Chapter 17: - Time Travel
Pending an interruption less flight, the Kaiba Corp blimp would be landing on Kaiba Corp Island at 4:43pm JST, much later then Kaiba would have liked, as it meant it would probably be dark by the time the finals were played (and of course he wanted everyone to be able to properly see him beat Yugi into the ground) but giving everyone time to recover from the battles in the virtual world before a fresh round of Duels ensued.
Yugi, who was leaning against the rails that surrounded the duelling platform watching his friends and trying to not to think about what was to come, didn't know what Jamie had discussed with Kaiba, but whatever it was, it had made Jamie happier and by extension improved the mood of her Pokémon. She had been brushing her Pokémon's fur, buffing their scales, tending to any small injures, but now she was just sat, surrounded by her Team, just soaking up the sunlight.
Joey was teaching his sister about Kaida, the right places to pet her, the right way to buff her scales, to shine the orbs on her tail and what passed for her neck and the Dragonair in question loved the attention. Even a complete idiot would be able to see that she was preening and her flippant attitude had helped everyone calm down a bit.
Tristan and Duke were stood on opposite sides of the blimp, alternating between glowering at each other and watching Serenity, something which Joey was not as oblivious to the two boys would have liked, though he was doing his best to ignore the looks until he had a moment to talk to them privately, loath to give up this moment of tranquillity.
Jamie sat up when Aisu nudged her, and the Trainer coaxed her Gyarados into moving his tail to allow Tea to join them.
"Heya," The Trainer waved, from her place, resting comfortably against her Charizard, "You alright?" She asked, patting the floor beside her.
"I'm good." Tea nodded, joining her and immediately getting nudged by Shade, the Mightyena putting his head in her lap, demanding attention which Tea was more than happy to provide. "How're you holding up?"
"Not bad, my team are looking good; we made it out of the Virtual World safely..."
Tea pursed her lips, "Uh huh, but how are you doing?"
Jamie looked surprised for a moment or two, as if she hadn't expected to be asked how she was feeling when she wasn't the one who was in danger, making Tea wonder if she'd ever had anyone who had been worried about her on her travels, then the icy haired girl nodded, "I'm fine, a little tired, but it's been a long day and we haven't even hit the semi-finals yet."
Tea sighed, glancing at Joey, who had paused midsentence to look over when the word 'semi-finals' had been uttered, and then at Yugi, who had lost his composure for only a millisecond or two, before looking over questioningly. "You sure you don't need to get some rest?" Tea worried at her, "It's going to be a long night too…"
"I'm ok." Jamie grinned and stretched, "This is quite relaxing enough."
"Is it bad that I agree with her?" Yugi asked as Yami appeared at his side in spirit form. "I mean I know we still have to stop Marik but…"
'No she's right. You have to take any chance you can, grab any peaceful moment you can get, because they can be few and far between.' Yami said, 'I'm surprised someone her age knows that lesson already. Some people three times your age have yet to learn it.'
"Besides," Jamie continued, "It's a nice afternoon and I get to spend some time with my team without having to deal with visitors." She looked up when Tsunami nodded towards the railings. She moved away from her Pokémon and towards the rails, looking over and calculating the drop. "Sorry Tsunami, we're still too high. You might get hurt. Wait until we start to land and I'll let you go for a swim, ok?"
Tsunami looked put out and proceeded to use Rain Dance causing Iblis to snarl and let loose a small flame from his mouth in anger and Bakura's Flygon screeched in protest.
"Hey!" Tristan protested as clouds appeared, the skies suddenly opened and everyone was drenched in seconds.
"Tsunami!" Jamie scolded, quickly recalling Iblis to protect the flame on the end of his tail, "There was no need for that!"
The Gyarados looked smug.
"Jamie?" Tea asked, as she watched Denkou dancing in the rain.
"Huh? Oh." Jamie chuckled, watching her Raichu, "She loves the rain, the only thing she likes more is thunder storms and no!" She saw Denkou get a mischievous look, "That was not an invitation to start one."
"Raichu?" Denkou asked, tilting her head at her.
"Because we're on an airship!" Jamie shook her head, "An airship? In the air? Making it a big fat target?"
"Rai Raichurai." Denkou sulked.
"I give up." Jamie growled, "If you want to start a thunder storm, wait until we've landed. I'd rather not be a huge target, thank you."
"No don't." Tea interrupted, looking at Denkou.
"Rai?" The Raichu looked curious.
"Knowing Rich Boy he'll have us battling on top of the highest thing he can find." Joey growled, "And being hit by lightening once is quite enough for me."
"Can we take this conversation inside please?" Duke asked, rain dripping off of his bangs.
"Give me a sec." Jamie nodded, recalling everyone but Aisu and looking around. "Has anyone seen Haunter?"
"Not for a few hours, but it's bright out, or it was," Joey glowered as he recalled Kaida and they headed inside, "You told me ghost Pokémon don't like sunlight."
"True." Jamie nodded, wondering whether Haunter was off aggravating Marik, "He's probably fine. It's not like there's much that can injure a ghost."
"Other ghosts, dark types and occasionally psychic types, right?" Joey questioned. He'd been fascinated by the Pokémon from the moment he had started helping Jamie out on a part time basis, and as such had been taking lessons on Pokémon care off of the Day Care Leader at every opportunity he got.
"Yeap," Jamie chuckled, "You pick this stuff up easier then some of the Trainers I know."
"Maybe if he paid as much attention in school as he does to what you teach him, he wouldn't be failing." Tristan looked impressed despite what his tone implied.
Joey muttered something unintelligible under his breath but didn't start a brawl, mostly because he was trying to be on his best behaviour while his sister was around.
The lift descended, taking the lot of them down to the floor where the food hall was, hoping for something to eat, just in time to hear someone scream and the loud clang of something metallic hitting the floor.
Haunter ghosted through the wall, waved at the group, and then vanished through the wall the other side, to another round of screams.
"Looks like we found Haunter." Joey sniggered.
Jamie facepalmed.
A woman in an apron stormed out of the room Haunter had ghosted into, spotted Jamie and stomped up to her, giving her a death glare and pointing accusingly. "This is your fault! Control your damn creature!"
"He's not mine," Jamie protested, surprising the others by backing up slightly, "I can't control him. Haunter's only trying to have fun."
"Well that ghost is causing mayhem all over the ship! He's scared half the staff, blown up the microwave, ruined dinner and you're the only one who can deal with the damn creature. He's just lucky I saw you before I saw Mr Kaiba. I suggest you deal with that thing, before I have to disturb Mr Kaiba's preparation time!"
Jamie sighed, "If you'll excuse me guys. I've got a ghost/poison type to track down." She disappeared around the corner before Yugi could say anything and the woman, who looked rather smug, went back into the room she'd stormed out of and was presumably the source of the rather loud instructions that were heard until the door slammed shut.
There was silence for a few seconds, as the group tried to process exactly what had just happened, then Yugi looked over his shoulder. "I should probably catch up with her."
"Did something happen?" Joey frowned, "You've been sticking closer to her then normal."
"It's because of the Ring, isn't it?" Tea asked. "Has something happened to Bakura?"
Yugi hesitated.
"Marik." Joey snarled, catching on almost immediately, "Can't he leave anyone alone?"
"That's why Jamie has the Ring?" Tristan demanded.
"What happened to Bakura?" Tea asked quietly, concern for Ryou obvious.
"Jamie took the Ring before Marik could grab it." Yugi explained, "She's guarding it for Bakura, because he's her friend. I don't know what happened to Bakura. I think Marik sent him to the Shadow Realm."
