Chapter 14: - Oneesan
"Negate Attack!" Jamie's voice echoed down the corridors.
They had been progressing through the maze at quite a reasonable pace until they had started reaching the doors that had, not only high level monsters guarding them, but three of four magic and trap cards defending them as well.
They were up to eight stars and three magic or trap cards now, so either this was the last door, or they'd be in real trouble on the next one as they were currently facing Tyler, the Great Warrior, who had successfully inflicted extra injuries upon them every time it had destroyed one of their monsters, protecting itself from their magic and trap cards with it's own.
"I've already used Frostbite Fox and Reincarnate Fox Spirit." Jamie complained, "And it destroyed Third Eye before I could activate Kitsune Clan. Seven Tail Fox could beat it but I've used all my really low level cards up."
"I have an idea." Yugi frowned, thinking of how difficult it would have been to summon the Queen of Foxes anyway, "I've only got one thing that can match it, but I need you to distract the door monster until I can get it out."
That hadn't helped matters, unlike the other doors, this one had counter attacked the moment the first attack had died down and had been merrily blasting away at their monsters ever since.
"How many stars do you need?" Jamie asked, as Yugi pulled his Black Luster Ritual out of his deck.
"Eight."
Jamie quickly drew, "I can give you five but…" She looked at the door with a scowl, exhausted from the feedback from the destruction of her monsters, midnight blue eyes flashing angrily, as she saw there was still one face down card left, "It'll be destroyed the moment it comes out..."
"We'll just have to be quick then." Yugi nodded.
"I summon Cloud Fox, in attack mode!" Jamie called.
"I summon Sangan and then activate the Black Luster Ritual!" Yugi's fiend attempted to combine with Jamie's beast.
An attack came from the doorway, trying to destroy one of the two before the ritual was complete with little success, Black Luster Soldier stood before Yugi, glowering at the door, counter attacking and exploding at the same moment as the light which had been blocking them from getting through, surprising Jamie who had expected the last face down card to go off.
Yugi ran through, closely followed by Jamie, following the corridor straight along until they reached another room.
An empty room.
With no doors or windows…
"A trap?" Jamie asked.
The question was answered as the floor disappeared from under them and the pair fell into darkness.
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Tea didn't know how much longer she could hold out; the ice was up to her hips, she couldn't get through Crump's giant ice golem, with its ridiculous defence point total of 2450, and her own life points were at a disadvantage, if you compared her 1500 to Crump's 1850.
Yugi…I need you… She shivered as she drew, colder then she ever been before, shaking badly as she realised the two cards in her hand were of no use to her. She looked to her Deck Master, the Dark Magician Girl, who nodded, "If you send me out onto the field, I will protect you." The girl who had been the apprentice of the Dark Magician nodded.
"I have nothing else I can do." Tea nodded in reply, "It's my last chance," She turned to Crump, "I move Dark Magician Girl to the field!" She called, as the Spellcaster in question darted between Crump and her Duellist.
"Don't you realise that if she's destroyed, you'll lose?" Crump asked, highly amused, "You must have a pathetic hand to make that move." He drew, using a spell card to recall the Penguin Torpedo that he had had to send to the graveyard because he'd used it to attack Tea directly last turn.
It gained the two hundred attack point boost that all of his water monsters gained due to his deck master ability.
Then it struck again, bypassing the Dark Magician Girl by diving underneath the freezing water, and striking Tea for another 750 points, points she couldn't afford to lose.
She missed the flash of light as two Duellists were trapped inside a nearby cave that had somehow, naturally been formed by the ice in the area, close enough to be able to watch, but far enough away that even if their noise could have travelled through the glasslike ice, she wouldn't have heard them.
Yugi was on his feet first, ignoring the cold around them as she spotted Tea, now frozen up to her shoulders, facing down a rather unfrozen, completely unbothered looking penguin, shivering as he tried to break his way through the ice.
"Tea!"
Jamie's head shot up at Yugi's cry, but she didn't move from where she had fallen, unable to just shrug off the cold as Yugi had done. She knew it was all in her head, but her avatar was programmed to respond to the cold the same way a normal human body would, giving Jamie more of a chance then she realised, with the fear of getting sick again plaguing her mind.
There was a reason she had left Snowpoint Gym, in Sinnoh, until last and had never, ever gone to Fiore or Almia. As a part dragon she couldn't tolerate the cold, and if it hadn't been for her Eevee becoming a Glaceon, she would have died on Route 217.
Tea had no idea they were there, she was too busy worrying about her Dark Magician Girl's inability to get through Crump's defensive line.
"Tea," The Dark Magician Girl half turned to look at her, "There is a card that can save us…"
"What do you…?" Tea was confused for a moment, and then remembered the first card she'd picked, "Sage's Stone!" She gasped, "But I don't…" She looked at her deck, uncertain that one, she could draw the card she needed and two, that she could reach her deck to draw in the first place, considering how her arms were frozen in place.
"I can help you." The Dark Magician Girl reassured her, "By activating my Deck Master ability."
"Do it." Tea nodded.
The Spellcaster closed her eyes, focusing and glowing with a bright pink light, part of which entered the graveyard and exited with the four monsters that had been sent to the Graveyard during the Duel. "I've formed a Soul Circle with the four monsters in your graveyard," She explained, "Which allows you to draw four cards from your deck."
The cards floated out of the deck holder on the Duel Disk and hovered in front of Tea, letting her get a good look at what her Deck Master's ability had given her.
Polymerisation, De-Spell, a weak level two monster and…
She grabbed Sage's Stone as best as she could, putting it, incredibly carefully, into a magic and trap slot on the Duel Disk.
She knew what it did, called a Dark Magician from either her deck or a deck of a Duellist nearby, but she had been forced to discard her own Dark Magician card halfway through the duel, long before she would have been able to get him onto the field.
In the ice cavern, Yugi had to back up a purple glow shot out of his Duel Disk and took the form of the Dark Magician, who bowed to Yugi and Yami, the latter of whom had come out to stand guard, in case of one of Noa's tricks, "Dark Magician?" Yugi asked, surprised, since he had adamantly refused to be drawn out of the deck when they had been fighting in the maze.
The ice wall was blown apart by a Dark Magic Attack, the shockwaves of which sent Yugi, Yami and Jamie sprawling, and the Dark Magician joined his apprentice on Tea's side of the battle field.
Tea looked in the direction the Dark Magician had come from, but couldn't see anyone. She had no idea it was because Yugi and the others were still picking themselves up.
Crump panicked.
"Double Dark Magic Attack!" The Dark Magician Girl sounded rather too triumphant as she yelled those four words, the Dark Magician's power blasting easily through Crump's Ice Golem and the Girl's attack reducing Crump's life points to zero.
Crump screamed from the power of the blast as his virtual body disintegrated.
The ice disappeared from around Tea.
The Duellist in question was unconscious before she hit the floor.
"Tea!" Yugi darted out, Yami having returned to the Puzzle, to get to Tea's side as Jamie walked slowly towards the new entrance to the cave, retreating quickly as a gust of icy wind brushed past her.
'You're not going to join them.' Bakura stated.
"Can't…" Jamie shook her head, unwilling to stay in here, but not wanting to face the cold either.
'You don't go out there; you're going to attract Noa's attention.'
