Chapter 10: - Losing
The Speaker for Magical Japan stared at the red 'phone sitting on his desk. It had been a gift from the American ministry to his predecessor, though he did not know what in aid of. Some police action, most likely. Either way, it hardly mattered now.
All that mattered was that he was expecting it to ring. His bodyguard had been acting twitchy for some time now. Something was putting her on edge.
"Sakura," he murmured, "do an old man a favour and get me a pot of tea." He told the half-kitsune who led his protection detail.
"Now would not be a good time for me to leave your side, sir," she replied, turning to glance out of the office window. "Dark magic is building nearby, but I can't work out where."
"I see," he frowned. "How serious is it?"
The 'phone rang before Sakura could answer. It was at his ear before the second ring.
"Saito," he said into it.
"Speaker, this is Chief Superintendant Takehara. I've just received a tip-off that a group of gaijin terrorists are planning an attack on a small business in the growth district." The voice on the other end of the line was gruff and somewhat irritable, which fairly accurately described the head of the prefectural police department.
"Oh? Your source?" Saito asked, motioning Sakura to approach and listen.
"A reliable local source. One of your lot," Takehara replied. "Asakura's been going crazy for the last ten minutes too."
"Un," Takehara grunted an acknowledgement and hung up. Saito took a moment to rub the bridge of his nose, before rising, forwarding the red 'phone to his mobile and going to call a meeting of the Cabinet.
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
'Mokuba' was furious.
After all of his work to gather the right pieces to his plan, to capture and hold the Pharaoh and kill his brother without getting himself injured and possess the body of one of the few people who could program the park from the base up, his plan was ruined.
His Shabti were destroyed, his base of operations blown sky high and along with it a lot of his equipment for his ritual, and the Pharaoh, whose soul he needed, was all but dead.
When Shadowmorn had struck he had taken full advantage of it, using the Shadows to rip himself free of the statue that he had been sealed in for longer than anyone could possibly care to remember. Not only that, but he had managed to save a pair of mortals and bestow a little of his power on them, causing them to owe him a life debt that he could use to get them to do what he wanted. He had not needed it after he had mentioned the possibility of immortality, not that he had planned on sharing, but having a backup plan never hurt.
Somehow, though, after all of his meticulous planning, everything had gone very wrong and it was all the blasted Pharaoh's fault, and what was worse was he could not even unleash his frustrations on the young man because the Pharaoh was unconscious.
"Unless, bloody, piece of crap!" he snarled as he paced back and forth, kicking a pile of stones that used to be a Shabti. Then he started swearing for a whole different reason.
Anhur, who had wanted to rip the Pharaoh limb from limb when he had recovered from smashing into the computer console and had been sworn into leaving him alone, watched his 'leader.' The spirit from the statue had seemed so great and all powerful when it had been saving him and his ex-girlfriend from Shadowmorn, but now, in the body of the younger Kaiba brother he did not seem so great or so powerful. Especially pacing the floor and gesticulating wildly as he ranted about plans going awry.
Suddenly, the spirit paused, seemingly taking in everything around him properly. When the spirit turned and smirked at him, it made the jock nervous. "What?" Anhur demanded, confused and wary of the sudden change in mood. "What?"
"I can't finish my plan completely," Mokuba informed him, "but there's no reason I can't start it with him," he gestured to Yugi, "and finish it with the other pure light that I know is hanging around somewhere in this bloody town."
"Then why are you smirking at me?" Anhur asked, still nervous.
"Because," a huge, shadowy form detached itself from Mokuba and leapt at Anhur, sinking into the jock. His body shook all over, like he was having a fit, as his own spirit and the invader fought for control. The struggle was not a long one, for the invader's magical and mental power, not to mention sheer bloody-mindedness, proved greater. Mokuba collapsed, and the spirit stretched his new muscles. "There is no way I want to be immortal in the body of a wimp like the Kaiba brat."
The spirit then turned on his captives. He kicked Mokuba aside, his interest exhausted now that he had the elder Kaiba's money, and continued on towards the Pharaoh's side. Leaning down and seizing what was supposedly the most powerful being on the planet by his collar and dragging him up for a closer examination.
The shackles placed on the Pharaoh were almost worthless now. When the Pharaoh's magic had exploded, it had overwhelmed the restraining spells, leaving the metal bindings as just that. Only the collar remained to suppress Yugi's powers, but it would not matter soon.