His friends all reacted in different ways. Joey swore, well aware that it was highly likely that Jamie now had a huge target on her back, Tristan growled something unintelligible, Tea blanched and Serenity and Duke knew enough to be worried.
"I'll find Jamie." Joey sighed, "Last thing we need is for you to find Jamie, only to get pulled into a Shadow Game because she couldn't stop Bakura taking control."
"But..." Yugi hesitated.
"I'll be fine. Besides, I have more experience with Pokémon then you do. I might have better luck helping with Haunter then you would. You're coming Serenity?" His sister nodded and the pair of them headed down the corridor after Jamie.
Tea watched them go, concerned. "You sure it's safe?" She asked Yugi.
'If you don't let Joey deal with it, he'll think you don't trust him.' Yami pointed out before Yugi could answer, 'He knows Marik is after Jamie and he still told you to stay away. You have to trust he knows what he's doing.'
"Joey'll be ok." Yugi nodded, more to Yami's comment then anything else.
Tea pursed her lips but nodded.
Yugi's stomach rumbled.
Duke chuckled and opened the door to the dining hall. "We'd better get something to eat before Yugi starts eating himself." He said, holding it open for the others.
"Come on." Tristan steered a hesitating Yugi into the dining hall, "Food first. Worry about duelling later."
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"You sure everything's going to be alright?" Iason worried as he sent out his Dragonite.
"You trust me, don't you Iason?" Yuki asked. The dragon trainer nodded. "Well, then stop worrying. You'll only be gone for a couple of hours and you've been wanting to get out and go flying with Dragonite for days. Shoo…" She chuckled, pushing him towards the huge Dragon Pokémon, who, as usual ignored everyone but her beloved Trainer.
"Don't let anyone wander off, and if Galactic come calling, don't let them catch anyone." Iason told her as he climbed onto Dragonite's back.
"I know, I know, just go already!" Yuki slapped Dragonite's thigh and the huge Pokémon launched herself high into the air, the downdraft knocked Yuki over and sent the objects toppling over.
Yuki picked herself up and watched the pair disappear, heading for Canalave City to speak with the only Gym Leader who hadn't closed their doors, and those whom he sheltered, possibly because the port there was unsubstantial and there was little else there that warranted concern, so the Galactic presence was low, about possible passage to Iron Island or New Moon Island, for the Cheryl and the younger Trainers before Iason brought his group into direct confrontation with Galactic's Eterna branch.
She'd watched the group grow in strength and saw their trust of the twenty one year old Trainer from Blackthorn City increase as he helped them train and got them out of some sticky situations, but, no matter what they thought her allegiances were, it had to end here.
Yuki had nothing against the group, she liked Nuri and Diana well enough and, if she hadn't already pledged her allegiance to someone else, she would have followed Iason into battle willingly, but, as it stood, now that Iason and his Dragonite were away and unable to help the others, she had to take this moment to act.
She pulled her Pokegear out of her pocket and dialled a number she had had saved under a different name specifically so that she wouldn't be caught.
"This is Snow reporting." She murmured quietly, looking around to check no one was listening in.
"It took you long enough." The voice on the other end snapped, "You have another assignment waiting. Mars requests that you report in to the Eterna branch immediately."
"Confirmed." Yuki nodded, though the man on the other end couldn't see it.
"We'll send someone to replace you." The man, who sounded like her co-worker, Flame, growled.
"No need, Flame." Yuki hissed, "The dragon Trainer just left, the target's wide open."
"About time." Flame sounded amused, "We'll send a Team in immediately."
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"That must be the Duel Tower." Joey exclaimed, looking up at the huge, shiny metal tower that was taller then the Kaiba Corp building. "I told Jamie that Kaiba would find the tallest thing possible to get us to Duel on."
"Where is Jamie?" Duke asked, looking around, confused. Understandably so since one minute Jamie had been with them and the next she hadn't.
In a burst of red light, Tsunami appeared, bellowing and looking at someone or something that was hidden by a pile of scrap metal for a moment, before he vanished in a huge wave and Jamie could be heard cussing her Pokémon from here to Domino.
"I can guess." Tristan sniggered.
"Well she did promise him a swim." Tea sighed, wondering if Jamie had any spare clothes on her.
"I'm just glad Denkou didn't start that thunder storm it was thinking of." Joey shuddered, still looking at the tower. "I don't know what the point of coming all the way out here is though, Kaiba has that new stadium he's building, and Kaiba Corp's big enough as it is."
"The island we're standing on is the site of the original Kaiba Corp." Mokuba explained as he, Seto and Houndour disembarked from the blimp, having caught the tail end of Joey's complaint. "My brother tore it down years ago."
"So why are we here now?" Joey complained.
"Because I plan on beating Yugi at the very top of my Duel Tower." Kaiba sneered at Yugi who didn't look particularly amused.
Yami took over, about to deliver a stinging retort when Joey growled and told Kaiba exactly where he could get off if he thought that Kaiba was going to defeat him this time.
"You're not even supposed to be in this tournament Wheeler," Kaiba snorted, with an amused smirk at the mutt's barking. "You rank amateur!"
Joey was about to snap back when a high pitched whistling sound caught their attention, making them turn towards where Tsunami had been moments ago.
"Jamie!" Joey yelped, dropping any argument he had been about to have with Kaiba, surprising the CEO, and racing towards the sound, clambering over the shrapnel that was piled up around the small cove and snarling as he found out what was wrong, Yugi only seconds behind him.
Marik, Millennium Rod just starting to glow, had backed Jamie into a corner.
"Get away from her!" Joey snarled, sending out the first Pokémon he could get a hold of, "Kaida, help her!"
The Pokémon that appeared in a burst of red light was most defiantly not Kaida.
In fact Marik swore and had to get out of the way quickly, as a gigantic blue Pokémon with red eyes, pale blue markings, metal armour around it's head and torso, which had a blue gem of rather starling beauty embedded into it, wing like blades on it's back and some rather threatening looking steel claws appeared with a roar, it's left front foot where he had been stood only moment before.
"What in Arceus's name…?" Jamie breathed, scrambling away as quickly as she could, shock obvious, reaching the top of the heap she'd been stood against before she turned to gaze upon the Pokémon in all its glory.
"Jamie, I thought you said that Dragonites were cute." Yugi's stunned voice was only just heard over the roar emitted by the Dragon/Steel Pokémon.
"That's not a Dragonite." Jamie replied, "That's… Joey how did you capture…"
"I didn't." Joey replied, staring at the Pokémon, then at the Pokeball which had fallen to the ground only a couple of feet away. It was white on the bottom, like a normal Pokeball, but on top it was a dark purple with two magenta spots and a white M on it. "Kaida brought me the ball."
"It's just another Pokémon." Marik snorted, unimpressed and ill amused by the fact he'd had the Trainer where he'd wanted her before Joey's interruption.
Jamie's nervous chuckle made Marik glower at her. "That's not just another Pokémon, that's Dialga, the Lord of Time!"
"Lord of Time!" Tea asked, shocked.
"Uh huh." Jamie nodded, edging towards the group, suddenly glad that Tsunami hadn't been able to hear her call, "Said to be the Pokémon created by Arceus, when Arceus brought life to our universe, to rule over time, Dialga is quite possibly one of the most powerful Pokémon ever…"
"I'm not afraid of your Time Lord." Marik snarled, taking steps towards the group.
Dialga roared.
Joey, Marik and the Pokémon disappeared for a moment or two, and then Joey and Dialga were back, but not Marik.
"What did you do?" Yugi, who had grabbed control when Yami had frozen at the sheer power emitted by the Pokémon now stood before them, asked, staring at Joey.
"I… I dunno."
"I do." Jamie breathed, sapphire eyes still wide, now biting her lower lip, "That was Roar of Time. Marik could be anywhere in the past right now."
