Chapter 19: - Last Chance
Team Galactic Administrator Mercury was in a good mood.
With the Master Ball located, if not in their hands, she'd been able to free up her grunts to once more work on securing the country. She'd already had reports back from Germany about the successful occupation of a company called Schroeder, and she herself had almost acquired a controlling share of several American and German arms manufacturers.
Iszmash was proving more difficult.
On the other hand, she had been practicing for her duel against the runner up. Precedent showed that people who opposed Yugi Mutou first had to face Joey Wheeler... and usually ground him into the dust on their way to inevitable defeat. Fortunately for Mercury, she had no desire to face the King of Games.
For now, however, the simple pleasures of a smoothly running operation, and an eighteen by eighteen grid with two mines remaining.
The intercom on her desk chimed, prompting her to pause the game and take her feet off the desk in order to lean forward and press the PTT to reply.
"Yes?" She asked, calmly.
"Grunt Miko's here to see you, ma'am." Her secretary, a local girl called Himei, told her.
"Send her in. Thanks." Mercury replied, before minimising the game and sitting back with her hands folded in her lap. A few moments later, the door opened to admit the small figure of her youngest agent, a glasses-wearing girl from Goldenrod named Nanoha Miko.
"I've got it, Mercury-sama!" Miko told her, happily, darting forward to place a deck box on the desk. "The individual cards might not be powerful... but when you make them work together properly, they can destroy the most powerful of monsters."
"What's this..?" Mercury wondered, quietly, lifting the box and flipping it open to check through the cards. "Hmm... ohh, that's adorable." She grinned, before glancing up at Miko. "So this deck will let me beat Joey Wheeler?"
"It should." Miko nodded. "Most of his deck is built around big monsters... he'll never see it coming. These are the key cards." She took the deck back for a moment, flipping through it before showing them to Mercury – a trap and a spell.
"Huh... interesting." She smiled.
"Just watch out for Jinzo." Miko told her. "Oh... I've acquired an opponent for you to test the deck against. He's a real creep, so don't feel guilty."
"You fought him?" Mercury glanced at her junior.
"Yes. Well... kind of. He was picking on some of the other Battle City drop-outs with an insect deck..." Miko frowned, angrily. "Giving us bug-users a bad name... I had Kiman humiliate him."
"Well done." The Administrator smiled at her. "In the New World, there won't be space for trash like him... but at least here he can be put to some good."
Miko just nodded, mutely, before showing her mistress to the duelling arena where the duellist was being held.
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Yami sighed as he stepped out of the lift, heading down to the blimp, hoping that there was news.
They'd tried to keep their minds off of it during the duel and while they hadn't been completely successful (having come far too close to losing for Yami's liking before they'd finally got into gear), they had managed to win with a last minute turn about, using their Dark Paladin to destroy Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragons, with a little help from the Red Eyes Black Dragon that Joey had let him keep after he'd won it back from the Rare Hunter that had taken it from Joey in the first place.
But now the duel was over, the worry was sinking in again and they wanted to get back as soon as possible.
"Yugi."
Yami jumped and wheeled around, to find Tristan had been waiting for him by the tower's exit. "How's...?"
"Stable." Tristan nodded, knowing what Yami was trying to ask, "The Doc thinks he's going to be okay. The blimp's busted so they're going to take us in the air ambulance."
Relief coursed through Yami and the Pharaoh sensed the same emotion coming from his hikari. "Thank the Gods." Yami murmured.
"How'd you do?" Tristan asked, watching the tension slide from his friend, "You did win?"
"Of course." Yami snorted, not going to admit how close it had been.
"Not that there was any doubt." Tristan agreed, "But Joey said he'd be pissed if he had to fight Kaiba in the finals."
"Joey said?" Yugi seized control without thinking, apologising belatedly to Yami for doing so, "He's awake?"
"Uh huh. Woke up about ten minutes ago." Tristan replied, smiling slightly at Yugi's enthusiasm, "Come on, I'll take you to the helicopter."
They were halfway down to the copter when Yugi paused in his tracks, making Tristan stop and give him a worried look. "What?"
"Marik's not taking the same helicopter, is he?" Yugi asked, biting his lower lip, not able to see them getting back without incident if he was.
"No." Tristan reassured him, ushering his friend down the path, "His copter already left. Mokuba called for two. I guess he didn't trust Marik not to try something."
Yugi nodded, sensing Yami's agreement at the statement, the Pharaoh wouldn't have trusted Marik either.
"What about the staff?" Yugi asked, concerned, "Are the helicopters big enough for everyone?"