"I'm a Dragon, we die in the cold!" Panicked sapphire eyes followed Bakura's form to the entrance to the cave, where he watched Yugi bring Tea around before turning to look at her.
'Switch with me.'
"What?"
'I don't fear the cold, switch with me.'
Jamie needed little prompting, vanishing instantly, leaving Bakura out and about and rather grateful that Jamie's mental image of him was the one that mattered here, since it meant his form was closer to his normal one, as opposed to taking control in the real world, where he'd a girl because Jamie was.
He exited the cave and was amused to see that Yugi switched with Yami almost instantly.
"B…Bakura?" Tea yelped. "How?"
"Jamie's carrying my item for safe keeping." Bakura replied, "I'm simply taking advantage of this fact."
"Where is she?" Yami growled.
"Where do you think?" Bakura replied sarcastically, "Where exactly would I send her out in this frozen wasteland?"
Yami glowered but helped Tea to her feet, refusing to turn his back on the Tomb Robber even for a moment, leading to a moment, when they were trying to cross back over to what passed for the mainland here, when Yami didn't want to go before Bakura, Bakura was hanging back just to irritate the Pharaoh because it was funny, and Tea ended up on the other side, waiting another ten minutes for either of them to cross.
"Could you switch with Jamie?" Tea asked, when they got across finally, not wanting to have to deal with this for however long they were stuck here trying to find the others.
"No."
"Why?"
"Aren't I allowed to stretch my legs?"
Yami clearly wanted to say no, and Tea looked as if she wasn't sure how to react to that comment.
"I'll let her out when I'm done." Bakura shrugged, continuing inland, away from the ocean.
"Does Jamie know what she's gotten herself into?" Tea asked Yami, who, when prodded by Yugi, offered Tea his jacket, and then followed the Tomb Robber, if only to make sure that he didn't get into any trouble that could affect Jamie's chances of getting out of here, trying to ignore the fact that he was now the only one not in a jacket and that his vest top was not a particularly smart thing to walk around in in this climate. "Fine, don't answer me."
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They were on their way home.
The League had cancelled the Hoenn League Conference just a week from the big competition, sending hundreds of Trainers away, hundreds of Trainers who had worked harder then they ever had before to earn their badges and make their way here through all the controversy and attacks, hundreds of Trainers who now, somehow, had to make their way home or to a nearby League friendly city, and there weren't many of the latter left.
They'd actually invited a group of about thirty or forty Trainers to come back with them, since this was their home turf. They were new Trainers by the standards of the group coming back with them, Trainers who had left home for the first time only a year and a half ago, but they had the knowledge and one of their number had a slight advantage, considering that her starter Pokémon was had in fact been a present from her old sister, who had been an Aspiring League Champion back when this whole incident had kicked off.
The large group of Trainers were currently camping for the night, just outside of Slateport City, where they had arrived by ferry just two hours ago. From here they would pass through Oldale Town, and then head down to Littleroot, the home town of Professor Birch.
There the Trainers who had come with them, could set up their camps and stay safe… at least until Galactic came for Professor Birch…
There was a plus side, if Galactic came for Professor Birch while there were that many Trainers around, someone, hopefully, would be able to stop them…
"She's up a tree again."
Jack turned to look at the speaker and sighed when it was revealed to be one of the group that Will had started hanging around with during the build up to the now cancelled league, and had yet to rejoin the group.
"Which one?" Jack asked, looking around at the forest that surrounded their camp.
"That one." The boy pointed it out, "It's our turn to cook tonight, so don't spend too long in the tree."
"Alright, thank you." Jack nodded, heading for the forest's edge and the tree with his friend in.
"Lizzie?" He asked, clambering up into the tree, "You ok?"
"Yes… No…" She sighed, "I'm leaving." The girl ran a hand through her shoulder length, icy blue hair, sapphire eyes never leaving the forest floor.
"What?" Jack's brown eyes widened as he stared at the eleven year old.
"I'm leaving." She repeated, "There's a boat to Sinnoh leaving at seven o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Going to Sinnoh won't help." The Pokémon Coordinator, who was little more then a month older then his Trainer friend, sighed and settled in for a long discussion, and to try and talk her out of it.
"She's not dead, Jack." She told him firmly, noting the fact that his brown hair needed cutting again. "I have to find her."
"I know it's hard, but…"
"You've written my sister off too?" Sapphire eyes hardened as she glowered at her friend.
"No but…"
"I'm going and you can't stop me."
"What about taking this lot back to Littleroot?"
"You can take the group back to Littleroot without me. There are Trainers in this group far more powerful then me."
"Liz…" Jack sighed, "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of it, am I?"
"No." On this point, Lizzie was quite firm and she wasn't about to be dissuaded.
"Were you going to tell Will?" Jack asked, eyes flickering to the camp, where a large group of people were discussing something. At the edge of the group was their friend and travelling companion, messy brown hair obvious amongst those who bothered with their appearance each morning.
"Will only came with us last year, because he didn't want to be alone in town," Lizzie shook her head, watching the group interact, "He'd be quite happy to stay with his new friends, I think."
There was silence for a couple of moments and then Jack stretched, "If you're going to Sinnoh," He told Lizzie, "So am I."
"Jack, you can't…!"
"Well if I can't go, neither can you." He interrupted, refusing to let her walk into the viper's nest without him.
Lizzie snorted, amusement obvious as she smiled her first smile since they'd been sent away from Evergrande City, "Blackmail is not the way to a girl's heart, Jack."
"But it works." Jack replied with a shrug and a small smile afterwards.
"You'd really come with me?" Lizzie asked, sounding unsure, nervous even. She'd wanted to go alone, not drag her friends into danger with her.
"Well, I can't let you walk into the crazy without me." Jack sniggered, "You'd go hungry."
"Is that the only reason?" Lizzie asked, not believing it, but still feeling the need to ask.
"Of course not," Jack's scorn was so obvious that it could have been dancing around in a tutu with neon lights attached and it wouldn't have made much difference, "I've been expecting you to want to go since the news about your sister came through. If anything, you've lasted longer then I thought you would."
"You don't have to come. You know how dangerous it is in Sinnoh right now…" Lizzie trailed off at the look Jack was giving her.
"Which is why I have to come, Tide is powerful, but he needs backup." Jack referred to her Swampert, which was Lizzie's most powerful Pokémon, but had failed in a few crucial matches when left on its own, "Let me help."
"We can't spread it around. They'll try and stop us…" Lizzie sighed, referring to the group of older Trainers who had followed them in order to both protest the younger Trainers travelling and to get together to decide on their next move, since the League had pretty much folded.
"To be fair, I can't blame them. It is a pretty mental idea." Jack snorted, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"I can't just wait around, I have to go, I have to find her and if she is gone…" Lizzie's voice broke and she swallowed hard.
"I'll help in anyway I can," He promised, "But I really think you should speak to Will before you go. He'll be annoyed if we slip off without him."
"I don't think he'll come." Lizzie replied, watching as Will burst into laughter at something someone in the group he was with had said.
"You should at least give him the option." Lizzie sighed, acknowledging Jack's point, "How long have you been thinking about leaving the group?"
Lizzie hesitated for a moment, then bowed her head and mumbled, "The moment we arrived in Evergrande City."
"And you've lasted until now?" The Coordinator sounded impressed.
"I didn't get a chance to slip off." The Trainer glanced at him, "That was deliberate, wasn't it?"
