines about their goals.
*roots for Mokuba despite all sanity* ^^; And the story continues!
Mokuba: *points* First, we each draw our capsule monsters from the coin machine! *thinking as this happens* Heh heh heh... This machine is rigged to give me the most powerful capsule monsters! And to leave you stuck with a group of weaklings!
...okay, I must question here - how is it possible to rig a regular old coin machine thusly? I mean... we have these things at work! They can't be complicated enough to permit of rigging?
Despite this, Mokuba ends up with a Level 5 set, except the one Level 4. Pharaoh? Levels 1 and 2! (As shown by the numbers on the capsules.)
Pharaoh: *tiniest frown as he is thinking* Tch... The machine must have been rigged! There's too much difference in the monsters' levels! Mokuba! You planned this all along!
No! I would never have guessed that! I mean, you're only in a building designed around killing you!!! It is kind of implied that there was Much Planning! >:P Idiot.
Mokuba: Place your capsules in your territory! Heh heh heh! See if you can think up a good formation for those monsters!
Pharaoh: *thinking as he stares at the board* Now... How to fight... This board has one path on each side... but you can't get by if the enemy is waiting for you... *suddenly widening eyes, though we only see one...* I have it!
Mokuba: If you're done, then capsules out! Don't wet yourself when you see my monsters, Yugi! *looking up at Yugi's setup* Huh?! Ugh! What's that setup supposed to be? All the weaklings clumped together!! What a wuss! Yugi, you suck! Bwa ha ha ha!
Pharaoh: *thinking* Almost all Mokuba's monsters are Level 5. If I fight them one on one, they'll be unstoppable... This is the only way to face them!
Mokuba: All right! Game start!
And the crowd whispers excitedly! :o They're playing now! ...I feel oddly sympathetic, can't imagine why. :P And our first case of cheerleading! ^^
Jou: C'mon Yugi!! You gotta win!! *thinking* Yugi... There's no flip side to friendship! We'll stick by you no matter what!
...I can't help myself. << You could have said that last bit out loud, genius!! :P
Mokuba: I go first! Armorsaurus moves! Which he does, and there is gasping as the piece appears and moves on the field; then Mokuba looks up and points at Pharaoh: Your move, Yugi!
Pharaoh: *arms folded, eyes closed* .......
Mokuba: Did you hear me?! I said it's your turn!
Pharaoh: *without opening his eyes* I pass. I don't have to move.
Mokuba: What?! *thinking* Yugi... you're up to something! See if I care... *out loud* Fine! If you won't move, then I'll come to you! *thinking again, with a disturbing expression* I'll split my monsters into two groups and attack from both front and behind! I'll completely destroy him!
And Pharaoh... continues to sit there. With his eyes closed. With his arms folded.
Until I suspect he might have fallen asleep! >:P And, he starts to freak Jou out.
Jou: *thinking* Yugi...What are you doing....?!
Of course. This is par for the course, you can't make a proper comeback until you've hit the ropes. >:p
It is slightly creepy the way his eyes snap open to reveal solidity, as he makes his first move. Which is to put his weakest guy forward. And the crowd goes wild!
...no, really. Although I suspect that 'I thought he gave up!' is not a compliment? >:) And Mokuba then gleefully continues with the mocking and destroying! >:D
Mokuba: You're too late, Yugi! I attack with Armorsaurus! He burns up your weakling monster with one blast!
Goodbye, Brain Slime! >:)
Pharaoh: Urk! :o *with sweat drop*
Mokuba: Ha! I'm not done yet... Armorsaurus' turn isn't over! He attacks one more monster!
Goodbye, Toppo! (little bird-thing)
Mokuba: Bwahahaha! Yugi, you've already lost two monsters!
Pharaoh: >:/ *thinking* It's not over yet... I won't give up until the end!
Mokuba: I'm going to have some fun and destroy all your monsters with just Armorsaurus! Bwahahahahaha! Go, Armorsaurus! Flatten that wimp!
;_; And the downhill slide begins. Stupid Pharaoh. Stupid Yugi! Stupid comebacks, >:ppp !
The monster, you see, is Mogley. It is a mole. >> It digs into the field, and well...
Mokuba: Wh-what?! *thinking* No way... I forgot he can burrow! *out loud* Armorsaurus can't stop moving!! He's heading toward... *thinking* One of my monsters!! *out loud* They destroyed each other...!!! *thinking* Yugi... This is what he was up to!
Now we shall be treated to teacher!Pharaoh. Oh joy. x.x
Pharaoh: High level monsters have unrivalled power, but you need to learn to control it! Now you've lost two monsters, Mokuba!
The crowd roars somemore! Jounouchi is relieved to the point of being solid eyed! : Awright! Yugi's fighting back!
Pharaoh: And now, I'll move this piece to attack zoid "M".....(Ninja Squid, level 2) A level 2 monster can't hope to match it, but... There is one way it can defeat a level 5 enemy.... *thinking* Forgive me...