"What?" Tristan demanded, "You're kidding! You have to be!"
"No, I'm not." Jamie shook her head, turning to look at Joey, who picked up the Pokeball and recalled the Temporal Pokémon who had been shifting restlessly, eying up the Master Ball in his hand, "Where did you send him?" She demanded.
"I don't know." Joey admitted, "Dialga directed the time travelling bit, I just went along for the ride."
"Man…" Tristan ran a hand through his hair, staring at the Pokeball in Joey's hand.
"So does this mean we won't have to deal with Marik now?" Tea asked, confused.
"It depends on how far back Dialga sent him." Jamie said, calming slowly and trying to ignore the schemes Bakura was coming up with in the back of her mind for what he'd do if he got his hands on that Pokeball. "If it was only a few hours, he's around here somewhere, but if it was more then a couple of days…"
Silence fell as the implications were obvious.
"Are you coming or not?" Kaiba, who had seen the huge Pokémon be sent out, disappear with Wheeler for a few seconds, reappear and be recalled, but had missed the explanation, demanded, impatient to get on with his Tournament.
"I think Team Galactic must have tried to capture him." Jamie said as they walked along the path that had been ploughed through from the blimp landing site to the tower, "But why they used a Master Ball is beyond me. I'd have thought a Red Chain like the one they used on Palkia would be better."
"What's a Master Ball?" Tea asked quietly, when no one else spoke up.
"It's a Pokeball that can capture any Pokémon, no matter how strong they are and forces them to obey the one holding it. As you can imagine they have a bit of a reputation, but this is the first time I've seen one up close." Jamie explained, "Normally, if Silph Co makes a batch, either one of the Team Rocket steals them to use themselves or sell on for a ridiculous price, or they go to a member of the Elite. Most Trainers don't like using them though."
"You mean Dialga has no choice but to listen to me?" Joey looked at the ball in disgust.
"I'm afraid not." Jamie shook her head, "As long as Dialga's linked to that ball, it's stuck with whoever holds it."
"How do you free a Pokémon?" Joey demanded, glowering at Jamie.
Jamie shied away from the look, understanding Joey's anger wasn't really directed at her, but still not willing to face it. "You'd have to break the Pokeball, but I don't know what will happen. Dialga could return to the Torn Dimension, what we call the space between worlds where Dialga, Palkia and Giratina come from, or it could rampage here and end all life as we know it."
Joey hissed and kicked at the dirt, causing it to billow up in a cloud of dust.
"Couldn't we use Dialga to kick Galactic out of Domino once and for all?" Mokuba asked, guessing that Dialga was powerful, considering it could 'end all life' as they knew it. "If it's that powerful, it should be able to take Palkia down easy."
"NO!" Jamie yelped, wheeling on the younger Kaiba brother, panic obvious. "Dialga and Palkia can't be allowed to meet! If they do they'll start fighting and everything will end! This world, my world, it'll all be over! We don't have Arceus or Giratina to stop them!"
Joey hissed again, steadily growing more and more unhappy with the situation.
"Pharaoh!"
Yugi turned towards the voice, and before he'd finished moving his head, Yami was in control and glowering at a ragged looking Marik, who looked pretty damn annoyed.
"Guess he wasn't sent too far back." Duke murmured just loudly enough for Tristan and Tea to hear.
"What do you want Marik?" Yami demanded.
"It's about time you got here. Sending me back in time a couple of days did nothing but give me time to plan more ways to torturing you."
"Hey artichoke head, you're going down!" Joey snapped.
"What's an artichoke?" Jamie asked Bakura since it was wholly inappropriate to ask anyone else at this moment of time.
'Shhh, I'm watching Wheeler make a fool of himself. I doubt he knows what an artichoke is either.'
"I doubt it." Marik snorted back at Joey. "You caught me off guard with your Lord of Time, that won't happen again." Marik turned to Kaiba. "When do I find out who my next victim is?" He demanded of the Kaiba brothers, the older of whom looked severely irritated at this point.
"Just chill out. We'll tell you inside the tower, is that clear?" Mokuba demanded, disliking Marik more and more with every encounter, his Houndour growling threateningly at the corrupt Tomb Keeper.
"Then let's finally get this tournament going so the fun can begin." Marik chuckled menacingly.
Joey's growl matched that of the Dark/Fire Pokémon as Marik followed behind the group, and he received an amused yet understanding smile from Yami for it as they reached the doors to the huge tower.
"Duellists," Considering all the delays, they weren't surprised that Roland, Kaiba's right hand man, had some how gotten here before them, "Welcome to the Duel Tower."
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Iason and Byron were deep in talks when Iason's Pokegear went off so loudly at it startled them both.
Checking the caller id, Iason apologised and took the call. "Nuri, what's wrong?"
"Galactic. They attacked the house." The ten year old whispered. "Yuki's with them."
Iason swore, getting to his feet so quickly that he knocked over the chair he'd been sitting in. "Where are you?"
"The Old Chateau. A bunch of us fled here after Miranda sent us away, but the place is flooded with Grunts. I think I'm the only one left."
"Hang tight. I'll be there soon, I promise."
"I…" Whatever Nuri was about to say was cut off as someone opened the door to wherever she was hiding with a bang and the girl dropped the Pokegear, with a cry. "Let me go!"
The call disconnected.
"Nuri! Nuri!" Iason shouted down the phone. "I've got to go." He said without apology to the Gym Leader, who just nodded, and he ran for the exit, trying to call Nuri back and swearing when the only answer he got was 'The number you have dialled is unavailable…'
He was only seconds out of the doors when he sent out his Dragonite, and she didn't complain when he climbed on her back and ordered her to fly back to Eterna Forest quickly, she could sense from his tone and attitude that something was very wrong.
He couldn't believe he'd been so stupid, entrusting the care of the group into the hands of a Galactic sympathiser, how had he not known?
He'd thought that Yuki was on their side. She'd certainly ranted about some of the things Galactic were up to often enough…
Had it all been a lie? A clever ruse to get them to let down their guard for a moment like this?
Or had Galactic managed to get to Yuki somehow, gotten at someone close to her perhaps…
Not for the first time did Iason wish he had his best friend, Raven, at his side. Between the pair of them, this wouldn't have happened.
Now he had to pray he wasn't too late and that he could save his friends before they were shipped off to the Otherworld or worse.
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"So the more life points they lose, the higher they go, and the first two to reach the top, by losing all of their points, are the two who will face off in the first round of the semi finals?" Jamie asked, looking up and finding herself unable to see the top.
"That's right." Mokuba sounded smug but Tristan couldn't help but wonder if there were barf bags provided, especially considering that Joey really disliked heights.
"The rules are thus," Roland started, once the four Duellists were in place, "All four Duellists will participate at the same time. As you lose life points, your Duel Terminal will climb, the first two to reach the top will face each other in the first round of the semi-finals."
Joey said something, but no one could catch what it was, what with the Duellists being something like twenty foot in the air above them.
"On your turn, you can attack any of the other four players. Your decks may only consist of forty cards so prepare your decks now."
Since Yugi's deck normally averaged that, Joey only needed to take out a few cards, Kaiba had known about the forty card rule when he'd prepped his deck last night and Marik had only five or so that he had to remove, it took the Duellists very little time to be ready.
"Now connect your Duel Disks to the terminal, this will display all cards currently in play." All four did so and all four terminals activated, "Remember this Duel does not effect your rankings in the tournament, it only determines who will face whom in the semi-finals."
"That's good then, right?" Tea asked, "Because the pressure's off."
"Not exactly." Duke shook his head. "This could be the most important Duel these guys play."
"What do you mean?" Tea asked.
