Chapter 112

I checked phone. "This duel is taking a long time, right?"

"Well… maybe it isn't as short as some of the ones in the first day but its not horrifically bad," Mai said.

"No, I'm pretty sure we've been stuck here for weeks," I said. "Or years. Its hard to tell when Seto and Ishizu are too busy being little bitches to each other."

"I thought you were only mad at Ishizu, Captain," Renard said.

I shrugged. "I can think she is horribly in the wrong and still accept that Seto egged her on so he's partially to blame for this mess."

"That's fair," Yuri said. "I still feel he is allowed to say whatever he wants because the whore stabbed you." I shot Yuri a surprised look at her choice of words but she merely glared back at me. "I wanted to call her something else but there are cameras filming me at the moment."

~MC~MC~MC~

"DAMN IT!" Caesar exclaimed. "I just need someone to drop the C-Word to fill my bingo card!"

"Why is that even on here?" Martin asked.

Cassie shrugged. "There was a chance that Jean Claude Magnum made it to the finals…"

"…fair," Martin admitted.

~MC~MC~MC~

Seto merely stared Ishizu down after her threat to expose him and ruin him in the eyes of all and merely smirked. "Big words, Ishizu. Big words. But how does the saying go? If you try to kill the king you better not miss? Well looking at your side of the field all I see is missed opportunities and crumbling defenses. And now I am going to show you what happens when your blow misses its mark. I'll use my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Alternative Dragon to destroy your cards, removing what few defenses you have before I attack you directly and end this pathetic duel! Blue-Eyes Ultimate Alternative Dragon! Show this fraud just how worthless her delusions of power truly are!"

The Dragon lowered its three heads, edges of its mouth slowly pulling back to reveal teeth that would make a T-rex feel bashful and ashamed. Lightning began to crackle along its jaws as the three mouths opened, ready to remove the last of Ishizu's defenses.

And still she stood there.

Undisturbed.

"It's a trap," I whispered, knowing it would do no good to call out to Seto that.

"I activate Gravekeeper's Choice!" Ishizu called out, the trap flipping up to show yet another image of Ishizu holding out her hand, though this time behind her back, hidden from the view of the person she was thrusting her hand at, was a ritual dagger. "This is all about reward… and the cost of claiming such rewards. First you can now, if you choose, draw one card from the top of your deck."

"And if I don't?"

"It doesn't matter," Ishizu responded with a shrug. "The punishment will occur no matter what. It happened when you first decided to activate this trap."

"Eh?" Joey said, confused. "Didn't you activate that trap?"

"I think she's being metaphorical, Joey," Tristan said.

"…ain't she kinda young ta be goin' through that? Ishizu should still have a few more years ta have kids?"

I smacked my head with my palm.

"Very well then," Seto said, drawing a card. "Now then… what is the punishment I take for desecrating the tomb or taking the sacred artifact or whatever gobbly gook you want to claim."

"He does have a point," I commented. "The so called 'Curse' of King Tut was, after all, mostly made up by Yellow Journalists to sell papers, stringing together the normal tragic events that happen to try and create a mystical conspiracy."

"Edwin, sweetie?" Mai said, placing a hand on my arm. "I'm a goddess and you are a reincarnated Greek mage from another dimension."

"…well, when you put it like that I sound like an idiot."

Ishizu merely scoffed, though at what I wasn't for sure, and turned her attention back on Seto. "It isn't you that will be punished, Seto. It is never the ones that committed the crimes who suffer in this world… it is those around them. As such Gravekeeper's Choice causes all cards on your side of the field to lose their effects!"

The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Alternative Dragon let out a roar as purple mists began to swirl around it, causing the lightning to disappear from its mouth, fading away into nothing as the beast began to hack and cough.

"And that's not all! This card also marks any monster that was on your side of the field with a curse that weakens it so it can no longer attack!"

"My Dragon!" Seto cried out as the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Alternative Dragon crashed down to the ground, letting out a weak huff, unable to even raise its head. "You will pay for that!"