"There weren't as many people aboard as we thought," Tristan snorted, "Between the two copters, everyone's evacuating safely."
"Good." Yugi nodded, wondering where Kaiba and Mokuba were as they reached the helicopter.
The pilots were impatient. They had orders to leave as quickly as possible and they had a patient onboard that they wanted to deliver to the hospital asap, so they hadn't been happy to wait for the last few people to arrive, and, the hatch had barely shut behind the pair of them before the chopper took to the air.
"Hey, Yuge." A weak voice called. Yugi froze up for a moment before turning around to find Joey waving at him.
"Joey, hey." Yugi smiled, trying to hide the guilt that coursed through him when he saw the state his friend was in. "How're you feeling?"
"Been better, been worse." Joey shrugged and winced as the movement aggravated his wound. Yugi's real emotions flashed across his face for a moment, and he shoved them back as quickly as he could, but Joey had already caught them and was now frowning. "Yuge..."
"I'm ok." Yugi lied, sitting down and looking out the window, still trying to figure out what exactly Kaiba was planning, how the CEO and his little brother were getting off of the island.
"Yugi..." Joey's call was sharper, concern obvious, but what he was about to say disappeared in the sounds of an explosion.
Yugi shot to his feet and turned to look out the window properly.
"What Yuge?" Joey demanded as everyone who was able rushed over to a window.
"The island!" Tea yelped, "It just..."
"Blew up..." The same woman from the kitchens, the one who had yelled at Jamie, whispered.
"What?" Joey demanded, trying to sit up properly to see for himself, only to let out a pained whimper and lie back, his sister hovering nervously.
"It's gone." Tristan was shocked.
"Mr Kaiba..." Roland, who had somehow managed to beat them to the helicopter, though Yugi didn't know how, let out a soft whisper, "Mr Mokuba..."
"They can't be gone." Yugi couldn't, wouldn't believe it. There was no way Kaiba would have killed himself over a Duel... was there? Even if Yugi could believe it of Kaiba, there was no way he would have taken Mokuba down with him...
"Yugi, look!" Tea pointed out the window by her.
Yugi darted over, looking out in time to see a white dragon rising from smoke.
"Blue Eyes?" One of the staff yelped.
"It's a Blue Eyes plane!" Someone else shouted, shocked.
And now Yugi knew where Seto and Mokuba were, his suspicions were confirmed when the jet drew even with their helicopter and Mokuba waved at him cheekily.
Then the pair were gone.
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Mercury smirked. Weevil was gloating. In the short time she'd known him; the bug user – despite a superficial resemblance to her own minion – had quickly grown to earn her loathing and disgust. He seemed to think he'd won – Insect Queen, a swarm of icky little eggs, and DNA Surgery all active facing off against her two adorable little monsters and single two face-down cards.
"Just get on with it." She sighed in mock annoyance. "Then you can go."
"Of course." Weevil cackled. "But I can't blame you for going to all this trouble just to face me! I'm an important Dueling champion after all!"
"He really is an idiot..." Mercury muttered to Miko, who was standing just behind her and to the left on the dueling platform. Weevil finally started to call his attack when the arena door banged open.
"What are you doing? You can't... oh!" One of the grunts guarding the door started, then trailed off. "Administrator Mars!"
"What?" Mercury started, looking away. Her distraction cost her the duel as she didn't activate the trap, but it was only a practice anyway and the safeties were turned to maximum. "Mars! What are you doing here?" She asked the older woman, worried. Was she being replaced?
"Fixing your mistakes." Mars told her as she swept into the room.
"I win, so I'll be going now." Weevil smirked, stepping off the arena pulpit and heading for the door.
"A.C." Mars gestured, and one of the six trainers following her casually threw a hand into the air, span an index finger in a little circle to call a spark then tossed it at Weevil. The spark expanded into a lightning bolt, which struck the green-haired duellist in the chest and blasted him back into the wall where he slid down to the floor and lay in a crumpled heap. Miko couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.
"Mistakes?" Mercury asked, wincing slightly. "I'm doing just fine here." She didn't step down from her own pulpit, knowing that Mars would use her height and comparatively larger frame to intimidate the smaller woman if she could.
"That's why Dialga is in the hands of our enemies, hmm?" Mars snorted. "Oh, Miko. I had wondered where you'd gotten to. I'm afraid your old friend Phobos had a bit of an accident... maybe you'd like to come work for the new model?" She smirked at the bug trainer, who glanced between Mars and her minions with real fear. She'd met the domineering woman only a couple of times before, and been just as terrified then. "Snow?"
"Heh." The blonde smirked. "Yeah. I'm Sub-administrator Phobos. Want to come back and work for a real trainer?"