"I get it." Jamie nodded, considering the Duellists above her. "If you plan it right, you can pick who you're playing in the next round and get an opponent you think you can beat easily, right?"
"Uh huh. Two Duellists could even gang up on one if they wanted." Duke nodded.
'This could be interesting.' Bakura murmured, as Duke continued to explain to Tea and Tristan. 'Both Kaiba and Marik want to fight the Pharaoh.'
"I don't know who I want to fight who." Jamie admitted. "I don't want Joey to fight Marik, but I'm not sure Yugi could beat Marik without Obelisk…" She shuddered both mentally and physically as the memory of Ra's attack on Bakura surfaced.
'Wheeler's in trouble no matter who he gets.' Bakura confided in her, 'He doesn't stand a chance of defeating any of the God cards and the Pharaoh's not likely to hold back just because they're friends. He wants to win this tournament too badly.'
"Yugi won't end up against Joey." Jamie shook her head, causing Tea to look at her, "Both Yugi and Joey want to fight Marik, and both Kaiba and Marik want to fight Yugi, only one of them can get what they want."
"Jamie?" Tea asked cautiously. "You alright?"
"Just thinking." Jamie nodded.
"Was it…" Tea carefully indicated the Ring while trying to avoid catching the attention of Yugi or Joey as the duel kicked off.
"Bakura thinks Joey's done no matter who he gets, I'm waiting to see who gets their way." Jamie nodded, watching Kaiba play a face down card and summon a monster. "Someone's going to be unhappy no matter what the match ups are."
"I know." Tea bit her lip.
Jamie wanted to reassure her, but in truth she couldn't bare being here, watching this and knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do to help. She'd have been about as much use staying back with Serenity, keeping an eye of Mai…
"I'm going to check on Serenity." Jamie nodded, making up her mind. "I'll be back before the semi-finals get started." She paused as Joey lost life points and went up the tower, his yelp catching her attention; "He really hates height, doesn't he?"
"Yes… are you sure you don't want to watch?" Tea asked, a little surprised.
"The nerves are bad enough in here without me adding to them." Jamie nodded. "I'll be back in time to watch the next round." She turned and looked at Mokuba, "Activate the lift for me?"
Mokuba, not taking his eyes off the Duel, nodded and swiped his security card through the scanner.
The lift tinged and Jamie stepped inside.
"Good luck guys. You're going to need it."
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Iason and Dragonite landed at the Old Chateau, only to have to immediately fight off the weak Pokémon of a group of grunts.
Neither of them were in the mood to play nicely either, Dragonite used Dragon Pulse and Hyper Beam to blast away the rattatta, zubat and stunky. Iason took the turn that Dragonite had to rest to dismount but before he could order another round of attacks, Yuki came into sight, following a tall, stocky man with red hair.
"You shouldn't have come, dragon Trainer." The man said, smirking.
"Who are you and what have you done with my friends?" Iason demanded.
"My name's Flame." The man sniggered, "And your friends are now guests in our care. Yuki did an excellent job, don't you think?" Flame asked, indicating the teenager stood next to him.
"Why, Yuki?" Iason asked, not ignoring Flame, Iason got the impression they were waiting for him to let his guard down, but turning slightly towards Yuki. "I thought you were our friend."
"I was, for a while." Yuki nodded, "But…" She hesitated.
"What did you do?" Iason growled, looking at Flame, "What did you do or say that made her turn?"
Flame snorted, "It wasn't hard, not with the right promise."
"Iason, please, join this side. They said that if we turn, they won't send the others to the Other World." Yuki pleaded.
Iason hesitated. On one hand he wasn't sure he could trust Yuki again and he certainly didn't trust this 'Flame' character one inch, but on the other could he doom the others to life in the Other World.
"Yuki, if you came back to my side, we could free the others." Iason countered slowly, "Between my dragons and your ice types they wouldn't stand a chance. If you'd just come to me in the first place…"
"You'd have done what, Iason?" Yuki demanded a little bitterly, "You've only just thought about bringing us into conflict with Galactic! What would you have done differently? The only way to save the others now is to turn yourself in…"
"I would have sent the younger ones away sooner," He was careful not to mention Cheryl, who had been out when he had left and he was unsure if she had returned before Galactic, "Started fighting long ago. We can still save the others. Please, fight along side me. Together we can win."
Yuki hesitated, then walked forwards, towards Iason.
"Yuki! What are you doing?" Flame demanded.
"What I must." Yuki said, pausing just yards away from Iason.
Iason bit back what he was about to say, letting her make the final choice.
Icy Wind blew through the forest, tiny ice shards striking his Dragonite, causing her to bellow in protest and Iason wheeled around to try and see where the attack was coming from.
Without warning, Snow struck, using Ice Punch on Iason, sending him sprawling.
Iason rolled over, recalled his Dragonite and sent out his Absol, confused when he saw that 'Yuki' had no Pokémon out. "How?" He demanded, shuddering a little with the cold that penetrated where her punch had frozen his jacket. His eyes widened, "You're an Awakened PKNE Positive… Let me guess, ice, right?"
"Took you long enough." Snow smirked, "I've been living with you for weeks and you've only just worked it out?"
"You didn't exactly show it off while you were with us."
"I didn't trust you fools not to keep me under close guard once you knew. After all PKNEs are much sought after by both sides, especially Awakened ones. Galactic just met me first."
Iason snarled. "You never were on our side, were you?"
"No." Snow admitted, reaching for her Pokeballs, seeing no need to use her own attacks when she had Pokémon that could attack for her, "I've been part of Galactic from the beginning, part of an elite squad within the Team actually." She sent out her Weavile. "Strike him down, Weavile."
Iason reacted instinctively, though surprise and disappointment clouded his judgement, "Absol, take her out!"
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"I wish I was Awakened." Jamie groused to Bakura as she stood guard over the infirmary, "I'd challenge Marik."
'Awakened?' Bakura asked, sensing the turmoil inside his friend, 'What's Awakened?'
Jamie smiled slightly, knowing Bakura could take the knowledge from her without any trouble and glad that Bakura held enough respect for her that he'd ask rather then take. "PKNEs have two stages. Sleeping, like me, and Awakened."
'What's the difference?'
"Awakened PKNEs can Attack."
'Attack? You mean how Pokémon attack?'
"Uh huh," Jamie was amused by Bakura's disbelieving tone, after all, was it so impossible for people to develop a way to defend themselves when Bakura regularly used magic, "Awakened PKNEs have the ability to use moves of their type. For example if I Awakened, I'd be able to use Dragon Pulse or Twister."
'Do you only get one attack?'
"Would you believe that it's a switch around? Instead of the Trainer teaching the Pokémon, the Pokémon can teach the Trainer."
Bakura chuckled. 'Really? The Trainer learns from the Pokémon?'
Jamie was about to respond when the phone went off.
"Hello?" Jamie asked, answering it quickly. "Alright, thank you Mokuba. I'll tell Serenity. Thanks, bye." She put the phone down and turned to the younger Wheeler. "Your brother is about to fight Marik. Do you want to watch?"
Serenity hesitated. She did, but at the same time not only did someone have to keep an eye on Mai, but she didn't want to see Marik torture her brother the way he had Mai.
"I have an idea." Jamie nodded, more to herself then anything. "I'll give you my Pokegear number, and if you want to join us, give me a buzz and I'll come and get you, ok?"
Serenity nodded. "Thanks, Jamie."
"No problem." The Trainer grinned. "See you once your brother's trounced Marik."
"See ya."
Serenity watched the Trainer dart out the door, the ghost Pokémon that was currently only listening to her standing guard over the door again, and turned towards the window just in time to see Jamie and Iblis take off and fly towards the Duel Tower.