"Not completely." Jack shook his head, wondering about sending out their Pokémon in readiness for tea. "We've been worried since the incident with those Galactic sympathisers."
"You sure you want to go?"
"I'm sure that if I don't go, you'll go by yourself and then you'll have no one to bail you out when you get in over your head."
"I don't…" Lizzie protested, and then sighed, "Okay, so maybe I do."
"Ready to come down for food yet?"
"Maybe…" She watched as tents were set up, campfires were lit, people and Pokémon settled in for the night, and the sun set on the campsite.
"Liz…"
"I'll be okay, once I know what happened…"
"Come and eat, we can speak to Will later and then we'll leave in the morning." Jack climbed down and then looked up at the girl who hadn't moved from her spot in the tree.
He sighed. Lizzie had always looked up to her older sister, the girl who had become the Sinnoh League's last Aspiring Champion, and the news of her disappearance and death had hit the young Trainer harder then anyone else.
He just hoped that Sinnoh could provide some closure and let the young Trainer move on.
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Joey was not a happy Duellist.
First it had been the virtual gardens, then the virtual mansion, then the fake blimp, and now he was trapped in a Duel with a guy that had decided to play Judge, Jury and Executioner in a match where, for once in his life, all the luck was going against him.
It had never happened to him before, and with a deck as based on luck as his was, Johnson was having little trouble trouncing him.
Considering that he needed to win this match, not only to prevent his mind being trapped within the virtual world forever but to be able to find his little sister and help her escape, the lack of luck was quite successfully driving him up the wall.
So the last thing he needed was…
"Guys, look out…" He yelped as Yami and Tea rushed through the door, followed at a slightly more sedate pace by Bakura.
Since Bakura hadn't been downloaded into the virtual world, to his knowledge at least, he assumed that it was one of Noa's tricks.
"We know." Tea groaned, "Long story." She glowered at the two darks, who had been a nightmare the entire way here, as Bakura shut the door behind them and proceeded to lean on one of the benches. "Now can we have Jamie back?" She asked the Tomb Robber.
Bakura raised an eyebrow, "I'll think about it."
Joey would have asked more questions, but Johnson, in his guise as Judge Man bellowed "Order, order! Order in the court!" Glaring at the newcomers, who were interrupting his attempt at getting what he wanted, "This court is still in session, in case you hadn't noticed."
"Never held much interest in the law system." Bakura smirked at the Big Five member who didn't respond other then by drawing a card.
"If you pay attention you might learn something." Johnson said to the spirit, smirking at the cards in his hand, "I'm about to sentence Mr Wheeler to a life time sentence of exile in this virtual hell!"
Bakura wasn't particularly worried, it was no concern of his other then it would upset Jamie if Joey lost. The Pharaoh and Tea however, hovered by the rails nearest the front of the room as Joey attempted to turn the duel around with his Skull Dice card… which originally landed on a five and for some reason picked up speed again and stopped on a one.
Bakura's interest was caught, he just wondered if the Pharaoh or Wheeler had noticed.
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Kaiba and Mokuba had gone from a virtual forest, to a virtual re-enactment of their life before Seto had taken over Kaiba Corp from his step father and were now currently walking along an, apparently never ending, virtual beach.
"I can't take this any more!" Mokuba complained loudly when he noticed that the sun, which was setting over the waters, hadn't moved for at least an hour, "I don't want to be in a virtual forest, on virtual beach or even in a virtual amusement park! I WANT OUT OF HERE!"
Seto turned to look at his little brother, trying to show none of the frustration and worry that was currently plaguing him. He couldn't afford to look weak with Noa watching their every footstep.
"Sorry Seto…"
"If you get annoyed, you're walking straight into Noa's hands." Seto replied, watching as his brother's shoulders sank and the child nodded, following his brother as they continued along the beach, having little else to do.
Voices from further up the beach caught Seto's attention, and he turned to see if anymore of Noa's virtual re-enactments was heading their way.
Nothing.
No people, but still there were voices…
Seto moved further up the beach, Mokuba following, the voices getting louder, and making Mokuba look around once he'd heard them too.
There was a television that somehow worked all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity, and was showing Noa descending into an almost empty courtroom.
"What's he up to now?" Seto growled.
Mokuba just crowded in so he could hear it better.
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Will leant back to watch the stars, sat a little ways away from the main camp with just his two travelling companions.
"So the Sinnoh trip, it's on?" He asked when the silence between them had been sufficiently awkward enough.
"You knew?" Lizzie yelped.
"Please, it's been coming for a while." Will snorted, smirking at the young Trainer who wanted nothing more out of life then to surpass her older sister, "I thought you'd get on the Sinnoh boat from Evergrande and leave us behind without saying a word."
Lizzie considered her friend with more then a little shock, "I didn't think you'd want to come…"
"I don't." Will replied, "It's a bloody stupid idea that will probably get us all killed, even if your sister's still alive, but there's nothing Jack or I could say that would stop you, and there's no way we'd let you go alone, so…"
Lizzie wasn't sure whether to be hurt or amused.
Jack considered the other male member of their group. Will wasn't aiming for a Championship in a Pokémon League like Lizzie, or trying to become a top coordinator like him, he seemed to want little more out of travelling, then to see new places and scout out new Pokémon in the area to take pictures of with his rather expensive camera or draw in one of his many sketch books, there was a name for it but Jack couldn't think of what it was.
"Besides, I mentioned that we might have to leave the group, and Terry," Will indicated the man in question, one of the older Trainers, "Said that he could show the others the way to Littleroot if the situation arose."
Lizzie smiled and shook her head, while Jack just rolled his eyes, wondering how Will had managed to predict their next move… again.
"I know your sister's been missing longer then this before, we were the ones who helped you to stay calm when she fell out of contact for six months last year, but you do realise that if she really was hit by Palkia's Spacial Rend like Cynthia told your mum, even if she's alive, she could be anywhere, right?"
"I know but Sinnoh was the last place she was seen alive, so that's where I'm heading." Lizzie nodded.
"Where we're heading." Jack reminded her, wishing Will wouldn't get Lizzie's hopes up.
"Sorry, sorry." Lizzie smiled, "Where we're heading."
"Don't worry Liz," Will fell back completely, lying on the ground and just breathing in the night air, "Jamie's one of the best Trainers around, I'm sure she's just fine."
"You think so?"
"This is Jamie we're talking about, the girl who saved a Suicune, chased Team Magma out of Littleroot Town, vanished for six months only to reappear with all fully evolved Pokémon and became an Aspiring Champion. There's no way a group like Team Galactic could take her down." Will laughed reassuringly.
Lizzie smiled, face lighting up in a way that it hadn't for far too long, "You forgot when she beat that Admin who had us held hostage in the lab with just her Starter Pokémon."
"Isn't that the Marshtomp that she gave you?"
"Uh huh. Tide was my sister's starter Pokémon, but she left him with me, just in case Team Magma came back and she couldn't get back in time to help, remember?"
"Oh yeah." Both Will and Jack smiled at the memory of getting to watch the match between the Team Magma admin that had scared them silly (and in their defence they had only been seven and a half years old), and the brave older sister who had risked her life to try to rescue them. "That was awesome."
"Jamie and her Marshtomp…" Lizzie's voice wavered at the memory of how she'd sworn on a shooting star the night that Jamie had returned to her travels that one day she would out do her sister and prove that Jamie could rely on Lizzie to save her if she was ever hurt or captured, just as Lizzie could rely on Jamie to rescue her.
