Chapter 8: - Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Rebecca had pretty much resigned herself to not getting into the finals this time. She was falling badly behind on getting her Trophy Cards, and if she was honest, she simply was not enjoying it.
She hated to say it, but Shadowmorn had ruined the game for her, when it had turned from something she liked to something that could both end and save her life at the same time. She could not help but wonder, as she brought her laptop out of sleep mode and waited for her meal to arrive, if Yugi had ever felt the same way after one of his adventures. Like he wanted to put his deck down and never look at it again.
Still, she had something to read while she was waiting that would take her mind off everything, several days worth of something in fact. The blog had been running since before the dawn of holoduelling and she had been following it for a while. She could even rightfully boast to have had intelligent conversations with the author at conventions and tournaments.
However, the newest post on the official, web-based news resource, Digital Duellist, was not what she wanted to see.
Saturday 5th August
So Long, Farewell, Until We Meet Again
Hi one and all and, though it breaks my heart to write it. Farewell.
Due to the current climate towards Duellists in general and Shadow-Touched in particular and especially after the CardCon incident (see previous blogs and almost every newspaper in the UK), the police have informed me that they cannot guarantee the safety of myself or anyone else that I mention in my blogs, and that until it is safe again, I will have to close down Digital Duellist.
This is a devastating blow to me as this blog has been my life for the last decade. When I started writing it, I never imagined it would become as popular as it has, or that I would come to rely on the friends I would make through it to help me through hard times. When things have been rough, you guys have been there for me. I don't ever think I'll forget the support you lot offered when university was rough or when I lost members of the family and I certainly won't forget where the laptop I'm writing this farewell came from. I never expected you guys to cobble together the money for a top range laptop for me after my last one blew up in spectacular fashion.
I know it's going to be upsetting for you lot too. A lot of people on here share duelling tips, get new info, find out all the best combos and such like, as well as maintain digital friendships through this site and it won't be gone completely. There just won't be any new updates until its safe again.
I do plan on coming back. Digital Duellist is too big a part of my life for me to abandon it completely. I just hope that by the time I can, you guys won't have forgotten about me.
I guess all I have to say then is goodbye and hopefully see you soon.
Danielle Mavis Grey, aka DMG
Posted by DMG at 13:41
237 Comments
It took her a moment to register what she was reading beyond, 'site is closing,' then, with a concerned but confused frame of mind, she swiftly read through the previous few posts, realising with horror what had happened.
'DMG,' had been grouching about her inability to afford plane tickets to the Kaiba Land Asia tournament for a while. Having recently been made redundant, her funds had been seriously curtailed. This, however, meant that she had decided to go to CardCon in Leicester, England, instead.
Rebecca had been looking forward to DMG's coverage. The girl was never dull and she had promised photos and videos of everything new, intriguing or downright weird she might find during the week-long convention.
It looked like she had too, Shadowmorn notwithstanding. She introduced Maddie as her co-writer and Deck Leader. Maddie was the Dark Magician Girl whose card had been created especially for her years ago by Maximillian Pegasus, since he knew she was a fan of the archetype and wanted the publicity for the newest booster pack at the time. Clothed in Celtic greens and golds, the one-of-a-kind sorceress had posted a couple of times during the week, mostly to answer questions fielded her way and fill in for DMG when she had been too busy to post herself (Rebecca was reading that as too drunk, considering Maddie had mentioned people kept buying her Duellist drinks) but most of the blogs had been of a recovering convention after the nightmare of Shadowmorn.
Until Friday.
At midday yesterday, everything had gone horribly wrong. There had been an attack on the convention, men in skull-like, alabaster masks and flowing black, well, apparently DMG had said dresses and Maddie had corrected her to robes. They had relentlessly, and seemingly without distinction, persecuted anyone and everyone who was present.
On the blog itself, there was not much from during the attack. One entry referenced using Duel Monsters to relay messages between groups, but nothing else. However, almost directly afterwards, Maddie and DMG had posted a message using the latter's phone informing the world that there were hundreds dead and many more injured due to the disaster unfolding all around them. The posts had kept coming after that, passing on messages of survival and hope, trying to keep everyone's spirits up.
It was the images posted in the very first entry following the attack that made Rebecca feel frightened and angry the most.
The ones who had attacked CardCon were Death Eaters.
Now she understood why the police had forced DMG to shut down her blog. It had been because of the safety issues, true, but that had not been the only reason. Most pure-blood wizards had about as much clue about the muggle internet as she had about Wizard history that did not involve the bloody goblin wars of England. Unless they were guided to Digital Duellist, they could never have found it.