"Yes. I will pay for it. I will suffer. I will know only pain. You keep making these claims but much like your life as "Seto Kaiba" I find them utterly lacking and not grounded in reality."

"Hmmmpf," Seto muttered before holding up a card. "Then I will summon my Sage with Eyes of Blue to the field." The mystic warrior, his armor holding vague images of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and his eyes just as bright as those of Seto's favorite monster, appeared on the field before shifting to defense mode. "But I warn you, Ishizu: next turn I will summon something new and powerful from my hand and it will end this sham of a duel. So you better make this turn count… otherwise I will make you regret not taking this seriously."

"More promises?" Ishizu asked, simply drawing her next card and setting it on the field before ending her turn.

"One I intend to keep as I-"

"I activate my facedown: Gravekeeper's Restoration!" On the field a trap that showed a gravekeeper that resembled Ishizu carefully brushing off a chipped pot appeared on the field. "This trap allows me to select one card from either of our graveyards and place it on top of the owner's deck. So I will be placing your Bingo Machine, Go!."

"And thanks to her Gravekeeper's Trap she'll be able to force him to discard it!" Renard declared.

Seto didn't even bother to wait for Ishizu to declare what card he'd drawn; he instead merely discarded it.

Ishizu smirked at that.

"And when you are forced to discard a card I am able to bring forth, using its effect, a monster that has been waiting in my hand: Agido the Ancient Sentinel!"

This new angel could only be considered that if one took in the metal wings upon its back as something heavenly. Rather it looked like some demented decorative egg, gold and white with a bit of red, though this egg had two long golden pincer arms fastened to its body. It appeared on the field, clicking its pincers, waiting to see what would be falling into its grasp.

"And when a monster is summoned it triggers the effect of my Keldo, allowing me to summon it as well back to the field."

Mai frowned as the second strange semi-mechanical angel appeared on the field. "She's building her field back up… Obelisk the Tormentor?"

"No doubt," I said, folding my arms over my chest. "That is the problem with Battle City in… uh… that thing I've seen. Everyone becomes obsessed with the God Cards. That's all that matters. Who can summon one first, who can keep theirs on the field longer, even 'who can draw one'! All skill went out the window in the name of getting their god card out and staging a single attack. Entire duels revolved around summoning a god or surviving it long enough to summon your own."

"And you aren't jealous at all?" Mai teased, elbowing me lightly.

"No," I said flatly, "because Selene has made clear what will happen if we get the Egyptian God Cards."

"…oh. Right." Mai's shoulders slumped. "I forgot about… that."

"Yeah."

It… admittedly took me a bit longer than it should have, as a good boyfriend, to notice how down Mai was from that little comment.

"Mai…"

"Would it be so bad?" Mai asked.

"What?"

"Would it be so bad if… we let Selene do that?" I stared at her, to make sure that she really was Mai, and was shocked to find tears in her eyes. "Would it be so terrible?"

"…Renard, Yuri, Mai and I need to talk." I grabbed her hand. "Can you-"

"We'll follow, make sure no one bothers you," Renard assured me.

I nodded and, without glancing back, walked towards the elevator, half pulling Mai along with me.

~Several Years Ago~

Seto let out a groan as he slowly lowered himself onto his bed. Another day of lessons with his step-father… otherwise known as the man doing all he could to physically and especially mentally torture him. In the morning it had been being woken up at 4am… which was better than being woken up at 2 like he had the previous day. Gozaburo had claimed that a businessman could never live by a set schedule, because the world was crazy and at any moment their attention might be needed to save the company.

'Never mind that he then claimed that schedules were important and that I must develop one so that I could be in the right frame of mind every day,' Seto thought as he slowly moved to get changed. While he would have preferred to just go to sleep right then, even in his uniform, he knew that if Gozaburo caught him doing that he'd get in trouble as well. Just like he'd get in trouble for wearing pajamas. Or nothing at all.

One didn't win when they played Gozaburo Kaiba's games.