A shooting star shot across the sky, far above their heads, making the three of them gasp and quickly make a wish.
"Tomorrow's the start of a long journey." Jack said finally, once they were done and had just sat there for a while, making no effort to move or say anything, "So I'm off to bed."
"I'll speak to Terry and check my pack, then I'll join you." Will nodded, still grinning at the look on the Team Magma admin's face when Jamie had defeated her.
"I think I'll stay up a little longer." Lizzie said quietly still staring at the sky. The two boys slipped off to set up camp and speak to who they needed to as Lizzie closed her eyes and led back on the grass, just listening to the sounds of the night.
Tomorrow they'd be on a boat to their biggest and most dangerous adventure yet…
Part of her was looking forward to it and the other part was screaming about just how stupid she was for dragging her friends into danger, and how she should have just taken the boat and gone without telling them.
She groaned, rolling onto her side, trying to ignore the tears trickling down her face.
Jamie, I'll find you, I promise.
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"That's Noa!" Yugi gasped, in spirit form beside Yami. Jamie joined them, standing by Bakura's side in spirit form, as the virtual ruler of the world they were in appeared and he didn't seem too happy.
"Time out." He snapped, "Stop the Duel."
"But Master!" Johnson looked shocked, "Please, sir, I was about to defeat this fool and take over his body!"
"You don't deserve that prize." Noa's glower stunned the watchers, "Not after what you just pulled."
"Called it." Bakura smirked, "He's been cheating all along."
"And you didn't say anything?" Yami snapped at him.
"I thought you would have known."
"Silence!" Noa looked at them. They shut up. Noa turned to Joey. "The honourable Judge Man," And Noa said honourable like it was a swear word, "Is nothing but a frauds who has been cheating you from the very beginning. He's been using my virtual technology to tamper with your dice rolls."
"You cheat!" Joey snarled, glaring at Johnson who looked afraid now, instead of over confident, "How bout I tamper with your face, Mr so-called 'man of justice'?"
"Told you, the law has it's own rules." Bakura snorted.
"Not this time." Noa growled at the Tomb Robber who seemed completely unconcerned, before turning back to Johnson, "I brought you five into my virtual world with the understanding that under my Leadership you would defeat Seto Kaiba and his little friends, but if you cheat, I can't prove that I'm more deserving then he is."
Noa ranted for a while, about how he was the one better suited to run Kaiba Corp, how the company was supposed to be his, how he deserved to own it, to run it, to do whatever the hell he liked with it.
"And it's about time that I proved how much more suited to the job I am, to Gozabora Kaiba." Noa continued growling.
"Excuse me." Joey spoke up. "The defendant would like to speak."
"Sorry but this doesn't concern you." Noa snapped at him, "It's time for me to do something I should have done the day I met you…"
"Noa, please, don't!" Johnson yelped.
"Hello?" Joey tried again.
"What?" Noa snapped, irritation at being interrupted obvious.
"Look I'm willing to forgive Judge gruesome over there, as long as he agrees to Duel fair and square."
"Noa was going to delete the fraud and Joey wants to continue the Duel, as long as it's kept fair?" Jamie sounded both impressed and irritated, "He's as bad as me!" Bakura tried not to be amused as Noa snorted, and warned Joey that the stakes were still on and Johnson that he'd be keeping a close eye on the match before disappearing.
He drew Pot of Greed, drawing two cards and grinning broadly, "I move my Deck Master to the center of the playing field and equip him with this, Burning Soul Sword!"
The Flame Swordsman that had been helping him through the entire duel took the field and changed his sword out for the equip card.
"You need to sacrifice a monster for that card to work!" Johnson protested. "You have no monsters on the field, so your card won't work!"
"It's not over; I have this, my Arduous Decision magic card." Joey showed it to Johnson.
"What does that do?" Jamie sent to Bakura.
'It's a big gamble,' Bakura replied down the link, 'A stupid move but probably the only one Wheeler has left.'
"Stupid?"
'It allows him to draw two cards from his deck, and then the fraud over there has to pick one, if it's a monster card it gets summoned, but if it's a magic or trap card Wheeler's turn ends and the game goes with it.'
Joey drew and held out the cards at arm's length. "Your choice, Johnson, left, or right? The entire duel rests on this choice and with Noa watching you can't cheat any more. The game now rests with chance."
"This match was decided when you stepped into the courtroom." You could hear the smirk in Johnson's tone.
"Just pick a card." Joey sounded bored.
Bakura moved into a better position to see what was going on. Joey had a monster and a magic card, so it was all about who was the better bluffer, the guy who lived in the courtroom or the guy who lived off of luck.
"Let's do this." Joey sounded bored, though Yugi could see he was bluffing. "The more you put it off the harder it's gonna be."
"Alright, alright, I pick your left hand." Johnson pointed to it.
"Are you sure?" Joey's false confidence was certainly convincing enough for Johnson, who hesitated. "I mean really sure."
"You've asked the same question twice, your hesitation proves I've made the right choice."
"If you say so." Joey said carelessly.
"I've been the in courtroom for years, you can't get anything past me, this match is over, judgement in favour of me. Now show me the card in your left hand."
Joey smirked, an amused sound escaping his lips.
"No wait!" Johnson yelped.
"Yeah?" Joey asked, still amused.
"I've changed my mind."
"The right hand?" Joey asked.
Johnson nodded.
Joey revealed it.
Goblin Attack Force. An effect monster with 2300 attack and 0 defence.
"That's gotta hurt." Joey's smirk broadened and Jamie sensed amusement from the Tomb Robber who had seen exactly what was going on.
Joey summoned the card and sacrificed the goblins, raising the Flame Swordsman's attack from 1000, to 3600, sending it to destroy Johnson's Dragoness the Wicked Knight, sending Johnson's life points tumbling to zero.
"This can't be happening, I once convinced a jury that a man who was terrified of water, stole a boat! How can I be fooled by some kid? Noooooooooooooooooo!" Johnson shattered, just as any other Duel Monster would.
"Alright Joey!" Yugi and Tea cheered, giving the teenager a high five.
'You want to take back over now?' Bakura asked Jamie, who had been watching the proceedings closely, causing the girl to jump.
"Unless you want more time to stretch your legs…" Jamie teased, as Joey looked around.
"We have to find the others." Joey said.
"Yeah." Yugi nodded, "The other members of the Big Five might be duelling them right now."
"Duelling?" Joey wheeled around, pure anger showing in the way he looked at Yugi, "Who's duelling?"
Yugi backed up a step, looking apologetic. "They want to duel all of us, Joey, everyone who's trapped here. We are all in this."
"ALL OF US?" Joey shouted, grabbing Yugi by the collar, frightening his friend, though he knew that Joey was more angry at Noa and the Big Five then at him.
"Stop Joey!" Tea protested, though she did nothing to help Yugi escape Joey's grip.
"But that's not fair, Serenity's never duelled before!"
"We'll find her Joey." Yugi promised, trying to hide his fear from the others, "And we'll make sure she's ok. I promise."
"Let's get moving!" Joey shoved Yugi to one side, vaulted the railing and rushed out the door. When it didn't open to a frozen wasteland, Jamie took control back from Bakura and rushed after him, Yugi and Tea close behind.