Just moments after the red speck, which was all he could see of the Charizard once it reached the same height as the top of the tower, landed, the Shadows closed in around the tower.
The game had begun.
Yugi, who was leaning against the rails that surrounded the duelling platform watching his friends and trying to not to think about what was to come, didn't know what Jamie had discussed with Kaiba, but whatever it was, it had made Jamie happier and by extension improved the mood of her Pokémon. She had been brushing her Pokémon's fur, buffing their scales, tending to any small injures, but now she was just sat, surrounded by her Team, just soaking up the sunlight.
Joey was teaching his sister about Kaida, the right places to pet her, the right way to buff her scales, to shine the orbs on her tail and what passed for her neck and the Dragonair in question loved the attention. Even a complete idiot would be able to see that she was preening and her flippant attitude had helped everyone calm down a bit.
Tristan and Duke were stood on opposite sides of the blimp, alternating between glowering at each other and watching Serenity, something which Joey was not as oblivious to the two boys would have liked, though he was doing his best to ignore the looks until he had a moment to talk to them privately, loath to give up this moment of tranquillity.
Jamie sat up when Aisu nudged her, and the Trainer coaxed her Gyarados into moving his tail to allow Tea to join them.
"Heya," The Trainer waved, from her place, resting comfortably against her Charizard, "You alright?" She asked, patting the floor beside her.
"I'm good." Tea nodded, joining her and immediately getting nudged by Shade, the Mightyena putting his head in her lap, demanding attention which Tea was more than happy to provide. "How're you holding up?"
"Not bad, my team are looking good; we made it out of the Virtual World safely..."
Tea pursed her lips, "Uh huh, but how are you doing?"
Jamie looked surprised for a moment or two, as if she hadn't expected to be asked how she was feeling when she wasn't the one who was in danger, making Tea wonder if she'd ever had anyone who had been worried about her on her travels, then the icy haired girl nodded, "I'm fine, a little tired, but it's been a long day and we haven't even hit the semi-finals yet."
Tea sighed, glancing at Joey, who had paused midsentence to look over when the word 'semi-finals' had been uttered, and then at Yugi, who had lost his composure for only a millisecond or two, before looking over questioningly. "You sure you don't need to get some rest?" Tea worried at her, "It's going to be a long night too…"
"I'm ok." Jamie grinned and stretched, "This is quite relaxing enough."
"Is it bad that I agree with her?" Yugi asked as Yami appeared at his side in spirit form. "I mean I know we still have to stop Marik but…"
'No she's right. You have to take any chance you can, grab any peaceful moment you can get, because they can be few and far between.' Yami said, 'I'm surprised someone her age knows that lesson already. Some people three times your age have yet to learn it.'
"Besides," Jamie continued, "It's a nice afternoon and I get to spend some time with my team without having to deal with visitors." She looked up when Tsunami nodded towards the railings. She moved away from her Pokémon and towards the rails, looking over and calculating the drop. "Sorry Tsunami, we're still too high. You might get hurt. Wait until we start to land and I'll let you go for a swim, ok?"
Tsunami looked put out and proceeded to use Rain Dance causing Iblis to snarl and let loose a small flame from his mouth in anger and Bakura's Flygon screeched in protest.
"Hey!" Tristan protested as clouds appeared, the skies suddenly opened and everyone was drenched in seconds.
"Tsunami!" Jamie scolded, quickly recalling Iblis to protect the flame on the end of his tail, "There was no need for that!"
The Gyarados looked smug.
"Jamie?" Tea asked, as she watched Denkou dancing in the rain.
"Huh? Oh." Jamie chuckled, watching her Raichu, "She loves the rain, the only thing she likes more is thunder storms and no!" She saw Denkou get a mischievous look, "That was not an invitation to start one."
"Raichu?" Denkou asked, tilting her head at her.
"Because we're on an airship!" Jamie shook her head, "An airship? In the air? Making it a big fat target?"
"Rai Raichurai." Denkou sulked.
"I give up." Jamie growled, "If you want to start a thunder storm, wait until we've landed. I'd rather not be a huge target, thank you."
"No don't." Tea interrupted, looking at Denkou.
"Rai?" The Raichu looked curious.
"Knowing Rich Boy he'll have us battling on top of the highest thing he can find." Joey growled, "And being hit by lightening once is quite enough for me."
"Can we take this conversation inside please?" Duke asked, rain dripping off of his bangs.
"Give me a sec." Jamie nodded, recalling everyone but Aisu and looking around. "Has anyone seen Haunter?"
"Not for a few hours, but it's bright out, or it was," Joey glowered as he recalled Kaida and they headed inside, "You told me ghost Pokémon don't like sunlight."
"True." Jamie nodded, wondering whether Haunter was off aggravating Marik, "He's probably fine. It's not like there's much that can injure a ghost."
"Other ghosts, dark types and occasionally psychic types, right?" Joey questioned. He'd been fascinated by the Pokémon from the moment he had started helping Jamie out on a part time basis, and as such had been taking lessons on Pokémon care off of the Day Care Leader at every opportunity he got.
"Yeap," Jamie chuckled, "You pick this stuff up easier then some of the Trainers I know."
"Maybe if he paid as much attention in school as he does to what you teach him, he wouldn't be failing." Tristan looked impressed despite what his tone implied.
Joey muttered something unintelligible under his breath but didn't start a brawl, mostly because he was trying to be on his best behaviour while his sister was around.
The lift descended, taking the lot of them down to the floor where the food hall was, hoping for something to eat, just in time to hear someone scream and the loud clang of something metallic hitting the floor.
Haunter ghosted through the wall, waved at the group, and then vanished through the wall the other side, to another round of screams.
"Looks like we found Haunter." Joey sniggered.
Jamie facepalmed.
A woman in an apron stormed out of the room Haunter had ghosted into, spotted Jamie and stomped up to her, giving her a death glare and pointing accusingly. "This is your fault! Control your damn creature!"
"He's not mine," Jamie protested, surprising the others by backing up slightly, "I can't control him. Haunter's only trying to have fun."
"Well that ghost is causing mayhem all over the ship! He's scared half the staff, blown up the microwave, ruined dinner and you're the only one who can deal with the damn creature. He's just lucky I saw you before I saw Mr Kaiba. I suggest you deal with that thing, before I have to disturb Mr Kaiba's preparation time!"
Jamie sighed, "If you'll excuse me guys. I've got a ghost/poison type to track down." She disappeared around the corner before Yugi could say anything and the woman, who looked rather smug, went back into the room she'd stormed out of and was presumably the source of the rather loud instructions that were heard until the door slammed shut.
There was silence for a few seconds, as the group tried to process exactly what had just happened, then Yugi looked over his shoulder. "I should probably catch up with her."
"Did something happen?" Joey frowned, "You've been sticking closer to her then normal."
"It's because of the Ring, isn't it?" Tea asked. "Has something happened to Bakura?"
Yugi hesitated.
"Marik." Joey snarled, catching on almost immediately, "Can't he leave anyone alone?"
"That's why Jamie has the Ring?" Tristan demanded.
"What happened to Bakura?" Tea asked quietly, concern for Ryou obvious.
"Jamie took the Ring before Marik could grab it." Yugi explained, "She's guarding it for Bakura, because he's her friend. I don't know what happened to Bakura. I think Marik sent him to the Shadow Realm."
His friends all reacted in different ways. Joey swore, well aware that it was highly likely that Jamie now had a huge target on her back, Tristan growled something unintelligible, Tea blanched and Serenity and Duke knew enough to be worried.
"I'll find Jamie." Joey sighed, "Last thing we need is for you to find Jamie, only to get pulled into a Shadow Game because she couldn't stop Bakura taking control."