Seto paused, looking at the book that held the picture Mokie had drawn for him. The one of the Blue-Eye White Dragon. It was a card they had seen only for a second from a new game, Duel Monsters, that Mokie was VERY excited about. Some of the kids at the orphanage had taken to creating their own cards out of scrap paper so they could play the game as much as they wished and they had learned about the most powerful monster in the game and well… well…

Well, Mokuba had become obsessed with getting the card.

Not for himself, mind you. But for Seto. That he DESERVED that card.

'They say anyone who has that card can never lose,' Seto thought, remembering what Mokuba had told him one time.

Seto took a breath. Soon he could begin his plan to free his brother and him from Gozaburo. And when he did… when he did…

He yawned, slumping down onto the ground half dressed, his dreams filled not with dragons but a woman with silver-white hair.

~Present Day~

"Hey, where is Ed goin'?" Joey asked, watching as Edwin, Mai, Yuri, and Renard suddenly walked away from the duel. "Kaiba and Ishizu ain't done with the duel yet."

"Maybe Edwin needs to rest," Duke reasoned. "I mean, his heart did stop beating recently… that has to take a toll on someone."

"Can we not talk about that, please?" Tea said, hugging herself tightly. "I really don't want to think about it."

Yugi tuned out his friends as they continued to debate just what was going on with their friend and his sudden disappearance. 'Pharaoh, what do you think are Kaiba's odds for winning the duel?'

'I can't say Yugi… normally I would believe that any duelist, even ourselves, would be hard pressed to achieve victory against him. As much as people may not like his boasting he is being truthful when he claims to be one of the greatest duelists in the world.'

'You're right. We only defeated him by summoning Exodia. And if we hadn't come up with fusing Mammoth Graveyard with the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon he would never have needed to pull that stunt he did to force us to forfeit.'

'Both of which have been removed as options,' the Pharaoh remarked, appearing beside Yugi in his ghostly form. 'Exodia is lost to us and the Battle City rules banned The Living Arrow.'

'Most likely because Kaiba didn't want us to use it against him again,' Yugi thought, gaining a smirk from the Pharaoh.

'But as for Ishizu…' The puzzle began to glow and Yugi gasped as the Pharaoh's spirit disappeared from sight… and he suddenly saw the ghostly images of every card played on the field, lines going to where they had ended up. His mind raced as he saw just what moves the two duelists had performed and how they had formed the chain that led to the current state of the field.

'Whoa… what is this?' Yugi thought even as Ishizu drew a card.

'A new power of the Millennium Puzzle, one I unlocked when we journeyed into our shared mindscape to free you, Yugi. We now can use this ability to see the movements of anyone to help us understand their strategy. As you can see Kaiba has sought to bring out his Blue-Eyes and its fusions, shifting monsters to the graveyard only to return them back to his deck. But Ishizu has focused on using the graveyard as almost a second deck, controlling what Kaiba does as well as what she can bring out.'

'Because of the Exchange of Spirit,' Yugi thought.

'Exactly. And I am willing to bet, due to her actions so far, that she still seeks to activate it!'

'But… but its in the graveyard Pharaoh! When a spell or trap card goes to the graveyard it is nearly impossible to retrieve it.'

'Nearly… but not completely.'

"And now I activate Gravekeeper's Restoration and Gravekeeper's Trap once again, forcing you to give up your draw phase by placing Bingo Machine, Go! on the top of your deck and then forcing you to discard it." Ishizu smiled, eyes narrowed. "How long can you hope to keep this up, Kaiba? Your hand is limited and every attempt to attack me has failed."

'Except that can't be Ishizu's only strategy!' Yugi mentally exclaimed, still seeing the connections of the cards. 'While Kaiba can't attack she can't either… his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Alternative Dragon is too powerful for her to get past. If she doesn't do something soon she'll end up decking out while Kaiba just has to wait.'

'Yes Yugi… except we must not forget her Egyptian God Card.'

'Of course!' Yugi exclaimed and at once the glowing lines on the field all shifted, moving towards her deck. 'She is doing all of this so she can stall until she summons Obelisk the Tormentor!'