"Now-" 'Anhur' was cut off by a blast of pure white light, causing him to drop the young man he was holding and go flying into a wall. Hard.
"How dare you?" snarled the assailant, leaving the barely breathing Pharaoh to check on the younger Kaiba. "You will regret ever laying a hand on my little brother."
"You have no idea who you're dealing with, Kaiba," 'Anhur' growled as he picked himself up, "I am Neos, the High Priest of Set! Egypt trembled in fear with every breath I took! Your puny Shadow powers are no match for..."
"Shut. Up," Seto snapped as Kisara blasted Neos again.
Neos was prepared for it this time, throwing up a wall of magic that shielded him from the attack. "You think that defeating me can erase the stain of your betrayal, Kaiba?" Neos demanded. "You're the one who handed the Pharaoh to me after all."
Kaiba, however, just moved away from the wall - just in time as it turned out. The wall blew apart and Harry and Joey stalked in.
"Took you long enough," Seto informed the pair as Joey darted over to Yugi's side and Harry gave Neos a rather impressive death glare, ruby red eyes flashing and Millennium Puzzle glowing.
"I will deal with you later, Kaiba," Yami promised through Harry, before looking to Yugi. "Is he-?"
"He's alive, but barely," Joey informed him, scooping Yugi up as he did so and looking around for something. "I've got him, you deal with the jackass so we can join the others at the shop."
Neos glared at Joey, which turned to a malicious smirk as he took out a bunch of keys and waved them in the air. "Looking for-" he began, only to drop the keys as a third blast of white lightning sent him back into the wall.
"Got them," Joey smirked as Atem passed him the keys.
"It's rude to interrupt!" Neos grumbled as he picked himself out of the rubble.
"And kidnapping people is polite?" Atem asked, sounding surprisingly amused considering everything as Joey unshackled his friend. He was glad to hear Yugi suddenly gasp and start breathing much easier once the collar was off. Atem felt it as Harry jumped, surprised when the teen's bond to Yugi reignited and agreed with his friend's fury as they took in how close they had been to losing their friend.
Neos's response shocked them all. He abandoned his host and shot across the room, straight for Atem. Not that it worked, mind you, because with two souls already within Harry, it was really easy for the pair to team up and evict Neos. Instead of trying again, he slipped into the Shadows at the edge of the room.
That did not save him, because Atem proceeded to drag the whole area into the Shadows. "You're not getting away from me," declared the Pharaoh, as the magic of the game forced Neos to take a solid form, "not after everything you've done."
"I'm not afraid of you. I killed you once, I can kill you again and then I'll rip your brother's soul out and devour it, piece by piece," Neos swore in return. "I might even make you watch."
That was the wrong thing to say. Atem let loose, "I won't let you lay another hand on Yugi!" The magic swirled around him, intense and thick fit to choke. "Now, let's play."
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
"Welcome," Dinah offered Ron a hand up and nodded to the group that had come with the Cheshire Cat, "to the DuelDMU headquarters. At least for now."
It looked pretty normal. It was a bit bland, as a matter of fact. The white walled, sterile kitchen was nothing like the dark, slightly grubby one at the Black House, or the controlled chaos of the Burrow. It appeared to lead out into an empty hallway, which was equally white.
"I'm renting it over the summer," Dinah explained, shrugging on a jacket with the club's name and logo on the left breast, along with another name underneath that. "I've been letting the others crash on my floor since the start of CardCon."
There were voices coming from the other rooms. Furniture was being scraped along the floor with little care for noise or furnishings as people scrambled to pull their stuff together.
"How many are we?" Ombre asked, having been talked into coming by Ginny, if only to make sure that the damn prophecy did not turn sour on her friends.
"There's nine of us from DuelDMU and we've got DMG with us, making ten," Dinah explained, then paused at the look of confusion on all bar Ombre's face. "You know, the writer of Digital Duellist?"
"I know her," Ombre nodded. She had run into the girl in question at a couple of the bigger tournaments over the years. "She's coming with us?"
"They hurt hundreds of people," said a voice from the hallway. Nobody had noticed DMG entering the scene, but there she was, as real as anything, and hovering behind her silently, wary eyes on the group, was a green-clothed Dark Magician Girl. "And shut me down. Of course I'm coming."
"DMG, Maddie," Dinah nodded to the pair, "how is everyone doing?"
