Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Altered Destinies ❯ Chapter 9: Death's and Hidden Plots ( Chapter 9 )

This is my first attempt at a Yu-Gi-Oh fanfiction so please be kind in your reviews, if you review. I might not have many of the characters in character. On another note I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh and never will. I don't know whom it is that owns Yu-Gi-Oh and besides giving these unknown parties credit for making such a kickass manga/anime, I don't really care. Also, I don't have any money right now so, no one can benefit at all when it comes to suing me.

I came up with this idea when I read a couple of stories that I have read on fanfiction.net. One was recently taken off for some reason but it had been a good story. The other focused on the series if Yugi had been born a girl. I decided to take my shot at this kind of story but using Seto Kaiba. I will only mention this once so pay attention:

/Backslash/ - a conversation between a person and their spirit. i.e.: Yugi to Yami and vice versa.

//Double Backslash// - the person is thinking.

-Altered Destinies, Chapter 9-

"Congratulations Jounouchi," Yugi said as Jounouchi stepped away from the arena. "I knew you could do it."

"Thanks Yugi," Jounouchi responded. "If it wasn't for the support you guys gave me, I wouldn't have been able to do it and get this far. I would like to talk to you Yugi before the final match."

Pegasus just watched the scene that went on before. //I see. Jounouchi doesn't want to duel Yugi because of the primary reason they're here and he doesn't feel ready to duel Yugi. He will give Yugi the card Mai gave him because Bandit Keith took the card Yugi gave him. Yugi will present the two cards at our duel and give the prize money to Katsuya for his imouto's eye operation.// "Well Crockets, I think I should get ready," Pegasus said quietly to his attendant before standing up.

"So you want to forego your match with me so that I may duel Pegasus," Yugi asked his best friend who made his announcement. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Even though you taught me that if I believe in myself, I could do anything," Jounouchi explained. "I still don't think I am ready to duel you like this. Plus, we were originally here for your jiisan, who is in worse condition than my imoutochan. Plus with this card, you can get the money for her operation." Jounouchi handed Yugi the gold award card. "This way, we both can win if you win. You have my trust that you can beat this creep."

"I must've overslept on two really good duels then," a voice said from behind. Yugi-tachi turned to see Honda with something around his neck.

"Where were you," Jounouchi growled. "Both Yugi and I are having the duels of our lives and you weren't here. We could've used your support."

Anzu noticed that Honda was carrying something, "What do you have there?"

"Oh this," Honda motioned to his back. "I was wandering around this place and found my way into the dungeons and came across this." Honda let the mass down to reveal a familiar boy with black hair.

"Mokuba," Yugi said surprised. He remember Kaiba's duel against Pegasus where Pegasus took away Kaiba's possible edge by having Mokuba's soulless body duel her if they were to use the Duel Disks.

"I figure that I couldn't let any one of the Kaiba's remain in the dungeons," Honda explained. "I guess if I were to consider Kaiba's behavior from yesterday, I was lucky to find him. I would've gotten both of them if I could've found Seto, but I didn't, so I had to settle for this one."

Yugi quickly said, "Well I better get ready for my big duel with Pegasus." Many troubling thoughts passed across Yugi's mind. //Pegasus has gone too far just for my Sennen Puzzle.// Yugi thought. //What could he possibly gain sealing away the Kaiba sibling souls as well? They had nothing to do with this.//

/Maybe they did have something to do with this. Pegasus want KaibaCorp and he has to beat us to do so./ The Other Yugi said.

/I know other me, but it still doesn't make any sense./ Yugi said to his alternate self.

/Let's consider these things first. Pegasus sealed away your grandfather first right?/ Yugi nodded. /He seemed even stronger in his duel against Kaiba than he was against us. So I can say that he gets stronger with every soul he imprisons./

/So you're saying that he only got them involved just to increase his chances of beating us./ Yugi said angered at the idea.