'And when she does I don't know if even the might of Kaiba's Ultimate Dragon will be able to stand against it.'

"You know, I was waiting to see just what you might be planning," Kaiba declared with a scoff. "I was hoping you would have an ounce of originality and not just rely upon the Egyptian God Card you took from me to win you this duel. But it appears that won't be the case and I am frankly bored of watching you do the same move over and over. As such I will now send one Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck to the graveyard in order to special summon the Dictator of D. to the field!"

As the dragon monarch appeared on the field Joey couldn't help but snicker.

"What is it, Joey?" Tristan asked.

"Dictator of D.," Joey said with a snicker. "Ya know… DICK-tator… of D.?" He pressed his hand to his mouth as he laughed.

"…with wit like that I understand your love life now, Joey," Tea said dryly.

"Thanks Tea!" Joey said only to blink after a moment. "Hey! What's dat supposed ta mean!?!?"

As his friends bickered Yugi saw Seto hold up another card. "And now I will use Monster Reborn, allowing me to bring that Blue-Eyes White Dragon from the graveyard to the field!" A section of the field glowed and the great ivory dragon appeared, looking down at its Ultimate Counterpart and how it had been brought down. That caused the Blue-Eyes White Dragon to throw back its head and let out a savage roar. "Now then, Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Attack Ishizu's dumb looking egg angel! White Lightning!" The earth fairy didn't even have a chance to react before it was shattered into pieces. "Now then… that is a lot better. No more hiding behind your stall tactics. I am just going to keep destroying those pathetic little fairies until you have nothing left on the field and then I'll attack you directly with my Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Because that is all you deserve, Ishizu. No grand strategy or combo… just a simple crushing defeat."

"We shall see if all get what they deserve soon enough, Seto," Ishizu replied.

~MC~MC~MC~

"So what do you think of the duel so far, Scott?" Marc asked, the Australian commentator turning to his partner. "It has been moving a bit slow but with Seto Kaiba summoning his Blue-Eyes White Dragon it seems like things are heating up!"

Just beyond the two men their producer gave a thumbs up and motioned for them to keep going. Word had come down from Kipling Chaos that they weren't to focus on the revelations concerning Seto Kaiba… or rather Seto Shinryu. CCN was to focus on Battle City and leave other divisions of the network to run with the news of Seto's original name. Both knew that there were multiple reporters… hell, probably an entire floor… looking into what Ishizu Ishtar had just stated and would be getting the full story out. Their job was to provide commentary on the duel and they would do just that.

"While it might seem like it is slow goings it is clear that both duelists are working to set up big plays. Seto Kaiba has managed to do that already but Ishizu Ishtar clearly wants to fill her board with monsters to summon Obelisk the Tormentor."

Scott forced himself to smile as he saw the crude drawing of Obelisk the Tormentor appear above him on the screen facing him. They had tried at first to get official artwork of the card from Industrial Illusions, much as they had done with every other card using in Battle City, but had been redirected to someone named Ms. Garnet who had screamed "NO! NO! NO!" before someone else had called for 'the blanket' and the phone line had died. Attempts to just copy an image for Ishizu's last duel had oddly failed as well; they could play the clips but trying to freeze frame it and insert it always caused the footage to glitch. Finally they had tried to draw it but every artist they had at CCN complained of a sensation of pain in their hands when they began to draw. Finally their producer, Nick, had just given up and drawn a crude blobby image to show.

Ishizu drew a card and smirked. "And so we will finally see if fate smiles upon me or if you are correct and I am doomed to failure. I activate Gravekeeper's Burden!" The card, depicting a dark stone room with a table in the center and strange knives and other instruments sitting close by, appeared on the field. "This card forces us both to draw and discard cards until we draw a monster that can be normal summoned and then summon it to the field."