An apparently really impressive explosion follows. >>
Mokuba: Uh... Uh... I-It took out my monster in a suicide attack!! Yugi, you jerk!
Pharaoh: And now.. ...a path has been opened!
Mokuba: Huh..? *thinking* The evolution space is unguarded! Yugiiii! He sacrificed the other pieces to let one weak monster reach the evolution space!!
Across an enter page, while we watch stupid Pharaoh move his stupid Beeton (caterpillar) to this evolution space : >:/ *gritted teeth, thinking* My monsters are too far away! I can't stop Beeton from evolving! Monsters that reach the evolution space automatically evolve three levels! Which means this useless level 2... will transform into a powerful monster!
Pharaoh: I've reached the evolution space! Now evolve!
Let's all imagine what he sounds like saying that, while I try and figure someway to humiliate or destroy him, shall we? >:p
But nooo, all are gasping and generally :O as it evolves into a big fat beetle. Yay.
...it is interesting that here, he does a split? It's the first time we see any sign of Yugi whilst Pharaoh is out and playing. At least, if it were animated, it would be a split... Pharaoh is in right forefront, while Yugi is left and behind him, where a shadow might be, but he's not insubstantial - just hidden? And the background is wind-lines. : No matter how weak a monster is, if you believe in every step it takes it will grow strong!
Hyper Beetle proceeds to taking out Mokuba's monsters while the crowd cheers, until it comes down to one left - Big Foot.
Mokuba: Yugi... This battle will decide the game!! *thinking* Heh heh... Hyper Battle's long range attacks are powerful... But in close quarters, Big Foot is stronger!!
Much dramatic staring! Many different angles thereof!
Hyper Beetle goes down.
Mokuba: Ha ha ha! Hyper Beetle is dead! Yugi! You're done for!!
Pharaoh: :o Urk!
Mokuba: Mwa ha ha... Yugi... You had another monster hiding on the board, didn't you? Do you think I'll let it get away?
Pharaoh: !!
Mokuba: *as his Big Foot stomps over to the little mole that never came back out* Ha ha ha! Big Foot! Stomp that coward flat! *thinking* I did it! I win!
And then Big Foot begins to crack, all over its body. And breaks apart before the stomping can happen. :/
Mokuba: *thinking* Big Foot's body is... It can't be... Hyper Beetle's attack was a critical hit...?!
Pharaoh: *smug expression* You know the saying "It's not over until it's over?" Well, now it's over! I win, Mokuba!
And that. That ends #35, and this post of the Death-T saga. Next one begins the heavy angsting with wrapping up this game - and then Pharaoh goes to duel Seto. :(
We now leave your regularly scheduled insanity for a hospital drama! << Er, I mean, Grandpa has finally gotten there, which I suppose gives a rough indicator of how long it's taking all of this to happen? The doctors and a nurse - you can tell 'cause she is Nursely Uniformed, something I'm sure he'd appreciate if he were in any condition to do so. Poor guy.
Um. Story time. ^^; Grandpa, in the midst of what is described as 'Respiratory distress followed by an acute bout of angina secondary to pyschogenic shock!' thinks Yugi's name -
- cut to a dramatic full panel of Yugi staring at his cards in shock! Shock I tell you! And he proceeds to refreshing our memory on the whole 'Grandpa's life depends on me beating Kaiba!' :( thing. <<;;
Can I shake him now? Please? Pretty please and Seto with cherries on top? XD I'm receiving death threats for that image, apparently no one is putting cherries on him except maybe Kayura. If she wants to. He is thinking-and-not-saying things about Mokuba that I'd rather not hear at the moment. >>;; I mean, I am trying to pay attention to mocking Yugi-tachi, here!
This time they don't even notice the Supernatural Moment, for Honda has seen the door to the next game!
Honda: Yugi, look! There's the door the next game! We're getting closer to that jerk Kaiba one step at a time! ... << *pets Honda* I'm sure there is a middle ground, somewhere, between telling like it is and stating the obvious. -.-
But they run the last few feet to this door, and mercifully we are spared the possibility of worse statements of the obvious by a return to Seto. ^^ He is leaning back in his chair, chin in his left hand now, and musing to himself with this tired/bored expression. << >:p Stupid Yugi-tachi are boring him! *stabs them with pointys grabbed from Ryou, ignoring the way the bulk of headspace sweat drops and moves away from her and Ryou both*
Seto: So they've made it to "Death T-3"... Not outside the realm of chance, but... Looking over their progress, I see some factors I underestimated... They're a good team... Their close friendship has been the real key to beating the games... *thinking, while his mouth slowly curves into a smirk* I need to break up that union.. After all, friendship is just an illusion.. Everyone cares the most about himself... When they find themselves in real trouble, they'll soon betray their friends to save their own hides! That's where "Death T-3" comes in! Mmeh heh heh...