"Why, you..." Mercury ground out through gritted teeth, shadow aura coalescing around her as her emotions darkened.
"Huh." Mars muttered, watching. "Files didn't say anything about you being positive..."
"Mercury-sama is a skilled trainer and a shadow mage!" Miko stammered, moving to stand next to her. "W-we have a plan, e-everything is in place, s-so..."
"Tchi. Like I care." Mars snorted. "As of now, all of Mercury's holdings are being transferred into my name. Administrator Mercury, these orders came from Cyrus himself." She strode forward and presented the blue-haired administrator with a sealed envelope. Mercury passed it to Miko, who opened the envelope with shaking hands as she tried to control her fear.
"Read it." Mars ordered her while Mercury fumed, shadows darkening. As a response, the one called A.C. lit up with a soft glow and the hum of charging electricity.
"C-commander Mercury..." Miko began reading. Had her mistress been demoted? "You are hereby reassigned. Report immediately to P-paradias headquarters for duties as... as Liason and to direct our forces p-personally. Administrator Mars will relieve you of o-over all command of Other World operations..." She paused. "That's all. It's s-signed Cyrus." She told Mercury, looking up from the paper of the sealed orders.
"Huh. Looks like you've got somewhere else to be. Run along, little girl." Mars smirked, and her trainers stepped aside to make a route for Mercury to leave. Miko made to follow her, but was stopped as Snow put out an arm to block her.
"Seriously, kid." Snow murmured. "Merc's on a sinking ship. You should jump."
"I d-don't betray my f-friends..." Miko replied, just as quietly. "Infiltrator Snow."
The ice-type dropped her arm, glaring daggers at the bug-user's back as the smaller girl quick-stepped to catch up with Mercury, much to her superior, Deimos' – also known as Flame – amusement.
"Mercury-sama..?" Miko asked, catching up outside and presenting her with the duel deck and Weevil's disk, which she'd worked so hard to retrieve.
"What is it, Miko?" The blue-haired girl asked, a little more forcefully than she'd intended.
"T-the deck..." She offered it to her mistress, timidly.
"What's the point?" Mercury scowled. "It's Mars' job now. Who the hell does she think she is, marching in and taking over like that, with her little team of genetic freaks?"
"Y-you mean... they were all PKNE-positive..?" Miko asked, eyes going wide. "Is that why... that A.C. could throw lightning..?"
"Yeah." Mercury made a derisive noise. "Just human-shaped Pokémon who think they're so much better than everyone else. Like that Francis witch. Prancing around pretending to be a hero just because she feels the cold a little bit and breathes underwater." The blue-haired woman sounded bitter and older than her twenty-two years should allow.
"B-but with the magic you've learned... and your skills... you're a match for any of them." Miko tried to placate her. "The power of the stone..."
"It's just a rock!" Mercury snarled at her, stopping to glare. "Don't you get it? Paradius gave me power, now I'm being sent back as a sacrifice to placate them before they decide they don't need our help to break this world apart!" She held her stance for a moment, making Miko cringe, before relenting. "I'm sorry, Miko-chan. I shouldn't take it out on you... you've been nothing but loyal to me since you were transferred..."
"It's okay, Mercury-sama..." Miko smiled back, feeling a pang inside. If Mercury knew... "I won't abandon you." She paused. "There is... more news. I didn't tell you yet because I wanted your mind to be clear during practice... and Mars doesn't know."
"What?" Mercury looked at her, confused.
"Two KC helicopters left a few minutes before I brought you the deck. One of them was carrying a mechanic from the aviations department... the competitors for the Battle city tournament should be returning soon, and they'll be heading straight for Kaiba Corp."
"I see..." Mercury frowned. "If I get Dialga first..."
"They won't be able to push you aside." She nods. "We should set a trap."
"Alright." Mercury nodded. "One last try... we'll show the others what Mercury can do. I'm not out yet."
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"What's going on?" Joey demanded, having missed what everyone else had seen.
"Seto has a Blue Eyes White Dragon plane." Tristan snorted. "He decided to take that instead."
"Trust Kaiba." Joey snorted, "He's obsessed with that dragon."
"Like you're much better about Red Eyes." Tea chuckled.
Yugi paused and unhitched his deck from its holder, sorting through until he found the card he was looking for. "Speaking of," Yugi said, offering the card to Joey, "I think this belongs to you."
Joey's eyes widened, having temporarily forgotten about the card. "Did it help?" He asked, reaching for his own cards, picking the bottom card up, thinking.
"Couldn't have beaten Kaiba without it." Yugi smiled, "I owe you one."