"A bold move by Ishizu Ishtar!" Marc exclaimed. "With Obelisk the Tormentor being unable to be summoned to the field normally if she draws it here she runs the risk of having to discard it, making it near impossible for her to regain it! And that's not taking into account the spells and traps that she's been focusing on all this duel that will be lost to her! Is this a last minute desperate play or part of some bold strategy!"

Nick quickly signaled to one of the techs and on the screen a counter began to tick away as Ishizu and Seto both began to discard cards.

After the first 3 cards Marc and Scott didn't even try to fill the air with sound. After the 6th card everyone in the studio held their breath. The 9th had all of them feeling like they were in a teetering car that was half over a cliff, waiting to see if they would fall or roll back to safety.

Finally Seto drew and nodded. "Finally. I summon in attack mode Maiden with Eyes of Blue." The female monster appeared, wearing a cream colored dress, looking about with wide innocent eyes.

Before either commenter could say a word on the unusual choice of having a monster with 0 attack points be in attack mode Ishizu drew and smiled. "And fate smiles upon me, Seto. I summon Obelisk's Servant!" A warrior dressed in armor that resembled Obelisk the Tormentor appeared on the field. It had on a blue tunic with a sapphire breast plate and wore a large headdress with a mask that resembled Obelisk's snarling face. "And when this card is summoned to the field I am able to summon two more Obelisk's Servants from my deck to the field." A duo of warriors appeared next to the first, forming a trio.

"An interesting set of monsters, wouldn't you say?" Scott finally said.

"Indeed! Maiden with Eyes of Blue is a card we haven't seen Seto Kaiba play before. Curt, what can you tell us about this card?"

The cameras quickly cut to the man in question. "The Maiden with Eyes of Blue is a powerful effect monster that can be key to victory for Seto Kaiba. Her effect is that if she is targeted by an attack that attack is negated once per turn and the user is able to summon a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from their deck to the field. It is clear that Kaiba is hoping to get Ishizu to attack him."

"But couldn't she just attack another monster?" Scott asked.

"Not with Dictator of D. on the field. This card allows Kaiba to control which monster is an attack target, so long as a Blue-Eyes monster is on the field. With both the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Alternative Dragon on his side of the field that means he completely controls what monster Ishizu is able to attack, giving him a definite advantage."

"Though I'm not for sure Ishizu sees it that way!" Marc declared as the screen cut back to the duel. "She doesn't look fased at all by these turn of events!"

"Now… it is time for you to realize Seto that you are merely a bit player in this grand game. A mere stepping stone towards the grand final conflict. That nothing you have done matters… just as you do not matter. First I will use Keldo's effect, banishing it from the game to allow me to select three cards from my graveyard and add them back to my deck." She looked over her deck before nodding, selecting the three. "And now I activate Exchange of Form, which allows me to send one monster from my field to the graveyard to place Exchange of Spirit from my graveyard to my side of the field and instantly activate it! I pay 1000 lifepoints to unleash its power!" (Ishizu-3000)

Marc and Scott could only watch as the duel discs on both duelists' arms began to let out ear piercing screeches while the holoprojectors went mad, sending a strobe of light out for several moments.

"What is going on!" Marc cried out.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Man, can't someone turn off dem lights?" Joey exclaimed, trying to shield his eyes. "I can't see a dang thing!"

For once Seto found himself agreeing with Joey. When Ishizu had activated her card it had caused everything to go mad. The holocasters had gone on the fritz, strobing out like crazy while also letting out pain-filled shrieks as their servos tried to manage whatever it was that Ishizu had done. Seto had little doubt it was purely her fault; his Duel Disc system had been heavily tested, even in the middle of Battle City, with patches coming each night to make sure that it could handle whatever duelists threw at it.

'It can even hand the power of the Egyptian God Cards!' he thought even as he covered his eyes with his forearm. There had always been something off about the god cards; the first time he'd played Obelisk against that dueling robot it had fried the machine before he'd even made a single attack. So he'd worked to give his Duel Discs ten times the power they normally would need to render the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in order to manage their strength. 'And whatever Ishizu did is currently breaking my entire system!' Seto thought, feeling his duel disc heating up on his arm.