Then cut back to Yugi-tachi, with some sentences whose speakers are not made clear. However. Whichever of them said "Kaiba designed this theme park. You know it's gotta be something even more cheap and sadistic." has a slap coming! Cheap?! >:p
So they hurry into a room. A large room. A room that proves to be utterly and completely empty, despite their determined searching. Which includes kicking the floor, walking with their hands along the wall, and then Yugi looks up. You would think this would be a doomed effort, what with his height limiting his vision >:P but apparently not? Because he notices there is a hole in the wall, waaay up there. 10 meters up there, though I'm not sure which of them says that, either.
And then Yugi has a truly beautiful idea. >:)
Yugi: *head down, sad and worried expression* Maybe... *Jou turns at this point, with ..... next to him* Maybe... Maybe we're trapped here... ...and this was Kaiba's plan all along...
Bwahaha! XD I love it! Ooooh, I wish. Would have been funny in a horrible way.
Jou: *with his game face on* Yugi! Don't give up, okay?
Yugi, who somehow does not seem reassured : Okay... We'll just have to wait and see what happens. ...
What happens when Yugi-tachi has nothing to do? Nothing! They sit there, in the white expanse of nothingness, like a story waiting to happen. As none of them are intelligent enough to write that story, they are doomed. Teh End
See the white expanse of nothingness!
>:D
Okay, so that's not where the story ends... ^^;; In fact, they are about to descend into True Emotion.
They are briefly roused from the stupor of depression settling over them by Anzu remarking that Johji has gone to sleep. (Finally!)
Honda, with one eyebrow raised: This whole thing must be hard on a little, talking, pervy kid like him.
Silence once again. It finally starts to get to Yugi. : *thinking* We've been here ages... Nothing has changed... Maybe... Maybe it does end here... *starts crying, still thinking* Grandpa... Everyone...
Here he collapses onto the floor, doubled over with tears flying from the movement and yells : I'm sorry! I'm sorry everyone! It's my fault ...! If I weren't here, this wouldn't have happened...
Jou goes solid eyed, he has Glare next to him, and he grabs Yugi by the collar of his shirt: That's enough, Yugi! Don't you dare say that again!
Anzu is staring with her mouth open, while Honda is yelling >:o : Stop, Jounouchi! What's the matter with you?!
Yugi, looking up into Jou's face which is maybe a foot away from his own: J- Jo....
Jounouchi: Don't say things like that! Yugi... Don't you understand why we came with you?! It's because we're friends!
Yugi: :o !!
Honda reaches out to touch Jou's hands and it doesn't show if he pulls them off or if Jou lets go then, but he's winking at Jounouchi and: Anyway... Jounouchi... Let go of his collar... You're not the same Jounouchi who used to beat him up, remember!
Just... this panel of Jou's hands still in the same position, but with Yugi free and looking up at him with his head angled down, and he does look a bit scared. :/ And then Jou, without turning around: Honda! We've been such stupid punks...
Honda's expression here is beautiful, eyes shut with this smile... it looks like regret and pain and nostalgia all tangled up. : Yeah... We were stupid punks all right...
Jounouchi: Living in a stupid society...... with stupid parents...... and my stupid self...... I never learned to like myself... ... until I met you, Yugi!
Yugi: *thinking* Huh?!
Jounouchi: You were this innocent little kid... everyone took advantage of you... At first, I couldn't stand to watch you! I thought you were an idiot.. But... I wasn't really mad at you, Yugi... I was mad at myself...
Honda: I know how you feel... I was the same. I would get so wound up... I just needed to pick a fight... it didn't matter who... some local punks... even a telephone pole... I would hit them with everything I had.... then I'd realize, the person I really wanted to hit... was me.
Anzu notices then that Honda's hands are clenched into fists, but she doesn't say anything. Just has a thought bubble with an exclamation point in.
Jounouchi reaches over to hold the Puzzle a minute, sort of lifting it with this sad, almost smiling expression: Yugi... you remember when I stole part of your Puzzle?
Yugi: ..... :o
Jounouchi: *serious* When I gave that back... You can laugh, but that took more courage than anything....
Yugi: .....! :o
Jounouchi's eyes have shut, and that sad smile : But, just then... I started to like myself a little bit... for the first time in my life...
And he grabs Yugi's shoulders and is once again yelling, solid-eyed, about a foot from the little guy's face ^^;; : Listen to me, Yugi! You know what friends are?! They're someone you like! And because of them you learn to like yourself! That's why I hang out with you, Yugi! So if it hurts, or whatever - Let me share it! That's what friends are for!
Yugi: *tearing up* Jounouchi... I... *tears streaming*
Jounouchi's eyes are normal again, and : I'm not giving up yet... So don't you give up either! 'Kay, Yugi...?
Yugi is wiping at his eyes with one hand, all endearing little kid like. ^^
Anzu: No one learns to like themselves on their own... It's a big game you play throughout your life...
The boys turn to look at her, Honda with that smile as when he last spoke, only his eyes are open now. Jou and Yugi are startled enough they were obviously lost in each other's eyes ---
I can't Take It!! I have to Mock Them!! *deep breath* *self-control* Story. Must finish the emotional part of the story. x.x
Anzu: Hey! Look at this white room! Doesn't it remind you of a blank canvas? I always thought that if I went somewhere special with my friends, I'd leave my name there to remember it by!