"Heh." Joey looked pleased, "I was sleeping, but my card wasn't." He grinned. "I'll do you a trade, Yuge." He offered the card in his hand.
Yugi's eyes widened when he saw what it was. "You serious?" Yugi whispered, stunned.
"I'd much rather have Red Eyes then this." Joey shrugged, having been given The Winged Dragon of Ra by one of the security guards who had apparently confiscated it from Marik, "At least Red Eyes likes me. I can't even use Ra." Joey smirked, "Not that this means I'm not going to crush you, next time we duel."
"We still have the finals to play." Yami took over for just a moment, to smirk back at his friend.
"Perhaps I should hold onto this then," Joey took his offering back, only slightly, grinning to show he was joking, "So you can't use it against me."
"A deal perhaps?" Yami suggested, "I won't use Ra, if you don't use Red Eyes."
"That's not fair Yuge!" Tristan protested, "You know he needs Red Eyes to beat you!"
"You saying I can't do it on my own?" Joey demanded, looking put out.
"I'm saying you need every trick you can get." Tristan snorted.
"I can beat Yuge, even without Red Eyes!" Joey protested.
"Thanks Yami." Yugi murmured down the link, grateful Joey had been distracted as the debate grew in volume; right up until the paramedic who was riding in the back demanded that it stopped, for her patient's wellbeing.
'As much as I hate to admit it, Kaiba did most of the distracting.' Yami snorted. He sensed amusement from his hikari, who knew that Yami hated being outdone by anyone, even in things like this.
"I'll take your deal, Yuge." Joey nodded at the Pharaoh, "I won't use Red Eyes, if you don't use Ra."
They traded cards, Red Eyes returning to his rightful owner and Ra joining the other two Gods who now rested within Yugi's deck.
With the return of his dragon, Joey felt relief course through him. It felt like it was over, all over, finally and he couldn't understand why.
Marik was still out there, still after Yugi, and, though the Rod had been blown up with the island, at least so they believed, he wouldn't be surprised if there was another power out there that Marik could use to harm his friend, so why, with the return of Red Eyes, did it feel like it was over, at least this part was, there would be other battles in the future.
Speaking of battles, he looked over to where Yugi was very deliberately not looking in his direction. "Yuge..."
"Guys, I need to tell you something, and you're not going to like it." Jamie started speaking at the same moment Joey did, her voice loud enough to override his.
As concerned as he was for the Trainer, Joey let out a frustrated snort, wondering if events were conspiring against him getting to talk properly to Yugi.
"What?" Tristan frowned, "What's wrong?"
"It's not that I don't like you guys," Jamie sighed, "And it's not that I'm not grateful for everything you've done for me, Yugi..."
"What?" Now Tristan's tone took on a hint of warning, making Jamie giggle slightly internally.
"He thinks I'm going to attack them or something." She sent to Bakura, then remembered that she'd returned the Ring to Ryou and glanced at the Tomb Robber before she answered. "I'm leaving."
"Ha, good joke." Joey snorted, then looked at her properly, "You serious?"
"Why?" Tea asked, confused.
"I found out there are other people, other Pokémon, who have been sent here by Galactic and they're scared, confused and alone." Jamie explained. "Whole cites have been ruined, and they've needed help and I've been living in Domino happily while others from my world have been suffering." She looked like she was kicking herself, "I have to go. I have to help them."
"I understand." Yugi nodded.
She smiled slightly. She could imagine Yugi doing the same in her position.
"Isn't there someone else who could go?" Tea asked.
"No. It has to be me. I'm the only Pokémon Trainer who has high level connections in this world. There's no one else."
"Who's going with you?" Tristan asked, worried for his friend.
"No one. Just me and Aisu."
"Just... what about your other Pokémon?" Joey demanded.
"Actually that's where I need to ask you a favour, Joey." Jamie smiled slightly, though she looked slightly depressed, as she unclipped a Pokeball and looked at it intently, "I was hoping, since you did so well with Kaida, you'd be willing to look after Iblis for me."
"You want me to look after your Charizard?" Joey asked, staring at the ball in her hand, shocked.
"I don't trust people with my Pokémon easily." Jamie told him, "I've raised them all from a low level, worked hard with them, and I have no choice but to leave them behind to protect the Day Care Centre, but I want to leave Iblis with you. He's temperamental and doesn't trust people easily but he likes you, so I was hoping... since you're good with Pokémon and you work at the Day Care six days a week..." She offered the Pokeball.
"I'd be honoured." Joey nodded slowly, taking the offer, staring at the Pokeball, "If you're sure."
"I am."