"But..." Yugi hesitated.
"I'll be fine. Besides, I have more experience with Pokémon then you do. I might have better luck helping with Haunter then you would. You're coming Serenity?" His sister nodded and the pair of them headed down the corridor after Jamie.
Tea watched them go, concerned. "You sure it's safe?" She asked Yugi.
'If you don't let Joey deal with it, he'll think you don't trust him.' Yami pointed out before Yugi could answer, 'He knows Marik is after Jamie and he still told you to stay away. You have to trust he knows what he's doing.'
"Joey'll be ok." Yugi nodded, more to Yami's comment then anything else.
Tea pursed her lips but nodded.
Yugi's stomach rumbled.
Duke chuckled and opened the door to the dining hall. "We'd better get something to eat before Yugi starts eating himself." He said, holding it open for the others.
"Come on." Tristan steered a hesitating Yugi into the dining hall, "Food first. Worry about duelling later."
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"You sure everything's going to be alright?" Iason worried as he sent out his Dragonite.
"You trust me, don't you Iason?" Yuki asked. The dragon trainer nodded. "Well, then stop worrying. You'll only be gone for a couple of hours and you've been wanting to get out and go flying with Dragonite for days. Shoo…" She chuckled, pushing him towards the huge Dragon Pokémon, who, as usual ignored everyone but her beloved Trainer.
"Don't let anyone wander off, and if Galactic come calling, don't let them catch anyone." Iason told her as he climbed onto Dragonite's back.
"I know, I know, just go already!" Yuki slapped Dragonite's thigh and the huge Pokémon launched herself high into the air, the downdraft knocked Yuki over and sent the objects toppling over.
Yuki picked herself up and watched the pair disappear, heading for Canalave City to speak with the only Gym Leader who hadn't closed their doors, and those whom he sheltered, possibly because the port there was unsubstantial and there was little else there that warranted concern, so the Galactic presence was low, about possible passage to Iron Island or New Moon Island, for the Cheryl and the younger Trainers before Iason brought his group into direct confrontation with Galactic's Eterna branch.
She'd watched the group grow in strength and saw their trust of the twenty one year old Trainer from Blackthorn City increase as he helped them train and got them out of some sticky situations, but, no matter what they thought her allegiances were, it had to end here.
Yuki had nothing against the group, she liked Nuri and Diana well enough and, if she hadn't already pledged her allegiance to someone else, she would have followed Iason into battle willingly, but, as it stood, now that Iason and his Dragonite were away and unable to help the others, she had to take this moment to act.
She pulled her Pokegear out of her pocket and dialled a number she had had saved under a different name specifically so that she wouldn't be caught.
"This is Snow reporting." She murmured quietly, looking around to check no one was listening in.
"It took you long enough." The voice on the other end snapped, "You have another assignment waiting. Mars requests that you report in to the Eterna branch immediately."
"Confirmed." Yuki nodded, though the man on the other end couldn't see it.
"We'll send someone to replace you." The man, who sounded like her co-worker, Flame, growled.
"No need, Flame." Yuki hissed, "The dragon Trainer just left, the target's wide open."
"About time." Flame sounded amused, "We'll send a Team in immediately."
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"That must be the Duel Tower." Joey exclaimed, looking up at the huge, shiny metal tower that was taller then the Kaiba Corp building. "I told Jamie that Kaiba would find the tallest thing possible to get us to Duel on."
"Where is Jamie?" Duke asked, looking around, confused. Understandably so since one minute Jamie had been with them and the next she hadn't.
In a burst of red light, Tsunami appeared, bellowing and looking at someone or something that was hidden by a pile of scrap metal for a moment, before he vanished in a huge wave and Jamie could be heard cussing her Pokémon from here to Domino.
"I can guess." Tristan sniggered.
"Well she did promise him a swim." Tea sighed, wondering if Jamie had any spare clothes on her.
"I'm just glad Denkou didn't start that thunder storm it was thinking of." Joey shuddered, still looking at the tower. "I don't know what the point of coming all the way out here is though, Kaiba has that new stadium he's building, and Kaiba Corp's big enough as it is."
"The island we're standing on is the site of the original Kaiba Corp." Mokuba explained as he, Seto and Houndour disembarked from the blimp, having caught the tail end of Joey's complaint. "My brother tore it down years ago."
"So why are we here now?" Joey complained.
"Because I plan on beating Yugi at the very top of my Duel Tower." Kaiba sneered at Yugi who didn't look particularly amused.
Yami took over, about to deliver a stinging retort when Joey growled and told Kaiba exactly where he could get off if he thought that Kaiba was going to defeat him this time.
"You're not even supposed to be in this tournament Wheeler," Kaiba snorted, with an amused smirk at the mutt's barking. "You rank amateur!"
Joey was about to snap back when a high pitched whistling sound caught their attention, making them turn towards where Tsunami had been moments ago.
"Jamie!" Joey yelped, dropping any argument he had been about to have with Kaiba, surprising the CEO, and racing towards the sound, clambering over the shrapnel that was piled up around the small cove and snarling as he found out what was wrong, Yugi only seconds behind him.
Marik, Millennium Rod just starting to glow, had backed Jamie into a corner.
"Get away from her!" Joey snarled, sending out the first Pokémon he could get a hold of, "Kaida, help her!"
The Pokémon that appeared in a burst of red light was most defiantly not Kaida.
In fact Marik swore and had to get out of the way quickly, as a gigantic blue Pokémon with red eyes, pale blue markings, metal armour around it's head and torso, which had a blue gem of rather starling beauty embedded into it, wing like blades on it's back and some rather threatening looking steel claws appeared with a roar, it's left front foot where he had been stood only moment before.
"What in Arceus's name…?" Jamie breathed, scrambling away as quickly as she could, shock obvious, reaching the top of the heap she'd been stood against before she turned to gaze upon the Pokémon in all its glory.
"Jamie, I thought you said that Dragonites were cute." Yugi's stunned voice was only just heard over the roar emitted by the Dragon/Steel Pokémon.
"That's not a Dragonite." Jamie replied, "That's… Joey how did you capture…"
"I didn't." Joey replied, staring at the Pokémon, then at the Pokeball which had fallen to the ground only a couple of feet away. It was white on the bottom, like a normal Pokeball, but on top it was a dark purple with two magenta spots and a white M on it. "Kaida brought me the ball."
"It's just another Pokémon." Marik snorted, unimpressed and ill amused by the fact he'd had the Trainer where he'd wanted her before Joey's interruption.
Jamie's nervous chuckle made Marik glower at her. "That's not just another Pokémon, that's Dialga, the Lord of Time!"
"Lord of Time!" Tea asked, shocked.
"Uh huh." Jamie nodded, edging towards the group, suddenly glad that Tsunami hadn't been able to hear her call, "Said to be the Pokémon created by Arceus, when Arceus brought life to our universe, to rule over time, Dialga is quite possibly one of the most powerful Pokémon ever…"
"I'm not afraid of your Time Lord." Marik snarled, taking steps towards the group.
Dialga roared.
Joey, Marik and the Pokémon disappeared for a moment or two, and then Joey and Dialga were back, but not Marik.
"What did you do?" Yugi, who had grabbed control when Yami had frozen at the sheer power emitted by the Pokémon now stood before them, asked, staring at Joey.
"I… I dunno."
"I do." Jamie breathed, sapphire eyes still wide, now biting her lower lip, "That was Roar of Time. Marik could be anywhere in the past right now."
"What?" Tristan demanded, "You're kidding! You have to be!"