No, she was certain that beneath all the spinning bluster and red tape, the real reason DMG had been forced to temporarily give up writing was because she was revealing the truth about magic, the wizards and Voldemort.
Yugi, Yami and Harry needed to know.
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
"How's everyone doing?" Yugi asked Boh as he settled at a table in the, 'Mystik Wok Café,' to wait for his order, double-checking his five Trophy Cards before finally slumping against the wall to watch the world go by through a nearby window.
'Harry's on his sixth Duel,' Boh warned his Duellist, half-worried that this necessary break would cost Yugi his place in the finals. 'The Pharaoh's still dealing with his fan base.' That meant that either Atem had his six Trophy Cards and was trying to make his way over towards them, without much luck, or he had not managed to get more than the four he possessed the last time Yugi had spoken with him. 'Joey's on five, Seto's already signed up for the finals.' 'Unsurprisingly,' was the unspoken addition, 'Mai's on four and Rebecca's on two.'
Yugi nodded a little, sending gratitude down the link to his partner monster. Now was quite possibly a bad time to take a break, but he needed it. After his little stunt in the memory world it was a miracle he had lasted this long without stopping.
A lot of his ability to do so was the fact Serenity had, after checking with her mentor, made sure to provide the magical equivalent of Lucozade, along with a lot of completely mundane sugary confections that were keeping his energy levels afloat.
It was a good thing she had, too. He was burning through his physical and magical reserves at a rate higher than normal. Serenity's diagnosis was that bringing Atem back during the Shadow Game had grossly overstrained him, and as such he was having trouble processing the magic and Ba that had been restored via potions and treats.
"How are you feeling?" the healer-in-training asked as she settled in the seat opposite him. Their two bodyguards were settling at the next table over so they could simultaneously keep watch and allow the pair some privacy.
"Honestly?" Yugi asked with a small, weary smile. "Like I could do with going back to sleep for a week or so."
"Well you could drop out," Serenity pointed out. "You're not really fit to be competing."
"I need to compete," Yugi had the grace to give her a sheepish look as he shook his head. "Seto needs the press and I kind of owe Yami a rematch."
"You can duel against Yami any time," Serenity pointed out. "It's not like you don't see each other all the time."
"No but…" Yugi trailed off. He did not really want to explain to Serenity that he had been throwing duels for the past few years, and he certainly did not want to admit to the blazing row that had occurred because of it. He knew how nervous most people got when he and Yami were not getting on, mostly because if something was going to go drastically wrong, it was when they were not seeing eye-to-eye.
"At least promise me you'll tell me when you're feeling dizzy again," Serenity sighed, fully aware of the difficulty of her assignment to make sure Mutou Yugi-san did not keel over and die. She did not think he would, but she knew him well enough to know that it was quite possible for him to put himself back in a coma if he had to push himself too far.
"I promise," Yugi nodded, causing the apprentice to relax. A promise from Yugi was as good as a guarantee. The young man never broke his word, no matter how much trouble it got him in. "I…" Yugi's gaze turned sharp for a moment and he glanced around the café, then for some unknown reason he seemed to sink in on himself. Serenity blinked and looked around, realising too late that at least one of the other patrons was a journalist who was hastily making notes.
"Yugi?" she asked, perplexed. Yugi did not normally shy away from the cameras. It was something he had to get over since Duellist Kingdom.
"Your brother's going to kill me," Yugi informed her with a dour squeak.
"Why?" Serenity asked, only for the realisation to hit her a moment later. The, 'Pharaoh of the Shadows,' taking the time out of a tournament to sit at a table in a café with a girl, with his bodyguards providing cover at a distance? Yugi was right. Joey was going to kill him. "I'll talk to him."
"Please." Yugi nodded, remembering Joey's reaction to the Skeeter article about the Yule Ball, "and thank…" A panicked Millennium Witch popped up out of nowhere and dashed over to Yugi's side, causing the Heir to the Shadowed Throne to shoot to his feet, knocking over his chair as he did so. "Aylth! What's wrong?"
The Millennium Witch bowed to the young man, debasing herself at his feet. "My Pharaoh, I'm sorry…"
"Get up, Aylth, and explain yourself," Yugi told her sharply, uncomfortable with anyone calling him Pharaoh while Yami was still around and able to fill that role. "What's happened? Why aren't you with Hermione?"