"Jamie, you can't be serious." Tea protested, concerned, "You want to leave? On your own? Without anyone to help you? You don't know this world; you don't know the people, or the cultures or the languages..."
"I'm heading to Tokyo," Mai interrupted, speaking up for the first time since the helicopter had taken off and looking the Trainer in the eyes. "I'll take you as far as that."
"What?" Jamie's eyes went huge and she stared at Mai in shock, as if the thought of someone coming with her had never occurred to her.
"I'll go with you as far as Tokyo." Mai offered. "If you're willing to put up with me."
"You sure? I mean, it's not exactly easy travelling my way." Jamie asked once Mai's offer had sunk in, more than willing to have company but certain, from what she had seen of those from this world, they wouldn't be willing to travel the way she travelled, on foot at all times, and, considering the layout of the rifts that had been mapped by Kaiba Corp's satellites, it wasn't just going to be a walk in the park to find some of the areas between here and Tokyo. "And your car..."
"It's a rental, I could just put it into the local outlet and they'd return it to the right depo." Mai shrugged, "And I can get my own supplies."
Jamie nodded, thinking it over, "You'd need a Pokémon. It's not safe to approach wild ones who are confused or hurt without one and I wouldn't recommend travelling without protection anyway."
"Couldn't I borrow one of yours?" Mai asked.
"No, but..."A thought struck Jamie and she pulled two Pokeballs out of her bag, looking over at Bakura and wondering why she hadn't asked before, "What were in those Pokeballs you gave me yesterday?" She asked the Tomb Robber, who tried to think. Yesterday seemed like an eternity ago now.
"Staravia and Seviper." He replied.
"A what and a what?" Tea asked.
"Staravia," Jamie hitched her Pokedex out of her pocket and called it up on screen, letting everyone look before changing the picture, "And Seviper." She passed it around again.
"Can I meet Staravia?" Mai asked, quite taken with the bird she'd seen on screen.
Jamie nodded, "I'll introduce you at the Day Care Centre, when I drop off my team. If you and Staravia don't get on and you really want a bird Pokémon, there are other flyers there. Pidgeotto or Alteria might like you instead."
"Won't Kaiba mind if you take Pokémon from the Day Care Centre without his permission?" Tristan snorted.
"He keeps telling me they're my Pokémon." Jamie shook her head, "If they're mine, I can lend them to a friend if I want."
Yugi couldn't help wondering if it worked like that, while Yami snorted his amusement at her complete disregard for Kaiba's authority.
"When are you going to leave?" Tea asked quietly, glad Mai was going with Jamie as far as Tokyo, but wishing Jamie wasn't leaving at all.
Jamie looked at Mai, having planned on leaving first thing in the morning, but not used to having to plan for someone else. "Tomorrow morning?" She asked.
"Tomorrow afternoon." Mai shook her head, "I want to pick up some stuff before we leave and no offence but I want my own sleeping bag."
Jamie grinned slightly, "Fair enough."
"I take it this means you need the stuff you've been hiding at mine?" Bakura asked, watching events unfold and earning himself a glower from Jamie and Jamie a glower from Tristan.
"What stuff?" The teen demanded.
"I love the fact that I've lived with Yugi for the last few months and now, because I have a few secrets you think I'm going to endanger someone." Jamie's midnight blue eyes flashed angrily, "If you have to know, I've been buying new camping equipment, but there wasn't enough room to store it all at the Game Shop so I asked 'Kura to look after it for me." She said, glaring at the brunette who backed down with an apology, then she turned to Bakura, "And yes, if you don't mind."
He did, but since he wanted her as far away from the danger he could cause as possible, he shook his head, "Not a problem."
"Thanks." Jamie nodded.
"Where are you staying tonight, Mai?" Tea asked softly, breaking the mood that had been rising.
"I have a hotel booked." Mai lied, though she could get one easily enough. She was kind of surprised at herself, actually. Surprised that she had wanted to get away from those who had called themselves her friends as quickly as she could, even the one who had risked his life to save hers, and yet she had jumped at the chance to go with a complete stranger on a dangerous journey that would take her away from big cities and Duel Monsters tournaments... "Thanks for the offer though."
"Any time." Tea nodded.
Mai moved over to sit beside Jamie and the Jamie pulled out a sheaf of print outs she had in her backpack, showing Mai where they'd need to go and estimating how much time it would take to get from Domino to Tokyo on foot. It wasn't going to be a quick journey by any stretch of the imagination.