"No, I'm not." Jamie shook her head, turning to look at Joey, who picked up the Pokeball and recalled the Temporal Pokémon who had been shifting restlessly, eying up the Master Ball in his hand, "Where did you send him?" She demanded.
"I don't know." Joey admitted, "Dialga directed the time travelling bit, I just went along for the ride."
"Man…" Tristan ran a hand through his hair, staring at the Pokeball in Joey's hand.
"So does this mean we won't have to deal with Marik now?" Tea asked, confused.
"It depends on how far back Dialga sent him." Jamie said, calming slowly and trying to ignore the schemes Bakura was coming up with in the back of her mind for what he'd do if he got his hands on that Pokeball. "If it was only a few hours, he's around here somewhere, but if it was more then a couple of days…"
Silence fell as the implications were obvious.
"Are you coming or not?" Kaiba, who had seen the huge Pokémon be sent out, disappear with Wheeler for a few seconds, reappear and be recalled, but had missed the explanation, demanded, impatient to get on with his Tournament.
"I think Team Galactic must have tried to capture him." Jamie said as they walked along the path that had been ploughed through from the blimp landing site to the tower, "But why they used a Master Ball is beyond me. I'd have thought a Red Chain like the one they used on Palkia would be better."
"What's a Master Ball?" Tea asked quietly, when no one else spoke up.
"It's a Pokeball that can capture any Pokémon, no matter how strong they are and forces them to obey the one holding it. As you can imagine they have a bit of a reputation, but this is the first time I've seen one up close." Jamie explained, "Normally, if Silph Co makes a batch, either one of the Team Rocket steals them to use themselves or sell on for a ridiculous price, or they go to a member of the Elite. Most Trainers don't like using them though."
"You mean Dialga has no choice but to listen to me?" Joey looked at the ball in disgust.
"I'm afraid not." Jamie shook her head, "As long as Dialga's linked to that ball, it's stuck with whoever holds it."
"How do you free a Pokémon?" Joey demanded, glowering at Jamie.
Jamie shied away from the look, understanding Joey's anger wasn't really directed at her, but still not willing to face it. "You'd have to break the Pokeball, but I don't know what will happen. Dialga could return to the Torn Dimension, what we call the space between worlds where Dialga, Palkia and Giratina come from, or it could rampage here and end all life as we know it."
Joey hissed and kicked at the dirt, causing it to billow up in a cloud of dust.
"Couldn't we use Dialga to kick Galactic out of Domino once and for all?" Mokuba asked, guessing that Dialga was powerful, considering it could 'end all life' as they knew it. "If it's that powerful, it should be able to take Palkia down easy."
"NO!" Jamie yelped, wheeling on the younger Kaiba brother, panic obvious. "Dialga and Palkia can't be allowed to meet! If they do they'll start fighting and everything will end! This world, my world, it'll all be over! We don't have Arceus or Giratina to stop them!"
Joey hissed again, steadily growing more and more unhappy with the situation.
"Pharaoh!"
Yugi turned towards the voice, and before he'd finished moving his head, Yami was in control and glowering at a ragged looking Marik, who looked pretty damn annoyed.
"Guess he wasn't sent too far back." Duke murmured just loudly enough for Tristan and Tea to hear.
"What do you want Marik?" Yami demanded.
"It's about time you got here. Sending me back in time a couple of days did nothing but give me time to plan more ways to torturing you."
"Hey artichoke head, you're going down!" Joey snapped.
"What's an artichoke?" Jamie asked Bakura since it was wholly inappropriate to ask anyone else at this moment of time.
'Shhh, I'm watching Wheeler make a fool of himself. I doubt he knows what an artichoke is either.'
"I doubt it." Marik snorted back at Joey. "You caught me off guard with your Lord of Time, that won't happen again." Marik turned to Kaiba. "When do I find out who my next victim is?" He demanded of the Kaiba brothers, the older of whom looked severely irritated at this point.
"Just chill out. We'll tell you inside the tower, is that clear?" Mokuba demanded, disliking Marik more and more with every encounter, his Houndour growling threateningly at the corrupt Tomb Keeper.
"Then let's finally get this tournament going so the fun can begin." Marik chuckled menacingly.
Joey's growl matched that of the Dark/Fire Pokémon as Marik followed behind the group, and he received an amused yet understanding smile from Yami for it as they reached the doors to the huge tower.
"Duellists," Considering all the delays, they weren't surprised that Roland, Kaiba's right hand man, had some how gotten here before them, "Welcome to the Duel Tower."
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Iason and Byron were deep in talks when Iason's Pokegear went off so loudly at it startled them both.
Checking the caller id, Iason apologised and took the call. "Nuri, what's wrong?"
"Galactic. They attacked the house." The ten year old whispered. "Yuki's with them."
Iason swore, getting to his feet so quickly that he knocked over the chair he'd been sitting in. "Where are you?"
"The Old Chateau. A bunch of us fled here after Miranda sent us away, but the place is flooded with Grunts. I think I'm the only one left."
"Hang tight. I'll be there soon, I promise."
"I…" Whatever Nuri was about to say was cut off as someone opened the door to wherever she was hiding with a bang and the girl dropped the Pokegear, with a cry. "Let me go!"
The call disconnected.
"Nuri! Nuri!" Iason shouted down the phone. "I've got to go." He said without apology to the Gym Leader, who just nodded, and he ran for the exit, trying to call Nuri back and swearing when the only answer he got was 'The number you have dialled is unavailable…'
He was only seconds out of the doors when he sent out his Dragonite, and she didn't complain when he climbed on her back and ordered her to fly back to Eterna Forest quickly, she could sense from his tone and attitude that something was very wrong.
He couldn't believe he'd been so stupid, entrusting the care of the group into the hands of a Galactic sympathiser, how had he not known?
He'd thought that Yuki was on their side. She'd certainly ranted about some of the things Galactic were up to often enough…
Had it all been a lie? A clever ruse to get them to let down their guard for a moment like this?
Or had Galactic managed to get to Yuki somehow, gotten at someone close to her perhaps…
Not for the first time did Iason wish he had his best friend, Raven, at his side. Between the pair of them, this wouldn't have happened.
Now he had to pray he wasn't too late and that he could save his friends before they were shipped off to the Otherworld or worse.
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"So the more life points they lose, the higher they go, and the first two to reach the top, by losing all of their points, are the two who will face off in the first round of the semi finals?" Jamie asked, looking up and finding herself unable to see the top.
"That's right." Mokuba sounded smug but Tristan couldn't help but wonder if there were barf bags provided, especially considering that Joey really disliked heights.
"The rules are thus," Roland started, once the four Duellists were in place, "All four Duellists will participate at the same time. As you lose life points, your Duel Terminal will climb, the first two to reach the top will face each other in the first round of the semi-finals."
Joey said something, but no one could catch what it was, what with the Duellists being something like twenty foot in the air above them.
"On your turn, you can attack any of the other four players. Your decks may only consist of forty cards so prepare your decks now."
Since Yugi's deck normally averaged that, Joey only needed to take out a few cards, Kaiba had known about the forty card rule when he'd prepped his deck last night and Marik had only five or so that he had to remove, it took the Duellists very little time to be ready.
"Now connect your Duel Disks to the terminal, this will display all cards currently in play." All four did so and all four terminals activated, "Remember this Duel does not effect your rankings in the tournament, it only determines who will face whom in the semi-finals."
"That's good then, right?" Tea asked, "Because the pressure's off."
"Not exactly." Duke shook his head. "This could be the most important Duel these guys play."
"What do you mean?" Tea asked.
"I get it." Jamie nodded, considering the Duellists above her. "If you plan it right, you can pick who you're playing in the next round and get an opponent you think you can beat easily, right?"