"Tate and Lyle are packed and relocking doors," said DMG, "Nel is helping Sweety pick up the last of her bits and bobs, Typhoon, Layer and Jackal are just finishing up the edits on Typhoon's deck and Spotter's being Spotter but he's packed and ready to go."
"Code names?" Ginny asked, confused.
Dinah shook her head. "Nicknames," she said, pointing to the word underneath the logo on her jacket. It quite clearly stated, in white embroidered text on the black background, that the one wearing it was in fact called 'Alyss.'
"Ready," chirped the voice of another girl. This one had chocolate-brown girl, with pale pink and blue highlights clipped up in such a way that they looked exactly like liquorice allsorts. The name on her jacket proclaimed her to be 'Sweetybell.' She seemed to scan the group with her leader for a moment, as if trying to work out who they were, and then, "You know, you lot should have your club jackets on. Alyss was rather insistent that we wear ours no matter how much we hate them."
"We aren't part of your club," Ron grouched, having thought they would be moving faster than this.
"Neither's DMG," Sweetybell shot back before turning to Dinah. "You didn't get them ones made?"
"They don't need one to show which side they're on," Dinah shrugged, "they're Court members."
"Court?" Sweetybell's eyes widened, then she grinned wickedly. "Have you showed them our toys yet?"
Dinah chuckled lightly, "No, not yet, we're a little busy."
"Just don't forget to tell them I do commissions," the small girl reminded her. "In the meantime I'll hurry the others up."
"Toys?" Ron asked, confused as Dinah moved across the room and picked up a piece of equipment that they had not seen before. It looked like a duel disk, but it was of a sleek white design with silver swirls and the dome had a black-and-white checkerboard pattern. As Dinah did the typical pre-duel checks, they saw that the lights that lit up were white rather than red. "Wicked."
"Sweety does commissions," Dinah explained as she swung her backpack over one shoulder and slipped her deck into place, "you pay her for the materials and work and she'll do something like..."
"Look, not that this isn't interesting, but we're on a time limit here!" Ginny snapped. "We'll talk shop afterwards. We have to move!"
"I said five minutes," Dinah scowled towards the door, "they still have thirty seconds to..."
"Ready!" cried the remaining team members suddenly piled through the door with all their equipment. One of them froze at the sight of the Court members.
"Kari?" Typhoon yelped, backing up hastily and crashing into a strange-looking young man wearing telescopic binoculars on his forehead and a custom-built camera on a strap around his neck.
Ombre got a glance at the name on the man's jacket. 'Spotter.' "No," Ombre sighed with a shake of her head, "not Kari. It's good to see you again, Lillian."
"Ombre," Lillian darted across the room and hugged her old friend's twin. "I'm so sorry!" Ombre did not know what to say. Lillian, or Typhoon to her new friends, had been Kari's friend long before she had gotten the Orb of Light, so she had known Kari for far longer. After the events of their first Summer back from Hogwarts, she and Ash had known the truth, or at least the truth as they had known it back then.
"Later, Lils," Ombre murmured, returning the hug. "Later, okay?"
"All right," Lillian agreed, pulling away, "we should go."
"All right, gang," said Dinah, looking around at everyone, watching as they summoned Duel Monsters to their side, "let's roll out."
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
Joey, still holding his unconscious best friend, paced irritably. They did not have time for this. The others had gone ahead, grabbing taxis and every other method of getting to the shop they could think of, but Tobias had been giving him the details of what was going on. They did not have time to wait for Atem to finish his game.
He did not know what to do. He could not just leave Yugi behind, but they needed more help than was available. Kaiba had already taken Mokuba and left, probably to escape before Atem finished his Shadow Game with the one who had sent him back to the Puzzle and Joey did not trust the CEO of Kaiba Corp to do more than help his brother, not after they had worked out that Kaiba had been the one to hand Yugi over in the first place.
Joey snarled to himself. The man who he considered his grandfather was still in danger, his friends were heading there and even Ryou was fighting and he was stuck here because some prick had chosen the most inopportune moment to attack them ever.
He felt the Shadows amassing even before he saw the hints of their movement anywhere away from the bubble enclosing the ongoing Shadow Game. Holding Yugi close, he wheeled around to face it, only to be shocked when his sister, who was clutching a large bag stepped out of the swirling pillar of darkness, accompanied by a pair of Gellenduo. "Serenity?"