Listening to them chatter got them through the journey, though Joey, who still hadn't gotten to talk to Yugi, fell asleep as Jamie mentioned somewhere and Mai mentioned she'd heard rumour about horse spirits whose manes and tails were on fire living there, getting Jamie excited about something called Ponyta, and didn't wake up until the helicopter was hit by something and everyone either held on tightly or fell on the floor.
"This is the pilot speaking." He sounded nervous over the loudspeaker system installed in the huge air ambulance, "We seem to have a problem..."
"Jamie!" Serenity pointed out her window.
"Galactic!" Jamie swore and demanded everyone hold on tight, before hitting the ramp release button.
It opened slowly and before it was halfway there Jamie had turned to Joey and asked if she could borrow Iblis. Joey nodded and given her the Pokeball back. Then the Trainer had sent out the Charizard, climbed on his back and dropped out the door, just escaping the helicopter before it was hit again.
Serenity watched out the window as Jamie scared off one lot of grunts, only for another to fly alongside the chopper and demand it land.
"It's not Jamie they're after." Bakura muttered, scowling as the helicopter started to descend onto the concrete of Domino's harbour.
"But who else could they want?" Serenity asked, worried as they touched down.
Her question was answered a moment later as three grunts boarded, backed up by impressive looking Pokémon.
"We're looking for Joey Wheeler." One of them growled.
"I'm Joey." Tristan stepped forward as Yami took over and got between the grunts and the real Joey, who tried to speak up but was silenced by a glare from the Pharaoh, "What do you want?"
"Our boss wants to speak with you." Another answered, "You see, you have something that belongs to us."
"I don't think so." Tristan snorted, "Even if I did have something belonging to you, I wouldn't speak with your boss. Now I suggest you leave."
"You will come with us." The last grunt growled, "Our boss doesn't take no for an answer."
"What does your boss want?" Yami demanded, buying time for Jamie, as Tristan glanced quickly at Joey who was trying to sit up and reach for his Pokeballs, which were in the bag next to his.
"Your friend has a rather rare Pokémon that belongs to Team Galactic." The first grunt snorted, "We want it back."
"Flygon! Haunter!" Bakura sent out his two Pokémon, not to protect Joey but to cause enough chaos for someone to slip away with Dialga.
He'd been in Jamie's head, he knew what legend stated Dialga could do, had seen the temporal Pokémon in action, and it was for Jamie's sake that he and his Pokémon backed the grunts out of the helicopter, unwilling to let them take the key to destroying her world forever.
Something red and metallic and vaguely bug like darted into the helicopter, seized Serenity and darted back out again.
"No!" Joey bellowed, forcing himself onto his feet and seizing his Duel Disk and Pokeballs, before rushing out after his sister.
"Shit." Tristan darted out after him, knowing full damn well that Joey wouldn't be rational if Galactic had Serenity and that Joey was in fit state to fight anyone, Yami close behind.
A huge red Pokémon with massive claws held Serenity tightly, threatening to strike.
"I see Scizor was a better motivator then those grunts." A woman laughed as she stepped out of the shadows.
The grunts in question were busy with the Tomb Robber's Pokémon.
"Get your bug to let go of my sister." Joey growled, reaching for Kaida's ball, then remembering that the Dragonair was still exhausted from their earlier Shadow Game.
"Who are you?" Tristan took command again, trying to keep the bad guys attention on him.
"I am Galactic Admin Mercury." The woman snorted, "And Wheeler has my Pokémon. Once it's returned, your sister will go free."
"I'm Wheeler." Tristan and Joey said at the same time.
"You can't both be Wheeler." Mercury snorted, "Scizor?"
The Pokémon tightened his grip and Serenity let out a pained squeak.
"I'm Joey Wheeler!" Joey shoved past Tristan, adrenaline pushing him far beyond the pain, though it would catch up with him quickly, "Let my sister go, you bitch."
"I've heard you like playing games with lives on the line." Mercury snorted. "So Duel me."
"Duel you?" Joey snarled, "I'll tear you limb from limb if you hurt my sister."
"You win, I'll let your sister go and you won't see me again. You lose, I'm taking Dialga and..."
"Joey no..." Serenity shook her head, knowing how injured her brother was.
"No choice, Serenity." Joey growled, shuffling his deck and about to put his Duel Disk on when Yami grabbed his arm.
"Let me do it."
"It's my sister, Yuge." Joey snapped.
"Wheeler must duel, no one else." Mercury sniggered at them. "Especially not the King of Games. Do you really think I'm that stupid? We know who you are, Yugi Mutou. Now back away and let your friend duel. Or else."
"Yuge..." Joey growled.
Yami backed off slightly.