/Not quite that aibou./ Dark Yugi responded. /If it were that simple, then winning would be even easier than we thought. When I defeated Kaiba three months ago, I felt a familiar darkness had sealed away her real self. From what I could guess from what Mokuba told us then, Seto might have created a darker personality when she had promised him to make their life better at the orphanage. Gozaburo then twisted this dark personality. That would've been how you and our friends would think, but when I felt that same type of darkness from the Sennen Eye, I knew that Seto's had some kind of an ancient connection to the Sennen item as if it were one and the same. I don't think that I've completely destroyed that darkness in Kaiba as I would've liked to, but I might've weakened it. The eye must've had Pegasus manipulate events here to make certain that the darkness in Seto could possibly return as long as Kaiba holds onto her anger and hatred. I don't know why this seems so familiar, but I think I've faced something like this before./

/It will come to you eventually./ Yugi comforted. /But it might explain why Kaiba didn't seem to change much. Imagine waking up to find out that your brother is missing and that your defeat is the reason why you might no longer be owning your company. She could be a big problem./

/Only time can tell aibou. Only time can tell./ The Sennen Puzzle glowed with a bright light and Yugi changed into his alternate form just as he reached the double doors that leads to the dueling arena.

Meanwhile, Pegasus was on his way to the dueling arena with his bodyguards. //So far everything has gone according to plan. Soon, Yugi's puzzle will be mine. Kaiba's virtual reality technology will be mine, and I will rejoin with my darling Cyndia again.// Pegasus brought out a card with the picture of a beautiful young girl. She had long blonde hair and wore a light purple dress. As Pegasus put the card away, Bandit Keith showed up. "What do you want Keith?"

Keith brought out a small blade object. "You think I haven't forgotten about New York City," Keith said. "I want the tournament's prize money as payback."

Pegasus held his henchmen back. His Sennen Eye glowed eerily as he spoke. "You think that you can frighten with that little thing to keep my end of the bargain. I know all about you on this island. How about a game that is a penalty game. Penalty Game: Russian Roulette of Trials."

"What do you mean Penalty Game," Keith asked when he felt something odd with his right hand. Looking down, Bandit Keith's eyes widened in shock as his entire hand, knife included, changed into a revolver. "What's going on?"

"This was something akin to what Kaiba faced as a result of losing to Yugi and for her actions then," Pegasus explained as Keith's hand moved up to his head. "Your actions on this island will determine your fate and from what I've seen, the odds don't look good for your crimes. Will it be bullet or empty chamber."

"I didn't do anything illegal," Keith said as the gun barrel held steady at his head. //Why won't my arm obey my brain's command?//

"Oh really," Pegasus asked mockingly. "Then I suppose that you showed up here uninvited is below you. If you had a single star chip like the one Jounouchi received from Yugi then I wouldn't mind that. However, you forced one of the invited duelists here to do your dirty work for your by forcing other duelists to duel him and once they got 10 star chips, you beat them up and take the chips for yourself." Keith was sweating. "To make matters worse, you steal the entry card of Jounouchi's that Yugi gave him as well and was confident that the boy wouldn't find it in time. Then you cheat by having your two 7 Cards in your wristband so that you can draw them whenever you want and finally, you're threatening my life if you don't get your way and receive the prize money. Kaiba at least went fair in her duel against Yugi. That last move of threatening to kill herself if Yugi had continued his attack was to teach him some kind of lesson. Whatever it was, I don't know." The trigger of the gun pulled and gunshot could be heard in the hallway as Keith dropped to the floor, the last of his life fading away. The businessman just walked past the body. "Somebody, get rid of this body."

A few minutes have past and Pegasus and Yugi were staring at each other from the opposite sides of the room. Pegasus clapped his hands before talking. "I congratulate you on your stunning success in making it this far into the tournament. Now is the big test for you."

"I've made it this far," Yugi said. "Nothing will hold me back from getting ojiisan's soul back Pegasus and make you pay for what you did."

"Other than two possible things," Crockets said. "First, you must present at least one entry card and that would be the Blank Award card to even duel Pegasus. The other is that you actually have to beat Pegasus which won't be easy."

"Fine," Yugi said revealing both entry cards. "I have two entry cards."