"Put him down," Serenity ordered, nodding slightly.
Joey followed his sister's orders before he could even formulate his next question, lying Yugi down gently. "You're supposed to be in the safe-house," he said with evident bewilderment.
"I got my friend to bring me," Serenity waved vaguely at her Duel Monster before settling at Yugi's side and casting a diagnostic spell. She let out a sharp hiss and started pulling potions out of her bag as she continued. "The shop's under attack, you need all the help you can get. With Yami dead-"
"You know about that?" Joey yelped, shocked since no one had announced it yet.
"The moment he was back in the Puzzle the Duel Monsters all knew," Serenity replied, working quickly as she did, "and it wasn't hard to work out after his," she gestured to the young man on the ground, "explosion."
"It took him days to wake up last time," Joey shook his head, "there isn't time."
"I've mixed in some Pepper-Up Potion with this batch," Serenity offered, "it was Golden-san's suggestion. I'm hoping it'll at least keep him awake long enough to..."
She trailed off as the shadows taking up most of the room dispersed, leaving behind a rather tired and angry-looking Harry. The ruby colour drained from his emerald green eyes just as quickly, and he darted over to Yugi's side. The Puzzle was slipped over Yugi's head, and almost instantly his eyes opened and the usual changes set in. Wide, purple eyes turned red and the hair warped and shifted.
"Yami?" Joey asked, helping the ex-Pharaoh to his feet and becoming concerned when Atem wavered and nearly fell.
"I'm fine. Just give me a moment," Yami snapped, already suffering from exhaustion and well aware there was no way he could fight in this state. It had taken a lot out of him to control a body he was not used to. He had been able to get away with it when Yugi and he had swapped places because Yugi's form and his were not so different anymore and they were, in a sense, the same person. However, Harry's body had not wanted him there, even if Harry had been more than willing to let him borrow it for awhile.
`Yami, if you're too tired...` Harry worried at him, glad that the link still existed between the three of them as long as one of the living members of their party held the Puzzle.
'I...' Atem trailed off. He was exhausted, the body, which was not his to risk, was running on fumes. If he died now, whenever he had a corporeal form he could work through, it was not him he was getting killed. It was one of his link partners and he would never risk Yugi's safety. It just wasn't going to happen.
"Ya...Yami?" the sound of Yugi's mental voice entering the link caused both Harry and Atem to pause. "You're alive?"
'Not really,' Atem allowed.
"But...Grandpa!" Yugi yelped as he took in what was bouncing around the minds of both his link partners. "Yami, use my body!" The demand in Yugi's exhausted tone threw Atem. "Please!"
'It's too dangerous, you're...'
"I don't care!" Yugi shouted, the pair of them could sense the mental equivalent of Yugi's hands balling into fists. "I don't care what happens to me but we have to help Grandpa."
'Yugi...' Atem trailed off as Serenity presented him with a pair of potions.
"These will help. You'll hit the floor when everything I've dosed you with wears off, but..." she looked a little nervous as Yami downed the pair without a second's thought.
"Thank you," Atem nodded to her, reassured a little by the fact he at least had some power available and could stand upright, but still not happy about risking Yugi's safety. Yugi was pushing, though. If he did not go, he could sense Yugi would. He handed over a deck and a wand to Serenity. "Give these to Hermione?" he asked.
"Good luck," Serenity nodded, as the shadows rose up around the boys again. "You're going to need it." They were gone before the last word finished passing her lips.
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
"It's over," Voldemort smirked, pointing his wand at the white-haired figure sprawled on the floor before him, struggling for breath. "You're done."
Ryou could not argue with that. He had done everything he could to hold the Death Eaters at bay, used almost every trick Bakura had taught him. The shop was almost evacuated, but he could not continue fighting. He wanted to but he just could not. He hurt too much and there were too many of them.
"Now," Voldemort sounded like he was smirking, "die. Avada Kedav-"
Voldemort let out a pained yell as something struck him in the back. In the same instant, something grabbed Ryou and spirited him away to safety. "We've got you," he heard in his ear.
Ryou's head came up in confusion. Exhaustion and agony were coursing through every inch of him. Domino City was burning. The fiendfyre that had failed to penetrate the wards on the shop had proceeded to destroy the buildings around them and was spreading outwards. Others jumped into the fight. People in matching jackets. Above them, Ryou could hear the sounds of fire engines rushing to the worst affected areas.