For one terrible moment he thought that her card had crashed the system when the lights went out. Everything went quiet and dark and as he lowered his arm Seto was prepared to find the field empty and the holocasters nothing more than smoking ruins. It wouldn't matter how impressive the Duel Discs had been during the rest of Battle City… everyone would only remember this moment and it would be a black eye on their production and his company. People only remembered the bad… a mistake was worth a thousand victories.

But as he pulled his arm away from his eyes he saw that… no. Everything was fine. The field was as he had left it and while he could hear a soft whining sound from the holocasters they were managing just fine.

"Thanks to my card's effect fate has been altered. What once came is now allowed a second chance while all the futures that waited to be born find themselves with no hope of ever coming into being. That is the power of Exchange of Spirit."

"Kaiba!" Yugi called out. "Her trap card has swapped your deck with your graveyard!"

And at once Seto saw her gameplan.

'Hmmm… so now I only have the 15 cards that were in my deck to call upon. And worst still Ishizu remembers what was in there and with her Gravekeeper's Trap she can attempt to force me to discard my cards as I draw them. And that's assuming I don't use any affect that might add cards from my deck to my hand. And if she wants to she can use her Gravekeeper's Restoration now on herself, recycling cards from her graveyard to her deck to prevent her from decking out. She wants to try and stall this match, force me to lose by having nothing left to draw.'

He narrowed his eyes.

"Its not going to work, Ishizu," Seto declared, a smirk slowly forming on his lips. "Your little strategy? It isn't going to work on me. I already know what your plan is and I am going to break it… and you. You've given me 15 turns? It was a mistake to give me even ONE!" He drew and lifted up the card. "Make your guess, Ishizu… for that is all it is with you: Guessing."

Ishizu glowered at that insult against her powers before stating, "Bingo Machine, Go!."

"Trotting out that one again?" Seto asked he moved to put the card in his graveyard… only to swiftly add it to his hand. "Sorry Ishizu but you got it wrong again. Something I think you'd be used to by now."

"Keep making your jokes, Seto-"

"I am just stating fact. The only joke around here is YOU, Ishizu. I promise you that. And I am now going to show you just how much of a joke you are! Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack her Obelisk's Servant! White Lightning!" The beast roared and fired a blast of electrical fire at the monster, shattering it to bits.

"Servants are made to serve, Seto. Something you should have learned by now. You think yourself the hero of this story? You might have had a supporting part but now you are merely a pathetic obstacle that I will remove from the board."

"That's the thing though, Ishizu," Seto declared. "I'm not the hero of this story… because there is no story. No fairytale that you tell yourself to keep your mind sleepy and safe. I am Seto Kaiba and I am going to win this duel right now. For you see you forgot that I had used a card that DELIGHTS in having monsters in the graveyard."

He turned around his Ultimate Fusion.

"Yeah!" Tristan cheered. "That's the perfect card!"

"Way to go, Kaiba!" Tea shouted.

Ishizu though merely stared at him. "Does it not burn you that they cheer you… only really know you… by your false name?"

Seto didn't even give her a second thought. "I now tribute the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the White Stone of the Ancients in my graveyard, returning them to my deck, in order to summon forth my Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon!"

On his side of the field a larger version of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared. Its wings glowed with white lightning and at once the original Blue-Eyes dipped its head in submission. It, along with the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Alternative Dragon understood the Tyrant was the Lord and King of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons. One that had risen above its brothers and sisters to command.

"And now I will use this: Quick Attack! It will allow my Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon to attack this turn despite having been fusion summoned! Tyrant Wing Blast!" The great drake raised its glowing wings before letting loose a blast of not just wind but storms, lightning firing down and shattering the last of Ishizu's Obelisk's Servants. 'And what she doesn't know is that my Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon is immune to all trap cards. I could have easily summoned another Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to gain a far stronger monster but with the Tyrant on the field she won't be able to target it with any of her tricky trap cards… its clear her deck is built around such things. And with Dictator of D. on the field I can determine what she attacks, meaning that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon I just added to my deck will be summoned to the field. That would leave her facing down five monsters, three of whom she has no hope of defeating! All this piffle about magic spells and psychic powers… and in the end Ishizu is defeated by skill. The only thing that is REAL.'