"That is good," the middle-aged man said. "The Gold Award card guarantees you the prize money regardless of the outcome because you are the Duelist Kingdom Champion as of right now. The Blank Award card has a prize itself." Yugi looked at Pegasus' attendant.

"He is right," Pegasus explained. "If you beat me in this duel, the Blank Award card requires me to release the souls that I have imprisoned here. Your grandfather, Seto, and Mokuba, but that is if you beat me."

"Here you go," Yugi said as he hand his two cards to Pegasus. The two shuffle their decks and take their place on the dueling arena.

Elsewhere in the castle, five men of varying ages are watching the two duelists on the monitor draw their first five cards. "Pegasus better not fail us. Yugi has humiliated us for the last time." The oldest looking businessman said.

"Yeah," the shortest one said. "He won't, after all this is the game he invented. He knows everything possible in this game, as well as how to win, unlike that loser, Ms. Kaiba. It all adds up in the end."

"She humiliated me big time by destroying my research lab so Pegasus better not mess this up," the youngest looking member said in anger.

"Oh don't be such a baby Big 4," the businessman wearing glasses said. "We all hate her for deceiving us. She is just like her stepfather, but even more cunning than I am for fooling the entire world like she did for so long. Big 5, you were the one that knew Ms. Kaiba the best, so why didn't you tell us about this? You did help raise her after all."

"Quite frankly Big 3," Big 5 started. "I didn't even know about that myself, and I doubt that even Gozaburo knew about it. If he had, I would've found out about. Big 1, what Big 2 said is right. I've actually got to see Pegasus duel and he knows every move you're going to make before it is made. After Pegasus wins this, we can get back to the task of rebuild KaibaCorp back to the former glory it once held before Seto brought it down by making it into a gaming company."

"The duel has started," Big 1 said as Yugi made the first draw of the duel.

"I play Ruiz in attack mode," Yugi said as a Beaver-like warrior appeared on the field (4/1200/1500). "Then I'll set one card face down before ending my turn."

"Okay, I'll also set one card face down and I'll summon Bow-Drawing Mermaid in attack mode," a woman with a fish's tail and living in a clam shell makes her presence known (4/1400/1500.) //On Yugi's turn, he'll play the Unicorn's Horn card that he has face down to boost up that Ruiz, but I'll have a surprise for him when he tries that move.//

"All right," Yugi said. "I activate the card that I have face down. Unicorn's Horn raises my Ruiz's attack strength by 700 (attack 1900.) Now attack his mermaid." Ruiz charges Pegasus' monster.

"Not so fast Yugi," Pegasus said. "My trap card activates." Pegasus flips the card that he had face down. Some tear-like objects fell out of his mermaid's eyes and went straight to Ruiz. As it touches the beaver, a bubble forms around it. "This counter trap card activates whenever an equipment magic card is played. It paralyzes your monster and negates the card. Now my Bow-Drawing Mermaid, attack with your arrows." The mermaid fired an arrow and Yugi's monster was no more (Y: 1800 P: 2000.) "The first round goes to me." //And this is just the beginning of the horrors that my deck has in store for you.//

//This is bad.// Yugi thought. //Even though I only lost 200 life points, I am far behind in this duel. Pegasus knows exactly what I'll do and I can't stop him.//

//That's right little Yugi.// Pegasus thought as he read Yugi's mind. //You can't stop the almighty power of my Sennen Eye. Your Puzzle will be as good as mine. Hahahahahahahahahahaha.//

-To Be Continued-

The duel that everyone worked so hard for has started and already Yugi is behind. Will he be able to stop Pegasus from accomplishing his goals with so much on the line. This chapter won't have a feature card as none of the cards played in this chapter had a lasting impact on this duel. I just saw chapters 334 and 335 at Jennyiah's scanlations sight and it got me to thinking about the evil portion of Kaiba's heart the Yugi destroyed way back in Chapter 1: Let's Duel. It's a theory, but it is something to work on. Next chapter finishes up the duel and goes further with that theory of mine.