"I'm coming Serenity…"
They had been progressing through the maze at quite a reasonable pace until they had started reaching the doors that had, not only high level monsters guarding them, but three of four magic and trap cards defending them as well.
They were up to eight stars and three magic or trap cards now, so either this was the last door, or they'd be in real trouble on the next one as they were currently facing Tyler, the Great Warrior, who had successfully inflicted extra injuries upon them every time it had destroyed one of their monsters, protecting itself from their magic and trap cards with it's own.
"I've already used Frostbite Fox and Reincarnate Fox Spirit." Jamie complained, "And it destroyed Third Eye before I could activate Kitsune Clan. Seven Tail Fox could beat it but I've used all my really low level cards up."
"I have an idea." Yugi frowned, thinking of how difficult it would have been to summon the Queen of Foxes anyway, "I've only got one thing that can match it, but I need you to distract the door monster until I can get it out."
That hadn't helped matters, unlike the other doors, this one had counter attacked the moment the first attack had died down and had been merrily blasting away at their monsters ever since.
"How many stars do you need?" Jamie asked, as Yugi pulled his Black Luster Ritual out of his deck.
"Eight."
Jamie quickly drew, "I can give you five but…" She looked at the door with a scowl, exhausted from the feedback from the destruction of her monsters, midnight blue eyes flashing angrily, as she saw there was still one face down card left, "It'll be destroyed the moment it comes out..."
"We'll just have to be quick then." Yugi nodded.
"I summon Cloud Fox, in attack mode!" Jamie called.
"I summon Sangan and then activate the Black Luster Ritual!" Yugi's fiend attempted to combine with Jamie's beast.
An attack came from the doorway, trying to destroy one of the two before the ritual was complete with little success, Black Luster Soldier stood before Yugi, glowering at the door, counter attacking and exploding at the same moment as the light which had been blocking them from getting through, surprising Jamie who had expected the last face down card to go off.
Yugi ran through, closely followed by Jamie, following the corridor straight along until they reached another room.
An empty room.
With no doors or windows…
"A trap?" Jamie asked.
The question was answered as the floor disappeared from under them and the pair fell into darkness.
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Tea didn't know how much longer she could hold out; the ice was up to her hips, she couldn't get through Crump's giant ice golem, with its ridiculous defence point total of 2450, and her own life points were at a disadvantage, if you compared her 1500 to Crump's 1850.
Yugi…I need you… She shivered as she drew, colder then she ever been before, shaking badly as she realised the two cards in her hand were of no use to her. She looked to her Deck Master, the Dark Magician Girl, who nodded, "If you send me out onto the field, I will protect you." The girl who had been the apprentice of the Dark Magician nodded.
"I have nothing else I can do." Tea nodded in reply, "It's my last chance," She turned to Crump, "I move Dark Magician Girl to the field!" She called, as the Spellcaster in question darted between Crump and her Duellist.
"Don't you realise that if she's destroyed, you'll lose?" Crump asked, highly amused, "You must have a pathetic hand to make that move." He drew, using a spell card to recall the Penguin Torpedo that he had had to send to the graveyard because he'd used it to attack Tea directly last turn.
It gained the two hundred attack point boost that all of his water monsters gained due to his deck master ability.
Then it struck again, bypassing the Dark Magician Girl by diving underneath the freezing water, and striking Tea for another 750 points, points she couldn't afford to lose.
She missed the flash of light as two Duellists were trapped inside a nearby cave that had somehow, naturally been formed by the ice in the area, close enough to be able to watch, but far enough away that even if their noise could have travelled through the glasslike ice, she wouldn't have heard them.
Yugi was on his feet first, ignoring the cold around them as she spotted Tea, now frozen up to her shoulders, facing down a rather unfrozen, completely unbothered looking penguin, shivering as he tried to break his way through the ice.
"Tea!"
Jamie's head shot up at Yugi's cry, but she didn't move from where she had fallen, unable to just shrug off the cold as Yugi had done. She knew it was all in her head, but her avatar was programmed to respond to the cold the same way a normal human body would, giving Jamie more of a chance then she realised, with the fear of getting sick again plaguing her mind.
There was a reason she had left Snowpoint Gym, in Sinnoh, until last and had never, ever gone to Fiore or Almia. As a part dragon she couldn't tolerate the cold, and if it hadn't been for her Eevee becoming a Glaceon, she would have died on Route 217.
Tea had no idea they were there, she was too busy worrying about her Dark Magician Girl's inability to get through Crump's defensive line.
"Tea," The Dark Magician Girl half turned to look at her, "There is a card that can save us…"
"What do you…?" Tea was confused for a moment, and then remembered the first card she'd picked, "Sage's Stone!" She gasped, "But I don't…" She looked at her deck, uncertain that one, she could draw the card she needed and two, that she could reach her deck to draw in the first place, considering how her arms were frozen in place.
"I can help you." The Dark Magician Girl reassured her, "By activating my Deck Master ability."
"Do it." Tea nodded.
The Spellcaster closed her eyes, focusing and glowing with a bright pink light, part of which entered the graveyard and exited with the four monsters that had been sent to the Graveyard during the Duel. "I've formed a Soul Circle with the four monsters in your graveyard," She explained, "Which allows you to draw four cards from your deck."
The cards floated out of the deck holder on the Duel Disk and hovered in front of Tea, letting her get a good look at what her Deck Master's ability had given her.
Polymerisation, De-Spell, a weak level two monster and…
She grabbed Sage's Stone as best as she could, putting it, incredibly carefully, into a magic and trap slot on the Duel Disk.
She knew what it did, called a Dark Magician from either her deck or a deck of a Duellist nearby, but she had been forced to discard her own Dark Magician card halfway through the duel, long before she would have been able to get him onto the field.
In the ice cavern, Yugi had to back up a purple glow shot out of his Duel Disk and took the form of the Dark Magician, who bowed to Yugi and Yami, the latter of whom had come out to stand guard, in case of one of Noa's tricks, "Dark Magician?" Yugi asked, surprised, since he had adamantly refused to be drawn out of the deck when they had been fighting in the maze.
The ice wall was blown apart by a Dark Magic Attack, the shockwaves of which sent Yugi, Yami and Jamie sprawling, and the Dark Magician joined his apprentice on Tea's side of the battle field.
Tea looked in the direction the Dark Magician had come from, but couldn't see anyone. She had no idea it was because Yugi and the others were still picking themselves up.
Crump panicked.
"Double Dark Magic Attack!" The Dark Magician Girl sounded rather too triumphant as she yelled those four words, the Dark Magician's power blasting easily through Crump's Ice Golem and the Girl's attack reducing Crump's life points to zero.
Crump screamed from the power of the blast as his virtual body disintegrated.
The ice disappeared from around Tea.
The Duellist in question was unconscious before she hit the floor.
"Tea!" Yugi darted out, Yami having returned to the Puzzle, to get to Tea's side as Jamie walked slowly towards the new entrance to the cave, retreating quickly as a gust of icy wind brushed past her.
'You're not going to join them.' Bakura stated.
"Can't…" Jamie shook her head, unwilling to stay in here, but not wanting to face the cold either.
'You don't go out there; you're going to attract Noa's attention.'
"I'm a Dragon, we die in the cold!" Panicked sapphire eyes followed Bakura's form to the entrance to the cave, where he watched Yugi bring Tea around before turning to look at her.