"Damn them," Ombre hissed as she took him from the 'Mad Hatter' who proceeded to join his Duellist on the battlefield.
"Ombre?" Ryou asked, voice wavering.
"Yes, I came back," said Ombre, "I was told I had to be here. Good job I did."
"Thank you..." Ryou trailed off as Joey, Harry, Atem et al appeared on the battlefield, flanked with their Duel Monsters. "Thank the gods."
"Not yet," said Ombre bitterly. She had been searching her deck for a card that could help, but paused then to watch Atem collapse against Mahado's side for a moment, his exhaustion more than clear in his actions. Harry and Joey covered him as Voldemort and the Death Eaters turned most of their attention on the new arrivals. "Yami's hurt and there's no sign of Yugi."
The dark Pharaoh moved away from his most loyal servant and darted towards the shop, just in time for the shop's wards to finally give way to the constant assault. The fiendfyre roared into the building, roasting everyone inside and causing interior gas lines to erupt. Mahado summoned a shield not unlike Mirror Force to protect Yami, but there was nothing he could do for those within the ruined structure.
Harry was the first to recover and cast a spell chain that pushed a couple of the Death Eaters back. Voldemort seemed to be crowing something at Atem, who wheeled around and snarled something back before summoning Osiris and unleashing its fury on his enemies - or at least he tried to, as Voldemort conjured a barrier against the god monster with seconds to spare. The Thunder Force Attack struck the magical field with a loud boom and burst outwards, causing most of the Death Eaters near Voldemort to flee. Those who did not were shocked into submission by the escaping electricity.
"I have to help," Ombre told Ryou, and as if to justify her, Atem narrowly avoided a deadly beam of green light, consequently coming nose-to-wand with a blasting hex that blew him off his feet with a deafening clap. The Death Eater who cast it had his wand at the downed Pharaoh's throat.
"Go," said Ryou, moving out of the way.
Atem was dragged to his feet by the hair, the wand still pressed against his neck. The sight of one of the Mutous being held hostage elicited a distinct pause in many of the fighters, including Osiris.
Voldemort gestured to Harry, fully confident of his own victory. His expression and posture said it all. 'Surrender or we'll kill your friend.' Ombre would have joined in then, had the Death Eater holding Atem not been attacked by a hitherto unseen Duel Monster that looked for all the world like a plush sheep. With the scarlet dragon covering his retreat, Atem broke free and bolted towards his friends.
Voldemort roared something Ombre did not catch, but she imagined 'kill them' was a safe bet, and as if on cue, an enormous dragon materialised before them. It was as large as Osiris, and shared many of its physical attributes, but instead of brilliant red it was deathly black and covered with patches of brown armour encrusted with sapphires and rubies.
"Osiris!" Atem bellowed, gesturing to his God monster. The red dragon of the heavens bellowed at its false counterpart and launched another Thunder Force Attack, which was met in the air by an equally potent blast of black energy. The meeting caused an explosion that rocked the ground beneath them and knocked a few people off of their feet.
When the smoke cleared, both God and Evil God were gone, each annihilated by the other. Voldemort and Atem were both about ready to begin round two, when tanks rumbled up and a rather large group of people, all in JSDF uniforms arrived and instantly started attacking the Death Eaters, with magic, guns or, in a few rare cases swords.
The Death Eaters, realising that they had lost their advantage of both numbers and training, fled. Voldemort himself took one last pot-shot at Harry, which narrowly missed, before vanishing too. The Duellists, the soldiers, and the Duel Monsters were left to deal with the resultant devastation.
Yugi took control the moment Voldemort left, darting for the shop.
"Yuge! Yuge, wait!" Joey caught him as he tried to shoot past. "The fire!"
"Let me go!" Yugi sobbed as he struggled against his friend's arms, watching in abject despair as his home burned. The moment the flames had been extinguished, Joey let him go. Yugi dove into the ruins, searching around for any possible survivors. Everything was torched. Once the fiendfyre had forced its way past the protective wards, its outrage had known no bounds.
It was not long before Yugi's worst fears were realised, as he dug through the charred remains of what could have been the counter, the doors or even the upstairs kitchen work surfaces. The fire had made the half-buried figure underneath him completely unrecognisable, but there was no denying its identity. Yugi let out a feral howl of hopelessness and slumped onto his hands and knees, weeping into the ashes. They were all that was left of his home and his family.