"Let me stand in." Tristan spoke up, catching Mercury's attention, "I can't duel my way out of a paper bag so I'm no threat on my own. Joey can duel by proxy, by telling me what to do. He can't duel you as he is."
"Tristan." Joey growled, just wanting to get it over with so he could save his sister.
"No. Wheeler only." Mercury snorted. "How many times do I have to repeat it?"
"Fine." Joey growled, activating his disk. "You're going down."
Mercury smirked. She would prove to Cyrus that it was her that was worthy of being Dialga's Master, not that cow, Mars, who had been sent to replace her and she would do so by crushing the teen, who currently held the Pokémon, at his own game.
"It's time to Duel."
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They weren't after her.
It didn't compute in Jamie's mind.
From the moment she'd fallen into this world she'd been hunted down by Team Galactic and now they had her at a disadvantage and they weren't interested in more than keeping her away from the helicopter?
What was so important about...?
No... no, No, NO!
How could they know?
No one knew Joey had Dialga except those who had been on the island!
"IBLIS," She demanded, risking everything on this one move, one she'd never used when she'd been riding her Charizard before because of the danger to herself, "BLAST BURN!"
The Charizard attacked, firing a ball of fire out which exploded outwards, not affecting Iblis but knocking out all the Pokémon surrounding it, the shockwave sending Jamie tumbling from his back, unconscious.
"ZAAARD!" Iblis, who couldn't do more than glide thanks to the energy it had expended, let out a terrified bellow, knowing it would be unable to reach her in time.
"FLYYY!" Flygon darted under the falling Trainer, flying upside down in order to catch her in its arms, before dropping her by his Trainer and going to the Fire/Flying type's aid, helping it get rid of those who had used its temporary weakness to try and knock it from the sky.
Haunter, who was using the night to its full advantage, defeated the grunts that had been aboard the blimp, and was about to start on the nearby Grunts in the air, when spirit shadow, his 'Trainer', who was carrying the fallen Gym Leader, asked him to 'distract' Scizor.
Haunter liked when spirit shadow asked him to 'distract' someone. They'd done it before, when they'd stolen those Pokémon from the other Trainers and it basically consisted of aggravating the person in question until they dropped everything and chased after him.
And it would be even more of a challenge because it was a bug Pokémon he was supposed to be distracting and it would have lots of attacks that could be fun to fight against.
"Haunt." The ghost nodded and disappeared into the darkness.
"Let me take her." Someone grasped his shoulder and he wheeled around, glowering, only to find that it was the pilot from the helicopter. "If you're a Monster Tamer, then you need to fight. I'll look after her." He indicated Jamie.
"Stay close. I don't want her out of my sight." Bakura growled, noting that Iblis and Flygon were clearing last of the flyers and there were only a few left, hovering around their boss, who had taken Joey's sister hostage (in what had probably been a stroke of sheer dumb luck since barely anyone even knew that Wheeler had a sister) and was, for some unknown reason, duelling against Joey.
Bakura wasn't stupid. He knew how injured Joey was.
He also knew the teen was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he didn't duel, Mercury would kill his sister unless he gave them Dialga.
He duelled and he lost, he would have to give up the Lord of Time and not only his sister, but Jamie's entire world and maybe this one too, would be destroyed.
He duelled and won, there was no guarantee that Mercury would free his sister.
Jamie would have done anything in her power to help her friend, but she was unconscious...
Bakura didn't want Dialga to fall into the hands of Galactic because of how much it would hurt Jamie and how much it would interfere with his own plans, but did he really want to get involved in the fight of one of the Pharaoh's bodyguards...?
"JOEY!" Serenity screamed.
Joey fell to his knees as Mercury's cute monsters bypassed his Jinzo and struck him directly.
The Pharaoh darted to Joey's side, helping him to his feet, the blonde leaning heavily on the much smaller teen, who shook slightly with the effort of holding his friend up.
Everyone was so focused on that, that they missed the fact Scizor shook his head irritably, snapping at something in the air around it.
Haunter was doing his job...
"He shouldn't be duelling..." The pilot who was carrying Jamie complained.
"It's his sister." Bakura disagreed, old pain striking his heart, "He should fight until his last breath."
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"I've got you Joey." Yugi murmured.
Joey could feel his friend shaking, his weight almost more than Yugi's slight frame could handle, but after that last attack, he was beginning to feel light headed again and he needed all the support he could get.
He felt Yugi's height shift and heard Yami hiss.
"End it fast Joey." The Pharaoh actually sounded scared. In any other situation, knowing that Yami was scared would have freaked him out, but he couldn't get any more freaked out then he was now.
When it had been his life on the line, he had been willing to fight to the death to stop anyone else getting hurt.