Yugi: Are you a tagger, Anzu?!
Anzu winks at them. : Heh heh... I've got a magic marker! *hands on her hips, looking as if she were bouncing on her heels or something* Put your hands out, everyone!
By now, they are looking at her like she's lost it. Jou : What are you up to, Anzu?!
Anzu: Just gimmie your hands!
And they hold their four hands out, and if you don't know what's coming you haven't seen enough of this show. ;p
Anzu: See? Smiley face
Someone, I think Yugi: What the ?!
Anzu: Listen up! Even after we graduate and go our separate ways, if we're ever alone... ...we just have to think of this smiley face... (And her smile turns sad) ...and we'll remember being here, and being friends! Even when I'm studying dance in New York, I'll always remember the time I spent with you guys.
And their faces just light up, smiles all around and it's so sweet.
Jou: ....! I got it!
Anzu: The ink of the marker will wear off... but in our hearts, the ring will always be there!
Honda: Okay!
Yugi: Yup!
Of course. This. Is when doom strikes. ... I am torn between sympathy at their predicament and joy that things are moving again. >:)
So they hear a noise and look up to see a huge block falling from the ceiling, and just get out of the way in time. There are gasping statement of the obvious again, and Anzu scoops up the still sleeping Johji as they dodge the blocks.
We cut for one panel to Seto: Now then! Let's see how many make it out of that room without being flattened....
More statements of the obvious as they dodge in panic, and another cut to Seto: *thinking* Mmm heh heh... That's right, run.... In this game, your numbers are a liability! Stop to worry about someone else, and you'll be squashed by a cube! You can't win this game without sacrificing your friends!
Yugi: This is like dancing with death!
Jou: There's no place left to run!
Yugi: Everyone climb on top of the cubes! The point of the game is get out of the room!
Finally! Yugi's height comes in handy, as this is clearly the experience of someone used to climbing and using stools speaking! >:D XD
There is more panic and yelling as Yugi realizes they can't stay near the edges of the room lest they get boxed in, and then - as Jou is calling to Honda to toss Johji to him, and Jou is wondering how the kid can sleep at a time like this?
Anzu notices something. : ! Hold on! There's a rhythm to the timing of the falling cubes! Maybe there's some rule to where they fall as well......
Yugi, with his chirpy expression: I get it! You're trained as a dancer! You've got a talent for reading rhythms!
Anzu, sadly, does not seem to have heard him. Her eyes are closed, trancelike, and she's listening to the falling cubes. This thoughts makes me dizzy, as any one of those cubes could crush her at any minute!! But she's utterly focused, counting in her thoughts according to what pattern she thinks she's heard : One.. two... three...
I can picture this, really? One fluid motion, eyes opening, hardly turning but to raise her arm, pointing two squares over as the next cube falls: There!!
Jounouchi: That's awesome! You knew where the next cube would fall! ...I want to say something like, 'Whoo-hoo, we're not gonna die!' Except I don't really have the heart to mock them now. Not after the touching scene previous. >.< Augh, they got to me.
Anzu, with a stressed cheerful expression: If the timing of the falling cubes is rhythm and the places where they fall are the steps of a dance.... then it's like the cubes are following a simple dance!
Note that they are now moving again. >>
Yugi: I get it! the mechanism of this game is too big for the computer controlling it to be too complex! They had to keep it simple!!
Jou: So the cubes only know easy dances!
Honda, a bit more stressed than the others: So all we have to do is stay light on our feet... like dancers... and make it to the exit! This game's easy if you know where the cubes are going to fall!
There seems to be a time-lapse that isn't shown, where Anzu was guiding them and then. >.<
Jou, Johji and Anzu are on the last two blocks, right at the exit - but Honda is a full two squares down (which makes it just a little bit taller than he is) , and Yugi is below him.
Jou: Hang in there guys! We're almost to the exit!
Honda: Hurry up, Yugi!
This, this gave me a heart attack first reading. Honda has a block above and behind him bearing down, Anzu turns with this expression like shocked anger and: *thinking* Huh?! The rhythm changed ...?! *out loud* Honda, look out!!
Jounouchi: Honda! Are you alright?!
Honda, seeming to lean back against the block: Phew... that was close...
Anzu: Be careful, the rhythm is getting faster!
Honda: All right, let's move!! ...!! And the panel. With his eyes gone solid and white, and the electrical background. ;_;
Jounouchi: Anzu and I are out! Yugi! Honda! Get up here!
Yugi is just now on the level with Honda, and Honda just reaches out to him, yelling : Yugi! Give me your hand, quick!
Yugi looks up, he hasn't quite pulled himself over the edge: You go first, Honda!
Honda: >:o Just give me your hand, before the cubes block the exit! And he grabs his wrist and lifts him up to Jou Jounouchi! Take Yugi!