"I couldn't protect her," Aylth's guilt ridden tone caused fear and panic to rise in Yugi, and the resultant surge down their psychic link caused Atem and Harry to pay attention instantly.
"What do you mean?" Yugi asked, trying to suppress the fear for his friend as he pressed for details, well aware of the fact his bodyguards were about ready to call for backup and his partners would know the information the moment he had it.
"A group of people broke into the computer booth where she and Mokuba were. A woman calling herself Menhit and her bodyguards. Hermione called me to battle but I couldn't fight all of them and shield Hermione and Mokuba at the same time…"
"They got them," Yugi understood without her having to explain further. "Any idea where they've taken them?"
"I'm sorry, my King," Aylth shook her head, "but Hermione's unconscious and until she calls me, I cannot reach her."
In the back of his mind, Atem was cursing up a storm and Harry was about ready to drop out of his duel to go find her. Yugi sent a mental message for the pair of them to wait and turned his attention back to the Millennium Witch in front of him.
"Aylth, if Seto hasn't been informed, tell him first then alert every Duel Monster in the park, even ones that don't belong to the Clan, get them to keep their eyes out. I'll start looking for her. I have an idea that might help."
The Light Spellcaster nodded and vanished.
"I take it you'll need your order to take away, sir?" asked the woman employee who had just arrived to one side of the table.
"I don't really have time to wait for it," Yugi looked apologetic. "Sorr…"
"I'll wait for it," Serenity spoke up, "and catch up with you." She could not let Yugi go without eating and she honestly could not help but be amused by the waitress who, unlike most of the patrons, did not seem confused or upset by events.
"Thanks, Serenity," Yugi hugged her, then blushed bright red and darted out the door with Lotus and Akane in tow.
"You know, I think he has a crush on you," the waitress informed Serenity, then left her behind to right her chair and hope that she could catch up with Yugi before he got himself into too much trouble.
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
"Thank the gods for stupid bad guys," Mokuba chuckled as he finally managed to pick the lock on his handcuffs and started on the bonds around his ankles; to be fair to his kidnappers, they were not complete morons. They at least had the brainpower to take away his 'phone, deck and wand, preventing him from contacting anyone or using any magic. He had no doubt they had done the same to Hermione.
What they had not done was find his lock-picks.
It had taken him a long time and a lot of bribery to get the lessons on lock-picking from Bakura. It was worth it, though; he was sick and tired of being bait for his older brother. At least with what he had learnt, he could escape easily enough if he needed to. The trick after that point was always getting a hold of his 'phone so he could call Seto.
Of course, normally he was on his own, even if Yugi's friends had been grabbed at the same time (because people still had yet to learn that the second fastest way to earn yourself an arse-kicking at the hands of Yugi and Yami was to kidnap their friends) they were generally split up before too long. Today, he had an extra person to worry about.
"I'll have you free in a sec," Mokuba promised Hermione as he finally unhitched his legs and scrambled over to her side, focusing on her wrists first since he was horribly aware of how much your shoulders could hurt if your arms had been trapped behind your back for any length of time.
"Where are we?" Hermione asked in a whisper, not wanting the sound to carry through the door.
"The labyrinth," Mokuba explained as he worked, almost insulted that Hermione's cuffs appeared to have green glowing runes engraved in them, while his had been plain metal. "It's not open to the public yet 'cause we're having coding issues with the walls. They change every night you see but they're supposed to always provide an exit."
"And they don't?"
"That and there's something wrong with the timing system. Got it," he crowed quietly as Hermione's wrists were freed. "It changes whenever it feels like at the moment, so we turned the power off to this section and closed it off. I'm guessing these guys either felt like taking the risk or just like having a seriously difficult to get to base."
"So you're telling me that without our wands, decks or 'phones, we're stuck wandering an ever-changing maze?" Hermione asked with a grimace as she rubbed her sore wrists. "And you designed it to be that way?"
"On the plus side, if we get that far we'll be past the bad guys," Mokuba offered. It was a small ray of light in an otherwise bad situation.
"That's true," Hermione allowed. She took a deep breath, feeling as if something heavy had been lifted off of her and she could breathe properly for the first time in a long while. She got to her feet and edged towards the door.
"You okay?" Mokuba asked.
"Yeah, I just..." she looked a little confused as she glanced at the glowing handcuffs, as if not sure how to explain it, "it doesn't matter." Hermione shrugged. "I feel better now so it's fine. Let's get out of..."