'Switch with me.'
"What?"
'I don't fear the cold, switch with me.'
Jamie needed little prompting, vanishing instantly, leaving Bakura out and about and rather grateful that Jamie's mental image of him was the one that mattered here, since it meant his form was closer to his normal one, as opposed to taking control in the real world, where he'd a girl because Jamie was.
He exited the cave and was amused to see that Yugi switched with Yami almost instantly.
"B…Bakura?" Tea yelped. "How?"
"Jamie's carrying my item for safe keeping." Bakura replied, "I'm simply taking advantage of this fact."
"Where is she?" Yami growled.
"Where do you think?" Bakura replied sarcastically, "Where exactly would I send her out in this frozen wasteland?"
Yami glowered but helped Tea to her feet, refusing to turn his back on the Tomb Robber even for a moment, leading to a moment, when they were trying to cross back over to what passed for the mainland here, when Yami didn't want to go before Bakura, Bakura was hanging back just to irritate the Pharaoh because it was funny, and Tea ended up on the other side, waiting another ten minutes for either of them to cross.
"Could you switch with Jamie?" Tea asked, when they got across finally, not wanting to have to deal with this for however long they were stuck here trying to find the others.
"No."
"Why?"
"Aren't I allowed to stretch my legs?"
Yami clearly wanted to say no, and Tea looked as if she wasn't sure how to react to that comment.
"I'll let her out when I'm done." Bakura shrugged, continuing inland, away from the ocean.
"Does Jamie know what she's gotten herself into?" Tea asked Yami, who, when prodded by Yugi, offered Tea his jacket, and then followed the Tomb Robber, if only to make sure that he didn't get into any trouble that could affect Jamie's chances of getting out of here, trying to ignore the fact that he was now the only one not in a jacket and that his vest top was not a particularly smart thing to walk around in in this climate. "Fine, don't answer me."
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They were on their way home.
The League had cancelled the Hoenn League Conference just a week from the big competition, sending hundreds of Trainers away, hundreds of Trainers who had worked harder then they ever had before to earn their badges and make their way here through all the controversy and attacks, hundreds of Trainers who now, somehow, had to make their way home or to a nearby League friendly city, and there weren't many of the latter left.
They'd actually invited a group of about thirty or forty Trainers to come back with them, since this was their home turf. They were new Trainers by the standards of the group coming back with them, Trainers who had left home for the first time only a year and a half ago, but they had the knowledge and one of their number had a slight advantage, considering that her starter Pokémon was had in fact been a present from her old sister, who had been an Aspiring League Champion back when this whole incident had kicked off.
The large group of Trainers were currently camping for the night, just outside of Slateport City, where they had arrived by ferry just two hours ago. From here they would pass through Oldale Town, and then head down to Littleroot, the home town of Professor Birch.
There the Trainers who had come with them, could set up their camps and stay safe… at least until Galactic came for Professor Birch…
There was a plus side, if Galactic came for Professor Birch while there were that many Trainers around, someone, hopefully, would be able to stop them…
"She's up a tree again."
Jack turned to look at the speaker and sighed when it was revealed to be one of the group that Will had started hanging around with during the build up to the now cancelled league, and had yet to rejoin the group.
"Which one?" Jack asked, looking around at the forest that surrounded their camp.
"That one." The boy pointed it out, "It's our turn to cook tonight, so don't spend too long in the tree."
"Alright, thank you." Jack nodded, heading for the forest's edge and the tree with his friend in.
"Lizzie?" He asked, clambering up into the tree, "You ok?"
"Yes… No…" She sighed, "I'm leaving." The girl ran a hand through her shoulder length, icy blue hair, sapphire eyes never leaving the forest floor.
"What?" Jack's brown eyes widened as he stared at the eleven year old.
"I'm leaving." She repeated, "There's a boat to Sinnoh leaving at seven o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Going to Sinnoh won't help." The Pokémon Coordinator, who was little more then a month older then his Trainer friend, sighed and settled in for a long discussion, and to try and talk her out of it.
"She's not dead, Jack." She told him firmly, noting the fact that his brown hair needed cutting again. "I have to find her."
"I know it's hard, but…"
"You've written my sister off too?" Sapphire eyes hardened as she glowered at her friend.
"No but…"
"I'm going and you can't stop me."
"What about taking this lot back to Littleroot?"
"You can take the group back to Littleroot without me. There are Trainers in this group far more powerful then me."
"Liz…" Jack sighed, "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of it, am I?"
"No." On this point, Lizzie was quite firm and she wasn't about to be dissuaded.
"Were you going to tell Will?" Jack asked, eyes flickering to the camp, where a large group of people were discussing something. At the edge of the group was their friend and travelling companion, messy brown hair obvious amongst those who bothered with their appearance each morning.
"Will only came with us last year, because he didn't want to be alone in town," Lizzie shook her head, watching the group interact, "He'd be quite happy to stay with his new friends, I think."
There was silence for a couple of moments and then Jack stretched, "If you're going to Sinnoh," He told Lizzie, "So am I."
"Jack, you can't…!"
"Well if I can't go, neither can you." He interrupted, refusing to let her walk into the viper's nest without him.
Lizzie snorted, amusement obvious as she smiled her first smile since they'd been sent away from Evergrande City, "Blackmail is not the way to a girl's heart, Jack."
"But it works." Jack replied with a shrug and a small smile afterwards.
"You'd really come with me?" Lizzie asked, sounding unsure, nervous even. She'd wanted to go alone, not drag her friends into danger with her.
"Well, I can't let you walk into the crazy without me." Jack sniggered, "You'd go hungry."
"Is that the only reason?" Lizzie asked, not believing it, but still feeling the need to ask.
"Of course not," Jack's scorn was so obvious that it could have been dancing around in a tutu with neon lights attached and it wouldn't have made much difference, "I've been expecting you to want to go since the news about your sister came through. If anything, you've lasted longer then I thought you would."
"You don't have to come. You know how dangerous it is in Sinnoh right now…" Lizzie trailed off at the look Jack was giving her.
"Which is why I have to come, Tide is powerful, but he needs backup." Jack referred to her Swampert, which was Lizzie's most powerful Pokémon, but had failed in a few crucial matches when left on its own, "Let me help."
"We can't spread it around. They'll try and stop us…" Lizzie sighed, referring to the group of older Trainers who had followed them in order to both protest the younger Trainers travelling and to get together to decide on their next move, since the League had pretty much folded.
"To be fair, I can't blame them. It is a pretty mental idea." Jack snorted, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"I can't just wait around, I have to go, I have to find her and if she is gone…" Lizzie's voice broke and she swallowed hard.
"I'll help in anyway I can," He promised, "But I really think you should speak to Will before you go. He'll be annoyed if we slip off without him."
"I don't think he'll come." Lizzie replied, watching as Will burst into laughter at something someone in the group he was with had said.
"You should at least give him the option." Lizzie sighed, acknowledging Jack's point, "How long have you been thinking about leaving the group?"
Lizzie hesitated for a moment, then bowed her head and mumbled, "The moment we arrived in Evergrande City."
"And you've lasted until now?" The Coordinator sounded impressed.
"I didn't get a chance to slip off." The Trainer glanced at him, "That was deliberate, wasn't it?"