Jou, reaching: Got 'im!
Next page, and he's pulling Yugi in, somehow he looks even smaller almost curled up next to Jou like that, and Jou is getting a bit annoyed - C'mon Honda!
Anzu: What're you waiting for?
And it's that same smile as before, only all softened and regretful and just - resigned. : This is as far as I go...
And then Jounouchi sees it. Sees it and his eyes go solid and the electric background: H-- *thinking* Honda's jacket... caught under the cube!!
And it pans out behind the others so we can see Yugi and Jou looking at Honda, and he's stuck his left hand in his pocket and the right is giving them a thumbs-up : Goodbye, guys...
Yugi: Honda!
And it looks like maybe they were about to go back in there, but a cube falls - their hands are both right at it and Jounouchi.
Jounouchi: * shocked/ >:O * Hondaaa!!
End, Duel 33, Book 4. ...Luckily, I bought 4 and 5 together, or this would have been driving me nuts. I hate cliffhangers. ...Does anyone actually like cliffhangers?
Onward: Book 5.
Duel 34: Arena #2! So, the tiniest of recaps, showing Honda saying goodbye. And then, Jounouchi and Yugi reacting. Which as you can imagine... the train is most definitely pulling into Angst Central Station.
The boys eyes are solid, and Anzu just looks - shocked, but not as ..emptied as the boys. Their hands fall away, and Yugi is looking up at Jou even as he starts... hunching down. Like he's starting to collapse inward, and I don't think he notices because he's focused on Jou.
Yugi: Honda is.... Honda is......
Jounouchi: >:O I won't believe it!! Honda can't be gone!! You can't get rid of that idiot so easily....
Yugi. Actually scares me sometimes. And I might rant about the wrongness of his being more concerned about his friends not liking him than about the killing itself, but this is. This goes beyond just the solid eyes, something about the stretched-out look of them and the lines of his face. It's like a white heat is building in there, and he's curling down slowly around it trying to keep it in.
Yugi, thinking all of this: *turning slightly away from Jou* Honda is.... Because of me, Honda is.... Why.... My friends, my grandfather... taken from me... Curse you ... Curse you... Kaiba!!
By now he has several 'Rrm' floating around him. <<;
Anzu notices him, and she goes solid eyed: Yugi... *reaches out a hand to touch his shoulder* Honda's all right! I'm sure he's alive!
Jounouchi is so caught up about Honda he hasn't turned around yet... : Honda! Listen up! We're gonna go on ahead -- but you use that hard head of yours to get outta that fix! We'll be waiting for you...! You idiot!
He has tears at the corners of his eyes when he turns to the other two: C'mon! Let's go, Yugi, Anzu!
Anzu: Wait.... Yugi's acting strange... Something's wrong...
Only now does Jou notice him, and his eyes go solid again, and.
Scene change. Elsewhere in the Station, which is variously known as Kaiba Land, Death T, Subtitled - 'I would ask what's wrong with these boys if we weren't getting there...'
Seto is still watching. >:) For the first time, we see he has a chess set with him in the control room, and so he muses:
Seto: If this is chess... Yugi is the king... Jounouchi is the knight... And Honda must be the rook... *he knocks over a piece, it says 'topple' ^^ * The rook has been captured. The countdown to checkmate has begun...
A voice! << Like we can't guess who... "They don't give up easy... do they, big brother?"
Seto hardly turns his head: Mokuba ...?
Mokuba. *chokes* Mokuba. Is wearing a fur lined coat just like the one Seto had on near the beginning of the arc. I cannot but laugh at this. XD
Mokuba, with a tiny smirk: They’re almost at the final stage! And you know what that means! *loses smirk* Do you remember your bet with me? The one we made before you started the "Death-T" plan?! We bet on which stage of the theme park Yugi would die in!
Seto: Yes...
Mokuba: >:O And you bet on "Death T-5"! Isn't that right, big brother?!!
Seto. Has not turned around. This was my first cue something was very creepily off, here. >.< : You bet on Death T-4, didn't you...?
Mokuba has his hands in fists now. And >:O : Of course I did, you jerk! "Death T-4" is the stage where I fight Yugi!!!
Seto actually seems to have a tiny smirk, though the angle is odd here. By this time I am wincing, and it's about to get worse. : Yes, I know, Mokuba... I bet on the final stage of the theme park, "Death T-5"... The final game of "Duel Monsters" !
Mokuba, still same as before: You know what I mean! You bet on Yugi, instead of me, your own brother! How do you think that feels?!
Seto: And I still feel the same. You can't beat Yugi. I opposed your participation from the beginning.
Mokuba: >:/ 'Grrr'
Seto: Mokuba... you tried to show me up by challenging Yugi to a game before, didn't you ...? Do you think I don't know the outcome of that game?
Mokuba is just. Crushed. All ;_; : ...... Th-That's not.... *head hanging* I... I just.... I just thought you'd like me if I beat him...