Hermione squeaked and leapt back as the door slammed open and four rather large, masked men stalked into the room. Narrowly avoiding recapture, the pair of them darted around the thugs and out of the door. They made it halfway down the corridor before Mokuba's ankles were dragged out from under him, lassoed by a flying chain. He hit the floor with a yelp.
"Mokuba!" Hermione yelped, wheeling around, only to come face to face with an Amazoness Fighter that seized the collar of her top and hoisted her roughly off her feet.
"Naughty, naughty," echoed the voice of the woman from before, Menhit, seconds before she stepped out of the darkness. "After we've shown you such hospitality too..."
Refusing to resort to such clichéd lines as, 'you'll never get away with this,' Hermione instead settled for, "What do you want with us?"
"You, my dear," said Menhit, "are just a bonus. A little leverage that'll make attaining our ends all the more easy. He's the one we're really after." She gestured to Mokuba who was trying to free himself from the bindings wrapped about him by the Amazoness Chain Master. "He's the one who can program the park single-handed after all."
"I'd never help you!" Mokuba snarled. Bowing to their wishes would mean betraying his brother and endangering the lives of the park's patrons.
As Mokuba spoke, Hermione's eyes widened. Something was moving along the wall, something that looked almost human and yet one with the darkness surrounding them was heading for the younger Kaiba brother. "Moku..."
Hermione let out a pained cry as the Amazoness Fighter slammed her against the wall, her head ricocheting against the faux stone hard enough for her to see stars, and held her there. Mokuba called out her name, struggling harder against his bonds.
"Now you see, little Kaiba, you're more than enough leverage for us. We could probably get your brother to hand his company to us on a silver platter if we asked just because we have you. Not to mention if he found out you were trapped down here, he'd come of his own accord," Menhit sounded smug, "however having her here as well will be a boon to our work."
With that, the shadowy figure detached itself from the wall. All the captive pair could see of it were roiling shadows and two glowing eyes. They could practically taste the darkness and shadows radiating from it, it was so potent.
"Surrender now, and we can do this with much less call for unpleasantness," Menhit smirked, "at least for her, I mean." She pointed to Hermione, and then to the shadowy figure. "He, in the meantime, needs a body for a while, and you have the information we need. Let him in and we won't harm your friend, fight us and well..."
Hermione let out a breath that was somewhere between an agonised cry and a winded gasp as the Amazoness Warrior punched her in the stomach with a sickening noise.
"Your choice, little Kaiba."
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
'Ra accursed Setspawn!' Atem thought bitterly as he broke away from the throng of female fans that had been following him since the first of them had gotten over their fear of him. Bolting in the direction his hikari had gone, the six Trophy Cards in his pocket meant little if something huge was about to unfold.
There had been no warning. That their villains announced themselves beforehand and gave away their plans via monologue was, by this point, the rule rather than the exception. That there had been no signs or portents before someone spirited away Mokuba and Hermione suggested that either their enemies were getting smarter or Seto was up to his neck in something and not told them.
`You all right, Ya…Atem?` Harry asked, correcting himself once again. He simply could not get used to calling his friend by his ancient name, not that the Pharaoh in question seemed to mind.
'You can call me Yami,' the Pharaoh sent back with a sigh, then realised he was skirting around the issue. 'I'm fine.'
`I know you better than that by now,' Harry prodded. The Pharaoh chuckled under his breath, earning himself a few odd looks from those around him. It was good, in his opinion at least, that Harry was finally comfortable enough with his link to the two Mutous to call them on their attempts at placating others. `Something's up. What is it? Besides the obvious.`
Atem could sense Yugi's interest hovering on the conversation as the hikari tried to pay attention to it and look for clues as to what had happened to their friends. He did not, however, want to have this conversation right now. Not in full anyway, so he settled for, 'I'm just fed up. That's all.'
"It'll be all right," Yugi sent, always the bright spark in the conversation, the little beacon of hope that helped the other two pull themselves out of a slump, "it always is." Neither of the other two dared bring up the conversation from the previous morning, neither of them wanted to slip back into such low moods again. "Excuse me, phone's ringing…"
Atem could sense Harry's amusement as Yugi dropped his seat at the psychic conference to take a call on his mobile 'phone, but before he could call him on it, another voice in his head distracted him.
'Pharaoh!' Yami paused, not recognising this new speaker. Glancing around, he soon spotted an Eagle Eye preening itself on top of a lamppost. The bird was almost completely black, with a golden helmet, golden-yellow tail feathers and blue beak, and it was gazing at him intently. 'You are the Dark Pharaoh? Not the Light one?'