"Uh huh. Two Duellists could even gang up on one if they wanted." Duke nodded.
'This could be interesting.' Bakura murmured, as Duke continued to explain to Tea and Tristan. 'Both Kaiba and Marik want to fight the Pharaoh.'
"I don't know who I want to fight who." Jamie admitted. "I don't want Joey to fight Marik, but I'm not sure Yugi could beat Marik without Obelisk…" She shuddered both mentally and physically as the memory of Ra's attack on Bakura surfaced.
'Wheeler's in trouble no matter who he gets.' Bakura confided in her, 'He doesn't stand a chance of defeating any of the God cards and the Pharaoh's not likely to hold back just because they're friends. He wants to win this tournament too badly.'
"Yugi won't end up against Joey." Jamie shook her head, causing Tea to look at her, "Both Yugi and Joey want to fight Marik, and both Kaiba and Marik want to fight Yugi, only one of them can get what they want."
"Jamie?" Tea asked cautiously. "You alright?"
"Just thinking." Jamie nodded.
"Was it…" Tea carefully indicated the Ring while trying to avoid catching the attention of Yugi or Joey as the duel kicked off.
"Bakura thinks Joey's done no matter who he gets, I'm waiting to see who gets their way." Jamie nodded, watching Kaiba play a face down card and summon a monster. "Someone's going to be unhappy no matter what the match ups are."
"I know." Tea bit her lip.
Jamie wanted to reassure her, but in truth she couldn't bare being here, watching this and knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do to help. She'd have been about as much use staying back with Serenity, keeping an eye of Mai…
"I'm going to check on Serenity." Jamie nodded, making up her mind. "I'll be back before the semi-finals get started." She paused as Joey lost life points and went up the tower, his yelp catching her attention; "He really hates height, doesn't he?"
"Yes… are you sure you don't want to watch?" Tea asked, a little surprised.
"The nerves are bad enough in here without me adding to them." Jamie nodded. "I'll be back in time to watch the next round." She turned and looked at Mokuba, "Activate the lift for me?"
Mokuba, not taking his eyes off the Duel, nodded and swiped his security card through the scanner.
The lift tinged and Jamie stepped inside.
"Good luck guys. You're going to need it."
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Iason and Dragonite landed at the Old Chateau, only to have to immediately fight off the weak Pokémon of a group of grunts.
Neither of them were in the mood to play nicely either, Dragonite used Dragon Pulse and Hyper Beam to blast away the rattatta, zubat and stunky. Iason took the turn that Dragonite had to rest to dismount but before he could order another round of attacks, Yuki came into sight, following a tall, stocky man with red hair.
"You shouldn't have come, dragon Trainer." The man said, smirking.
"Who are you and what have you done with my friends?" Iason demanded.
"My name's Flame." The man sniggered, "And your friends are now guests in our care. Yuki did an excellent job, don't you think?" Flame asked, indicating the teenager stood next to him.
"Why, Yuki?" Iason asked, not ignoring Flame, Iason got the impression they were waiting for him to let his guard down, but turning slightly towards Yuki. "I thought you were our friend."
"I was, for a while." Yuki nodded, "But…" She hesitated.
"What did you do?" Iason growled, looking at Flame, "What did you do or say that made her turn?"
Flame snorted, "It wasn't hard, not with the right promise."
"Iason, please, join this side. They said that if we turn, they won't send the others to the Other World." Yuki pleaded.
Iason hesitated. On one hand he wasn't sure he could trust Yuki again and he certainly didn't trust this 'Flame' character one inch, but on the other could he doom the others to life in the Other World.
"Yuki, if you came back to my side, we could free the others." Iason countered slowly, "Between my dragons and your ice types they wouldn't stand a chance. If you'd just come to me in the first place…"
"You'd have done what, Iason?" Yuki demanded a little bitterly, "You've only just thought about bringing us into conflict with Galactic! What would you have done differently? The only way to save the others now is to turn yourself in…"
"I would have sent the younger ones away sooner," He was careful not to mention Cheryl, who had been out when he had left and he was unsure if she had returned before Galactic, "Started fighting long ago. We can still save the others. Please, fight along side me. Together we can win."
Yuki hesitated, then walked forwards, towards Iason.
"Yuki! What are you doing?" Flame demanded.
"What I must." Yuki said, pausing just yards away from Iason.
Iason bit back what he was about to say, letting her make the final choice.
Icy Wind blew through the forest, tiny ice shards striking his Dragonite, causing her to bellow in protest and Iason wheeled around to try and see where the attack was coming from.
Without warning, Snow struck, using Ice Punch on Iason, sending him sprawling.
Iason rolled over, recalled his Dragonite and sent out his Absol, confused when he saw that 'Yuki' had no Pokémon out. "How?" He demanded, shuddering a little with the cold that penetrated where her punch had frozen his jacket. His eyes widened, "You're an Awakened PKNE Positive… Let me guess, ice, right?"
"Took you long enough." Snow smirked, "I've been living with you for weeks and you've only just worked it out?"
"You didn't exactly show it off while you were with us."
"I didn't trust you fools not to keep me under close guard once you knew. After all PKNEs are much sought after by both sides, especially Awakened ones. Galactic just met me first."
Iason snarled. "You never were on our side, were you?"
"No." Snow admitted, reaching for her Pokeballs, seeing no need to use her own attacks when she had Pokémon that could attack for her, "I've been part of Galactic from the beginning, part of an elite squad within the Team actually." She sent out her Weavile. "Strike him down, Weavile."
Iason reacted instinctively, though surprise and disappointment clouded his judgement, "Absol, take her out!"
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"I wish I was Awakened." Jamie groused to Bakura as she stood guard over the infirmary, "I'd challenge Marik."
'Awakened?' Bakura asked, sensing the turmoil inside his friend, 'What's Awakened?'
Jamie smiled slightly, knowing Bakura could take the knowledge from her without any trouble and glad that Bakura held enough respect for her that he'd ask rather then take. "PKNEs have two stages. Sleeping, like me, and Awakened."
'What's the difference?'
"Awakened PKNEs can Attack."
'Attack? You mean how Pokémon attack?'
"Uh huh," Jamie was amused by Bakura's disbelieving tone, after all, was it so impossible for people to develop a way to defend themselves when Bakura regularly used magic, "Awakened PKNEs have the ability to use moves of their type. For example if I Awakened, I'd be able to use Dragon Pulse or Twister."
'Do you only get one attack?'
"Would you believe that it's a switch around? Instead of the Trainer teaching the Pokémon, the Pokémon can teach the Trainer."
Bakura chuckled. 'Really? The Trainer learns from the Pokémon?'
Jamie was about to respond when the phone went off.
"Hello?" Jamie asked, answering it quickly. "Alright, thank you Mokuba. I'll tell Serenity. Thanks, bye." She put the phone down and turned to the younger Wheeler. "Your brother is about to fight Marik. Do you want to watch?"
Serenity hesitated. She did, but at the same time not only did someone have to keep an eye on Mai, but she didn't want to see Marik torture her brother the way he had Mai.
"I have an idea." Jamie nodded, more to herself then anything. "I'll give you my Pokegear number, and if you want to join us, give me a buzz and I'll come and get you, ok?"
Serenity nodded. "Thanks, Jamie."
"No problem." The Trainer grinned. "See you once your brother's trounced Marik."
"See ya."
Serenity watched the Trainer dart out the door, the ghost Pokémon that was currently only listening to her standing guard over the door again, and turned towards the window just in time to see Jamie and Iblis take off and fly towards the Duel Tower.
Just moments after the red speck, which was all he could see of the Charizard once it reached the same height as the top of the tower, landed, the Shadows closed in around the tower.
The game had begun.