And. This. Showing weakness was a mistake here. This is the closest I have actually come to hating Seto's guts. He turns for the first time, just far enough for eye contact, and he glares
Seto >:O : Know this! There is no such thing as brotherly love in the gaming world! Until you figure that out, you will always be a loser, Mokuba!!
Mokuba cringes and his eyes are solid for a minute with a 'gulp' but then: >:O I'll show you! I'll beat Yugi myself!
He then turns his head to yell at a pair of minions behind him : You! Are the preparations for "Death T-4" ready yet?!!
Minion 1: Yes, sir!
Minion 2: Yes, Master Mokuba!
Mokuba: Then let's go!
He stomps out and Seto doesn't even turn around, both their eyes are still solid. x.x
...Mokuba looks so much younger, stomping along with his fists clenched and his teeth gritted. I would coo if I didn't think he'd try and tear my throat out at this point. : *thinking* Just you watch! Today I'll finally show my brother that I am a gamer!
Cut, switch scene. Yugi is still freaking out Jou and Anzu. Solid eyed, mouths dropped open, and on their knees in front of him - I wonder if they are perfectly correctly translating Jou's reaction here...
Jou: :o Yugi! Are you okay, Yugi? Do you need your insulin or something?
Yugi: *gasp!* .... ....I! I can't hold it back! Something inside of me...
Anzu, with a pained smile: Yugi... you're just tired from all the stress... It's okay...
Yugi's eyes squeeze shut : No... I... *they open, and he looks so tired* There's something I've kept secret from you...
Jou and Anzu with the solid eyes and : ...?!
Yugi hunches over, one hand to his head and one in a fist resting on his knee : I think there's another "me" inside myself that I don't know about...
It could either or both of them saying this, they both have their mouths open like so : :O Another Yugi?!
Yugi's eyes are hidden by his next words, but his hands are cupped around the Puzzle without touching it : Ever since I solved the Millennium Puzzle... there's been times when I black out... I think I'm changing into someone I don't know about...
Jou looks at him with this frowning O.o expression.
And his hands are clenched again and he has little round tears at the corners of his squeezed shut eyes. : I'm scared... I've just become friends with you guys... I was afraid that if you knew about the other me... You might leave me!
Jou's expression here is kind of sad, but calm. : Yugi... I swear to you... Even if there is another person inside of you... We'll always be friends!!
And Yugi, looking up at him with the wide-eyed slightly exhausted relief : *thinking* ...! Jounouchi!
Anzu chimes in : He's right! We'll always be friends!
Yugi looking at her, and then at Jounouchi : *thinking* Anzu... Guys... Thank you...
Jou: Okay! Let's keep goin'!
And they all start to run forward again, with Anzu carrying Johji and calling to Yugi - who is the only one we see look back, even as he's running, : *thinking* Honda... I promise to come back for you...
And as they get closer to the open door in front of them, they start to hear cheering. And as they come into the light of that door, their jaws drop open like they can't believe what they're seeing - which is another huge crowd, and a gigantic Monster Chess playing field. (Think Harry Potter, only with mountains on it and no chessmen) Across from them, Mokuba stands in his little fur coat, with his arms crossed and two minions at his back.
Yugi: Th-This is... the second arena!
Mokuba: "Death T-4!" Welcome to my stage! Yugi!!
Yugi : Mokuba!
Mokuba: Yugi! This is a battle between you and me! Leave your friends where they are and come to the duel box alone!
Yugi's rumbling starts again, with his little frowning face, but Jou starts before he can say or do anything : Yugi! It's too dangerous for you alone! I'll go too!
Yugi: *determined* >:/ No! Let me go alone!
Jou: Yugi...!
Yugi: It's okay! I'm not a weakling anymore! I'm not alone! I have my friends! I have you guys no matter where you are!
Jou: I'm glad...
Yugi: It's thanks to you, Jounouchi... you and Honda. You taught me what real courage is!
Jou: Okay!
And Yugi looks forward, with a much clearer determined look, and... : And I... I won't be afraid anymore... of the other me...
Que the rumbly dramatics of his changing - Jou's mouth falling open as Yugi's eyes shut, and the boy is surrounded by 'Rmb' and the other two are just a little freaked for some reason. Ha!
Anzu: :o Yugi...
Jou: o.o He's doin' it again...
Watch as Yugi dramatically transforms! Their surroundings are replaced by the nifty lightning background! The Puzzle is lifted slightly by the Wind That Does Pharaoh's Hair! <<;; Nooo, I'm not having a fit of joy at the chance to mock Pharaoh... not meee. Sadly, it's not much of a chance, as I'm really trying to put off the Inevitable Angst. x.x
And he turns to them, once his hair is properly spiked, and : Jounouchi!! Anzu! I will win!!
And he walks off, with his hands in his pockets, while Anzu and Jou are left standing, just. Like. This. :O With sweat drops! And Jou : *thinking* Th-This is the other Yugi...!
The crowd mocks as Pharaoh walks forward to the duel box - and Pharaoh, upon entering and seeing who his opponent is?