Atem nodded carefully, bracing his arm so the bird could land on it without too much issue, and not really wanting to be seen shouting up to a bird that did not appear to be replying. It helped that he could rely on his memories of the falconry he had participated in with his older brothers back in Egypt for the correct movements.
The Eagle Eye radiated amusement for a moment, then took off from its perch, swooping down and alighting on the Pharaoh's arm, settling itself down before it spoke further.
'I received the message from the High Priestess's Deck Leader,' the Winged-Beast informed him. Atem scowled, wondering when it had been decided by the creatures that Hermione was a priestess of Yugi's court and when, in fact, they had ever announced that Yugi even had a court. So far as his hikari was concerned, the whole, 'court,' issue was a running joke. 'I've seen the men she described wandering around the park.'
That was good news, or at least could be. Atem was wary of new, so-called friends appearing out of nowhere even if they supposedly came baring news that could help. "How many?" he asked. "Where?"
The Winged-Beast preened slightly at Atem's words, having half-expected to be dismissed instantly. 'Several,' the bird informed him, 'mostly looking for something or someone in Umiworld. You know, the water ride area?'
The Pharaoh nodded slightly, frowning as he did so. 'Yugi?'
Yugi did not respond at first, probably asking whoever was on the other line to hold, then, "Atem? Kind of important…"
'I know, but where are you right now?' Atem could sense Harry's sudden, unwavering attention focused on them and knew that he had gotten what Atem was worried about.
"The Umiworld section with Lotus and Akane," Yugi replied, "Why?"
'Damn it,' Atem snarled, 'I'm on my way…'
LINE_RECONITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
"Fine. You have the…? Yes, I'll still be here. Bye," the sheer heavy-handedness with which Seto slammed his 'phone shut was enough to emit a loud crunching noise. Seto grimaced as he checked the device, only to find he had damaged the screen. He cursed himself, realised it was a bad idea to take his frustration out on the one secure way Mokuba had of contacting him.
Not that it mattered. He already knew that Mokuba had no 'phone on him. The kidnappers had already made that abundantly clear when they had had the audacity to ring him with their demands.
It was not just Hermione and the younger Kaiba that were hostages here. The entire park was at risk thanks to the schemes of the intruders. He had already survived one virtual scuffle with them, where they had used Mokuba's codes to lock down some of the rides and cause them to freak out. Luckily he had been able to override them, but more trouble was threatened if he did not hand over the equivalent of three million dollars from his personal bank account.
Seto could pay that. Mere cash was not the issue. The issue was that they, the ones calling themselves Menhit and Anhur, had had the sheer audacity to force Mokuba into aiding them. Something that had to have happened at great expense to his little brother as he knew full damn well that Mokuba would never endanger anyone else like this unless it was for a very good reason.
Seto could almost bet his precious dragons that Hermione was involved.
Not that those were their only demands. Seto turned the last one over in his mind as he swiftly went to his computer and called up a map of the competitors. It was easy to track anyone in the park thanks to the signal their Duel Disks gave off, so it took only fraction of a minute to find them.
The Clan were converging. The latest threat was serious, but it was nothing they had not handled before. During such times, they always sought each other out, which was a predictable outcome as well as a good tactic. The leaders of their little group had always worked better when they had support and the Clan ritual had only added to that. 'We stand together,' was their motto after all and though he hated to admit it, he did feel stronger when others from their twisted, fixed-up little family were present.
He found the electronic dot representing Yami's Disk heading for the water park, a section the Pharaoh had been avoiding since he could not swim to save his life - which if he fell into one of the pools around there, it would - while Yugi's dot was making a beeline in the opposite direction. Seto sighed softly. He had halfway hoped the pair would meet up, but that was obviously not going to happen, as the two dots passed each other unnoticed.
Unlike Yugi, who was good at the false pretences and inspiring hope, Seto had never been very good at it. He knew rather well that it generally all worked out when it came down to the Clan, but he also knew better than to think it would always be that way. There was always so much that could go wrong when one of these situations started and so many ways that a single slip-up could end more than one life.
Still, for now he had to sit back, wait and let the pieces of his plan fall into place. Mokuba needed him and if there was one thing that he could not allow under any circumstance, it was for himself to fail his little brother again. He would rescue Mokuba and grind whoever the hell had had the gall to invoke his considerable wrath into dust. Possibly subatomic particles if he could get his hands on the right equipment.
They would pay for endangering the life of his little brother. They would pay dearly.