"Not completely." Jack shook his head, wondering about sending out their Pokémon in readiness for tea. "We've been worried since the incident with those Galactic sympathisers."
"You sure you want to go?"
"I'm sure that if I don't go, you'll go by yourself and then you'll have no one to bail you out when you get in over your head."
"I don't…" Lizzie protested, and then sighed, "Okay, so maybe I do."
"Ready to come down for food yet?"
"Maybe…" She watched as tents were set up, campfires were lit, people and Pokémon settled in for the night, and the sun set on the campsite.
"Liz…"
"I'll be okay, once I know what happened…"
"Come and eat, we can speak to Will later and then we'll leave in the morning." Jack climbed down and then looked up at the girl who hadn't moved from her spot in the tree.
He sighed. Lizzie had always looked up to her older sister, the girl who had become the Sinnoh League's last Aspiring Champion, and the news of her disappearance and death had hit the young Trainer harder then anyone else.
He just hoped that Sinnoh could provide some closure and let the young Trainer move on.
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Joey was not a happy Duellist.
First it had been the virtual gardens, then the virtual mansion, then the fake blimp, and now he was trapped in a Duel with a guy that had decided to play Judge, Jury and Executioner in a match where, for once in his life, all the luck was going against him.
It had never happened to him before, and with a deck as based on luck as his was, Johnson was having little trouble trouncing him.
Considering that he needed to win this match, not only to prevent his mind being trapped within the virtual world forever but to be able to find his little sister and help her escape, the lack of luck was quite successfully driving him up the wall.
So the last thing he needed was…
"Guys, look out…" He yelped as Yami and Tea rushed through the door, followed at a slightly more sedate pace by Bakura.
Since Bakura hadn't been downloaded into the virtual world, to his knowledge at least, he assumed that it was one of Noa's tricks.
"We know." Tea groaned, "Long story." She glowered at the two darks, who had been a nightmare the entire way here, as Bakura shut the door behind them and proceeded to lean on one of the benches. "Now can we have Jamie back?" She asked the Tomb Robber.
Bakura raised an eyebrow, "I'll think about it."
Joey would have asked more questions, but Johnson, in his guise as Judge Man bellowed "Order, order! Order in the court!" Glaring at the newcomers, who were interrupting his attempt at getting what he wanted, "This court is still in session, in case you hadn't noticed."
"Never held much interest in the law system." Bakura smirked at the Big Five member who didn't respond other then by drawing a card.
"If you pay attention you might learn something." Johnson said to the spirit, smirking at the cards in his hand, "I'm about to sentence Mr Wheeler to a life time sentence of exile in this virtual hell!"
Bakura wasn't particularly worried, it was no concern of his other then it would upset Jamie if Joey lost. The Pharaoh and Tea however, hovered by the rails nearest the front of the room as Joey attempted to turn the duel around with his Skull Dice card… which originally landed on a five and for some reason picked up speed again and stopped on a one.
Bakura's interest was caught, he just wondered if the Pharaoh or Wheeler had noticed.
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Kaiba and Mokuba had gone from a virtual forest, to a virtual re-enactment of their life before Seto had taken over Kaiba Corp from his step father and were now currently walking along an, apparently never ending, virtual beach.
"I can't take this any more!" Mokuba complained loudly when he noticed that the sun, which was setting over the waters, hadn't moved for at least an hour, "I don't want to be in a virtual forest, on virtual beach or even in a virtual amusement park! I WANT OUT OF HERE!"
Seto turned to look at his little brother, trying to show none of the frustration and worry that was currently plaguing him. He couldn't afford to look weak with Noa watching their every footstep.
"Sorry Seto…"
"If you get annoyed, you're walking straight into Noa's hands." Seto replied, watching as his brother's shoulders sank and the child nodded, following his brother as they continued along the beach, having little else to do.
Voices from further up the beach caught Seto's attention, and he turned to see if anymore of Noa's virtual re-enactments was heading their way.
Nothing.
No people, but still there were voices…
Seto moved further up the beach, Mokuba following, the voices getting louder, and making Mokuba look around once he'd heard them too.
There was a television that somehow worked all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity, and was showing Noa descending into an almost empty courtroom.
"What's he up to now?" Seto growled.
Mokuba just crowded in so he could hear it better.
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Will leant back to watch the stars, sat a little ways away from the main camp with just his two travelling companions.
"So the Sinnoh trip, it's on?" He asked when the silence between them had been sufficiently awkward enough.
"You knew?" Lizzie yelped.
"Please, it's been coming for a while." Will snorted, smirking at the young Trainer who wanted nothing more out of life then to surpass her older sister, "I thought you'd get on the Sinnoh boat from Evergrande and leave us behind without saying a word."
Lizzie considered her friend with more then a little shock, "I didn't think you'd want to come…"
"I don't." Will replied, "It's a bloody stupid idea that will probably get us all killed, even if your sister's still alive, but there's nothing Jack or I could say that would stop you, and there's no way we'd let you go alone, so…"
Lizzie wasn't sure whether to be hurt or amused.
Jack considered the other male member of their group. Will wasn't aiming for a Championship in a Pokémon League like Lizzie, or trying to become a top coordinator like him, he seemed to want little more out of travelling, then to see new places and scout out new Pokémon in the area to take pictures of with his rather expensive camera or draw in one of his many sketch books, there was a name for it but Jack couldn't think of what it was.
"Besides, I mentioned that we might have to leave the group, and Terry," Will indicated the man in question, one of the older Trainers, "Said that he could show the others the way to Littleroot if the situation arose."
Lizzie smiled and shook her head, while Jack just rolled his eyes, wondering how Will had managed to predict their next move… again.
"I know your sister's been missing longer then this before, we were the ones who helped you to stay calm when she fell out of contact for six months last year, but you do realise that if she really was hit by Palkia's Spacial Rend like Cynthia told your mum, even if she's alive, she could be anywhere, right?"
"I know but Sinnoh was the last place she was seen alive, so that's where I'm heading." Lizzie nodded.
"Where we're heading." Jack reminded her, wishing Will wouldn't get Lizzie's hopes up.
"Sorry, sorry." Lizzie smiled, "Where we're heading."
"Don't worry Liz," Will fell back completely, lying on the ground and just breathing in the night air, "Jamie's one of the best Trainers around, I'm sure she's just fine."
"You think so?"
"This is Jamie we're talking about, the girl who saved a Suicune, chased Team Magma out of Littleroot Town, vanished for six months only to reappear with all fully evolved Pokémon and became an Aspiring Champion. There's no way a group like Team Galactic could take her down." Will laughed reassuringly.
Lizzie smiled, face lighting up in a way that it hadn't for far too long, "You forgot when she beat that Admin who had us held hostage in the lab with just her Starter Pokémon."
"Isn't that the Marshtomp that she gave you?"
"Uh huh. Tide was my sister's starter Pokémon, but she left him with me, just in case Team Magma came back and she couldn't get back in time to help, remember?"
"Oh yeah." Both Will and Jack smiled at the memory of getting to watch the match between the Team Magma admin that had scared them silly (and in their defence they had only been seven and a half years old), and the brave older sister who had risked her life to try to rescue them. "That was awesome."
"Jamie and her Marshtomp…" Lizzie's voice wavered at the memory of how she'd sworn on a shooting star the night that Jamie had returned to her travels that one day she would out do her sister and prove that Jamie could rely on Lizzie to save her if she was ever hurt or captured, just as Lizzie could rely on Jamie to rescue her.