Mokuba: Yugi! congratulations on making it to Death T-4! Too bad for you it was just a warm-up!
Pharaoh: *looking down at seated Mokuba* :Pft! You again? Haven't you learned your lesson, brat?
Mokuba: *gone solid eyed* Heh heh... The "other" Yugi, huh? That's just fine... Yugi! I'll let you in on something! The last stage you're trying to get to... the final arena with my big brother... is on the floor above this one... See? That elevator takes you there!
Pharaoh: So I've to beat you to get to it...
Mokuba: Like you have a chance! You're going to die at this stage! Along with your friends!
Cut to the henchmen, and the guns, and the hostage situation. <<;;
Pharaoh: Jounouchi! Anzu... *clenched fists* Mokuba... you little...
Mokuba only laughs, but Jou keeps his cool and tells Yugi not to worry about it, just beat him at his own game.
Then there is a tiny speech of telling Yugi that they will be playing Capsule Monster Chess, the virtual reality version - hence the giant board beneath them. And then. And then... and I can't help the laughing beaming, he's just sooo darned cute!! XD
Mokuba: Let me give you a demonstration! Watch closely, Yugi! This strong piece is like me! It will do battle with this pathetic, low-level piece like you! The virtual monsters appear on the field below! Now fight! Bwahaha! I'll destroy you just like I destroy this weak little monster!!
Armorsaurus - Level 5 : Roarrrr! *blasts*
Hyumoko - Level 1 : *toasted* P
E
E
P
!
And then. solid eyes and that >:D : Of course, the loser will play a penalty game - "The experience of death"!!
Pharaoh : O.O *thinking* "The experience of death...!!" ... ... ... << Yeah, where have you heard that before, you little *mutter grumble seethe*
Mokuba: *cleared eyes but still >:D* Now, the game begins! *thinking* I will defeat Yugi! I'll be the one to destroy him! I'll show my brother! Heh heh heh heh!
Pharaoh: I'll take you on, Mokuba! *thinking* I have to win to make it to the final stage... and Kaiba!
In its own panel, in a flood of light : Wait for me, Grandpa!!
Duel 35: Board Game Deathmatch
For a 'recap' this time, one panel that shows the arena below them, while the game is named and the penalty game mentioned. Which is nice, not excessive. >> Not that it ever gets excessive, nooo. :P Oh, and Pharaoh and Mokuba glaring at each other and thinking their respective lines about their goals.
*roots for Mokuba despite all sanity* ^^; And the story continues!
Mokuba: *points* First, we each draw our capsule monsters from the coin machine! *thinking as this happens* Heh heh heh... This machine is rigged to give me the most powerful capsule monsters! And to leave you stuck with a group of weaklings!
...okay, I must question here - how is it possible to rig a regular old coin machine thusly? I mean... we have these things at work! They can't be complicated enough to permit of rigging?
Despite this, Mokuba ends up with a Level 5 set, except the one Level 4. Pharaoh? Levels 1 and 2! (As shown by the numbers on the capsules.)
Pharaoh: *tiniest frown as he is thinking* Tch... The machine must have been rigged! There's too much difference in the monsters' levels! Mokuba! You planned this all along!
No! I would never have guessed that! I mean, you're only in a building designed around killing you!!! It is kind of implied that there was Much Planning! >:P Idiot.
Mokuba: Place your capsules in your territory! Heh heh heh! See if you can think up a good formation for those monsters!
Pharaoh: *thinking as he stares at the board* Now... How to fight... This board has one path on each side... but you can't get by if the enemy is waiting for you... *suddenly widening eyes, though we only see one...* I have it!
Mokuba: If you're done, then capsules out! Don't wet yourself when you see my monsters, Yugi! *looking up at Yugi's setup* Huh?! Ugh! What's that setup supposed to be? All the weaklings clumped together!! What a wuss! Yugi, you suck! Bwa ha ha ha!
Pharaoh: *thinking* Almost all Mokuba's monsters are Level 5. If I fight them one on one, they'll be unstoppable... This is the only way to face them!
Mokuba: All right! Game start!
And the crowd whispers excitedly! :o They're playing now! ...I feel oddly sympathetic, can't imagine why. :P And our first case of cheerleading! ^^
Jou: C'mon Yugi!! You gotta win!! *thinking* Yugi... There's no flip side to friendship! We'll stick by you no matter what!
...I can't help myself. << You could have said that last bit out loud, genius!! :P
Mokuba: I go first! Armorsaurus moves! Which he does, and there is gasping as the piece appears and moves on the field; then Mokuba looks up and points at Pharaoh: Your move, Yugi!
Pharaoh: *arms folded, eyes closed* .......
Mokuba: Did you hear me?! I said it's your turn!
Pharaoh: *without opening his eyes* I pass. I don't have to move.
Mokuba: What?! *thinking* Yugi... you're up to something! See if I care... *out loud* Fine! If you won't move, then I'll come to you! *thinking again, with a disturbing expression* I'll split my monsters into two groups and attack from both front and behind! I'll completely destroy him!