Ishizu drew… and broke into a demented grin.

"I must thank you, Seto Shinryu. I must truly thank you. With all that has happened… with the meddling by Endymion and the Pharaoh refusing to see reason I had begun to fear that what all of you said was true. That my visions were wrong and the Pharaoh would not be able to defeat the great evil that is coming. And even as I accepted that my brother must be… sacrificed… if he will not obey his destiny… I still prayed that the Nameless Pharaoh would defeat the dark god and save humanity. Even as changes were made… I prayed that would come to pass. And now… you have proven it will. For your end… is here. I activate SOUL CROSSING!"

Seto's eyes went wide as his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Alternative Dragon, and his Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon all began to roar in agonized pain as blue chains wrapped around them, dragging them towards Ishizu's side of the field.

"What have you done to my dragons?"

"Brought them to serve their higher calling, Shinryu! The Blue-Eyes White Dragons were given to the priest Set to help him aid the Pharaoh, not stand against him! And now, despite all you have done to try and deny what must be, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and its alterations will fulfill their destiny!" Ishizu threw her arms out wide and her hair fanned out behind her, swirling and slithering like a mob of serpents. "With Soul Crossing I can tribute your Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Alternative Dragon, and Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon to summon forth OBELISK THE TORMENTOR!"

The three dragons let out a final roar before they disappeared into beams of light, three pillars shooting into the sky before they twisted together to form a single great orb of energy that hung for a moment before crashing down into the ground… and from the earth came Obelisk the Tormentor. Like some immortal who had been buried by clueless villagers he tore himself free and lumbered onto the field, the skies turning dark and lightning crashing down that caused the blimp to shudder violently as he fully formed onto the field.

Seto… stumbled back, eyes wide in shock.

"And now Obelisk the Tormentor… attack the Maiden with Eyes of Blue." Ishizu smirked. "And if you believe her or your Dictator of D. can stand against the might of an Egyptian God Card… then you were NEVER worthy of holding one."

The Maiden with Eyes of Blue let out a cry, hands clasped before her as a ghostly image of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon formed… only for the mirage to shatter as Obelisk slammed his fist down into her. Seto had the impression of her turning to him with pain filled eyes before he was sent flying back, crashing well off the dueling platform, head ringing.

(Seto Kaiba- 0000)

"Seto Kaiba has been defeated! Ishizu Ishtar moves on to the next round!" the ref declared.

But as Seto tried to clear the cobwebs from his head he looked up to see Ishizu looking down at him…

…his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the very first one he'd ever claimed, held in her hands.

"Per the ante rule… your strongest card belongs to me."

RIP!

Seto felt his heart stop as Ishizu ripped the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in two.

"I have no need for such weak things," she stated, walking past him without another thought or care, the torn pieces of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon fluttering in the wind.

~Ten Years Earlier~

"This one."

Seto's dad laughed at that, picking him up easily. "That one? But we read that one yesterday! And the day before!"

"That one!" Seto said determinedly, a smile forming on his lips as he snuggled up to his father.

His father bobbed his head back and forth before finally nodding. "Very well," he said with a chuckle, setting Seto down on the bed. He reached over and played with a lock of Seto's hair… it was rather long and needed to be cut. "What color hair do you think your little brother or sister is going to have?" he asked. "Brown like yours? Black like mine?"

"Mama's," Seto said.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Seto's mother said as she entered the room… or, rather, her pregnant belly did first. She ran her fingers through her silvery-white locks before sitting down next to her son, Seto cuddling up next to her. Seto was too young to understand what 'hair dye' was and thought that the silver locks were her natural hair color. "Now then, let's read you your story and then its time for bed." Seto held her hand while he pressed the fingers of his other hand against her belly. "Once upon a time there was a great white dragon with beautiful blue eyes…"