A shooting star shot across the sky, far above their heads, making the three of them gasp and quickly make a wish.
"Tomorrow's the start of a long journey." Jack said finally, once they were done and had just sat there for a while, making no effort to move or say anything, "So I'm off to bed."
"I'll speak to Terry and check my pack, then I'll join you." Will nodded, still grinning at the look on the Team Magma admin's face when Jamie had defeated her.
"I think I'll stay up a little longer." Lizzie said quietly still staring at the sky. The two boys slipped off to set up camp and speak to who they needed to as Lizzie closed her eyes and led back on the grass, just listening to the sounds of the night.
Tomorrow they'd be on a boat to their biggest and most dangerous adventure yet…
Part of her was looking forward to it and the other part was screaming about just how stupid she was for dragging her friends into danger, and how she should have just taken the boat and gone without telling them.
She groaned, rolling onto her side, trying to ignore the tears trickling down her face.
Jamie, I'll find you, I promise.
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"That's Noa!" Yugi gasped, in spirit form beside Yami. Jamie joined them, standing by Bakura's side in spirit form, as the virtual ruler of the world they were in appeared and he didn't seem too happy.
"Time out." He snapped, "Stop the Duel."
"But Master!" Johnson looked shocked, "Please, sir, I was about to defeat this fool and take over his body!"
"You don't deserve that prize." Noa's glower stunned the watchers, "Not after what you just pulled."
"Called it." Bakura smirked, "He's been cheating all along."
"And you didn't say anything?" Yami snapped at him.
"I thought you would have known."
"Silence!" Noa looked at them. They shut up. Noa turned to Joey. "The honourable Judge Man," And Noa said honourable like it was a swear word, "Is nothing but a frauds who has been cheating you from the very beginning. He's been using my virtual technology to tamper with your dice rolls."
"You cheat!" Joey snarled, glaring at Johnson who looked afraid now, instead of over confident, "How bout I tamper with your face, Mr so-called 'man of justice'?"
"Told you, the law has it's own rules." Bakura snorted.
"Not this time." Noa growled at the Tomb Robber who seemed completely unconcerned, before turning back to Johnson, "I brought you five into my virtual world with the understanding that under my Leadership you would defeat Seto Kaiba and his little friends, but if you cheat, I can't prove that I'm more deserving then he is."
Noa ranted for a while, about how he was the one better suited to run Kaiba Corp, how the company was supposed to be his, how he deserved to own it, to run it, to do whatever the hell he liked with it.
"And it's about time that I proved how much more suited to the job I am, to Gozabora Kaiba." Noa continued growling.
"Excuse me." Joey spoke up. "The defendant would like to speak."
"Sorry but this doesn't concern you." Noa snapped at him, "It's time for me to do something I should have done the day I met you…"
"Noa, please, don't!" Johnson yelped.
"Hello?" Joey tried again.
"What?" Noa snapped, irritation at being interrupted obvious.
"Look I'm willing to forgive Judge gruesome over there, as long as he agrees to Duel fair and square."
"Noa was going to delete the fraud and Joey wants to continue the Duel, as long as it's kept fair?" Jamie sounded both impressed and irritated, "He's as bad as me!" Bakura tried not to be amused as Noa snorted, and warned Joey that the stakes were still on and Johnson that he'd be keeping a close eye on the match before disappearing.
He drew Pot of Greed, drawing two cards and grinning broadly, "I move my Deck Master to the center of the playing field and equip him with this, Burning Soul Sword!"
The Flame Swordsman that had been helping him through the entire duel took the field and changed his sword out for the equip card.
"You need to sacrifice a monster for that card to work!" Johnson protested. "You have no monsters on the field, so your card won't work!"
"It's not over; I have this, my Arduous Decision magic card." Joey showed it to Johnson.
"What does that do?" Jamie sent to Bakura.
'It's a big gamble,' Bakura replied down the link, 'A stupid move but probably the only one Wheeler has left.'
"Stupid?"
'It allows him to draw two cards from his deck, and then the fraud over there has to pick one, if it's a monster card it gets summoned, but if it's a magic or trap card Wheeler's turn ends and the game goes with it.'
Joey drew and held out the cards at arm's length. "Your choice, Johnson, left, or right? The entire duel rests on this choice and with Noa watching you can't cheat any more. The game now rests with chance."
"This match was decided when you stepped into the courtroom." You could hear the smirk in Johnson's tone.
"Just pick a card." Joey sounded bored.
Bakura moved into a better position to see what was going on. Joey had a monster and a magic card, so it was all about who was the better bluffer, the guy who lived in the courtroom or the guy who lived off of luck.
"Let's do this." Joey sounded bored, though Yugi could see he was bluffing. "The more you put it off the harder it's gonna be."
"Alright, alright, I pick your left hand." Johnson pointed to it.
"Are you sure?" Joey's false confidence was certainly convincing enough for Johnson, who hesitated. "I mean really sure."
"You've asked the same question twice, your hesitation proves I've made the right choice."
"If you say so." Joey said carelessly.
"I've been the in courtroom for years, you can't get anything past me, this match is over, judgement in favour of me. Now show me the card in your left hand."
Joey smirked, an amused sound escaping his lips.
"No wait!" Johnson yelped.
"Yeah?" Joey asked, still amused.
"I've changed my mind."
"The right hand?" Joey asked.
Johnson nodded.
Joey revealed it.
Goblin Attack Force. An effect monster with 2300 attack and 0 defence.
"That's gotta hurt." Joey's smirk broadened and Jamie sensed amusement from the Tomb Robber who had seen exactly what was going on.
Joey summoned the card and sacrificed the goblins, raising the Flame Swordsman's attack from 1000, to 3600, sending it to destroy Johnson's Dragoness the Wicked Knight, sending Johnson's life points tumbling to zero.
"This can't be happening, I once convinced a jury that a man who was terrified of water, stole a boat! How can I be fooled by some kid? Noooooooooooooooooo!" Johnson shattered, just as any other Duel Monster would.
"Alright Joey!" Yugi and Tea cheered, giving the teenager a high five.
'You want to take back over now?' Bakura asked Jamie, who had been watching the proceedings closely, causing the girl to jump.
"Unless you want more time to stretch your legs…" Jamie teased, as Joey looked around.
"We have to find the others." Joey said.
"Yeah." Yugi nodded, "The other members of the Big Five might be duelling them right now."
"Duelling?" Joey wheeled around, pure anger showing in the way he looked at Yugi, "Who's duelling?"
Yugi backed up a step, looking apologetic. "They want to duel all of us, Joey, everyone who's trapped here. We are all in this."
"ALL OF US?" Joey shouted, grabbing Yugi by the collar, frightening his friend, though he knew that Joey was more angry at Noa and the Big Five then at him.
"Stop Joey!" Tea protested, though she did nothing to help Yugi escape Joey's grip.
"But that's not fair, Serenity's never duelled before!"
"We'll find her Joey." Yugi promised, trying to hide his fear from the others, "And we'll make sure she's ok. I promise."
"Let's get moving!" Joey shoved Yugi to one side, vaulted the railing and rushed out the door. When it didn't open to a frozen wasteland, Jamie took control back from Bakura and rushed after him, Yugi and Tea close behind.
"I'm coming Serenity…"