And Pharaoh... continues to sit there. With his eyes closed. With his arms folded.
Until I suspect he might have fallen asleep! >:P And, he starts to freak Jou out.
Jou: *thinking* Yugi...What are you doing....?!
Of course. This is par for the course, you can't make a proper comeback until you've hit the ropes. >:p
It is slightly creepy the way his eyes snap open to reveal solidity, as he makes his first move. Which is to put his weakest guy forward. And the crowd goes wild!
...no, really. Although I suspect that 'I thought he gave up!' is not a compliment? >:) And Mokuba then gleefully continues with the mocking and destroying! >:D
Mokuba: You're too late, Yugi! I attack with Armorsaurus! He burns up your weakling monster with one blast!
Goodbye, Brain Slime! >:)
Pharaoh: Urk! :o *with sweat drop*
Mokuba: Ha! I'm not done yet... Armorsaurus' turn isn't over! He attacks one more monster!
Goodbye, Toppo! (little bird-thing)
Mokuba: Bwahahaha! Yugi, you've already lost two monsters!
Pharaoh: >:/ *thinking* It's not over yet... I won't give up until the end!
Mokuba: I'm going to have some fun and destroy all your monsters with just Armorsaurus! Bwahahahahaha! Go, Armorsaurus! Flatten that wimp!
;_; And the downhill slide begins. Stupid Pharaoh. Stupid Yugi! Stupid comebacks, >:ppp !
The monster, you see, is Mogley. It is a mole. >> It digs into the field, and well...
Mokuba: Wh-what?! *thinking* No way... I forgot he can burrow! *out loud* Armorsaurus can't stop moving!! He's heading toward... *thinking* One of my monsters!! *out loud* They destroyed each other...!!! *thinking* Yugi... This is what he was up to!
Now we shall be treated to teacher!Pharaoh. Oh joy. x.x
Pharaoh: High level monsters have unrivalled power, but you need to learn to control it! Now you've lost two monsters, Mokuba!
The crowd roars somemore! Jounouchi is relieved to the point of being solid eyed! : Awright! Yugi's fighting back!
Pharaoh: And now, I'll move this piece to attack zoid "M".....(Ninja Squid, level 2) A level 2 monster can't hope to match it, but... There is one way it can defeat a level 5 enemy.... *thinking* Forgive me...
An apparently really impressive explosion follows. >>
Mokuba: Uh... Uh... I-It took out my monster in a suicide attack!! Yugi, you jerk!
Pharaoh: And now.. ...a path has been opened!
Mokuba: Huh..? *thinking* The evolution space is unguarded! Yugiiii! He sacrificed the other pieces to let one weak monster reach the evolution space!!
Across an enter page, while we watch stupid Pharaoh move his stupid Beeton (caterpillar) to this evolution space : >:/ *gritted teeth, thinking* My monsters are too far away! I can't stop Beeton from evolving! Monsters that reach the evolution space automatically evolve three levels! Which means this useless level 2... will transform into a powerful monster!
Pharaoh: I've reached the evolution space! Now evolve!
Let's all imagine what he sounds like saying that, while I try and figure someway to humiliate or destroy him, shall we? >:p
But nooo, all are gasping and generally :O as it evolves into a big fat beetle. Yay.
...it is interesting that here, he does a split? It's the first time we see any sign of Yugi whilst Pharaoh is out and playing. At least, if it were animated, it would be a split... Pharaoh is in right forefront, while Yugi is left and behind him, where a shadow might be, but he's not insubstantial - just hidden? And the background is wind-lines. : No matter how weak a monster is, if you believe in every step it takes it will grow strong!
Hyper Beetle proceeds to taking out Mokuba's monsters while the crowd cheers, until it comes down to one left - Big Foot.
Mokuba: Yugi... This battle will decide the game!! *thinking* Heh heh... Hyper Battle's long range attacks are powerful... But in close quarters, Big Foot is stronger!!
Much dramatic staring! Many different angles thereof!
Hyper Beetle goes down.
Mokuba: Ha ha ha! Hyper Beetle is dead! Yugi! You're done for!!
Pharaoh: :o Urk!
Mokuba: Mwa ha ha... Yugi... You had another monster hiding on the board, didn't you? Do you think I'll let it get away?
Pharaoh: !!
Mokuba: *as his Big Foot stomps over to the little mole that never came back out* Ha ha ha! Big Foot! Stomp that coward flat! *thinking* I did it! I win!
And then Big Foot begins to crack, all over its body. And breaks apart before the stomping can happen. :/
Mokuba: *thinking* Big Foot's body is... It can't be... Hyper Beetle's attack was a critical hit...?!
Pharaoh: *smug expression* You know the saying "It's not over until it's over?" Well, now it's over! I win, Mokuba!
And that. That ends #35, and this post of the Death-T saga. Next one begins the heavy angsting with wrapping up this game - and then Pharaoh goes to duel Seto. :(