When it had been Yugi's life on the line, he had been able to come up with a last minute solution and save his friend, twice.
But when it was his sister's life on the line, he was scared, because the consequences seemed far too real, far too terrifying...
"Joey..." Serenity whimpered.
Joey drew, frowning as Scizor snapped at something again. It had been doing that a lot during the Duel. "Mercury, it's over." He managed to call, "I activate De-Spell, destroying your Heart of Clear Water leaving your monster wide open for..."
He indicated his Jinzo who, without a real order from Joey, struck down Mercury's Princess, destroying her life points.
"I win. Now free my sister." Joey growled.
"Not until you give me Dialga!"
"Haunter! Now!" Bakura ordered.
Haunter struck the bug/steel type with something that peed it off and it let go of Serenity to chase after the ghost/poison type.
"Joey!" Serenity darted to her brother's side.
"NO! NO!" Mercury screeched, lunging forwards, going for Joey. "GIVE IT TO ME! IT'S MINE!"
Yami shoved Joey towards Tristan, protecting his friend, before instinctively lashing out with his magic, sending Mercury sprawling.
He watched her get to her feet, waiting to see what her next plan of attack was.
"Yuge, behind you!"
Yami wheeled around to find himself face to face with Scizor, who looked rather pissed off and took a swipe at him with one of its huge claws.
"Staravia!"
The large brown bird Pokémon swooped past with glowing wings, bashing into Scizor and knocking it back about five foot.
Yami, having been caught by surprise by both Scizor and the save, looked at the person who'd ordered the attack and had another surprise thrown on his when he saw that, instead of the Pokémon Trainer he'd expected, the one holding the Pokeball was none other then Mai, who had surprised herself by using the ball she'd seen fall out of Jamie's pocket when she'd been demanded Iblis back from Joey.
Scizor attacked the bird with Metal Claw. Staravia narrowly avoided it and glanced at Mai, waiting for orders.
"Attack?" Mai asked, rather then commanded, but Staravia shot forward, raking at the Bug/Steel type with its sharp talons as Yami turned back to Mercury who looked like she'd lost the plot completely and was sending out her entire team to fight them.
They needed Jamie…
"Dialga, come out!" Joey's voice cut over the noise of the Pokémon and the red light that deposited the huge Time Pokémon above them, one of its legs crushing a nearby warehouse, made everyone and everything stop and look.
"That Pokémon is mine!" Mercury snarled, "And I will take it by force if I have to! Everyone, attack!"
"Roar of Time."
Dialga bellowed and once again Joey and his Pokémon disappeared, this time just taking the enemy's Pokémon with them, including those of the Grunts that were still fighting Iblis and Flygon (though there weren't many now). Then they were back and Mercury's team weren't, leaving the admin all alone.
"No… it can't be over! I won't let her take my future away from me!" Mercury protested, "I won't!" She went to dart past Yami and attack Joey, who had returned from the past unconscious.
"Tristan, get him to hospital!" Yami demanded, seeing what she was planning and preventing it in the only way he could think of.
Darkness swarmed, surrounding Yami and pulling Mercury in as she tried to dart past the Pharaoh.
Then the bubble closed trapping Yami and Mercury inside.
"What did he do?" Mai demanded of Tristan, who looked a little pale and was busy tending to Joey, who was once again in desperate need of medical attention, which was, thankfully about to be provided by the chopper crew who rushed Joey, Serenity, who refused to be parted from her brother, and Jamie, who was still out cold from the blast, to hospital and left the rest of them there. "Tristan!"
"Yugi's used the only card he had left to defend us." Tristan answered slowly. "He's pulled Mercury into a Shadow Game."
Mai froze, remembering her own Shadow Game and the Penalty for losing. "He wouldn't…" It was Yugi. He wouldn't do that to someone, he couldn't, surely….
"There was no choice Mai." Tristan sounded a little frosty, "If you didn't notice," He recalled Dialga to its ball and sat down, waiting for the bubble to disappear, "She wasn't going to give up. Now only one of them is coming back safely." Tea sat down beside him, "Yugi's risking his own soul to protect us, Mai, and I, for one, appreciate it."
"But…" The Shadow Realm? Wasn't there another way?
"If you don't agree with me, then go. We'll see you off tomorrow, if Jamie's alright to travel." Tristan snorted dismissively.
"Valentine." Mai was about to leave, as she obviously wasn't wanted here by Tristan or Tea, who were just waiting for Yugi's return, when Bakura of all people called her name. She turned to glower at him, only to find him bowing his head submissively, "If I might ask for a lift to the hospital…?"
She nodded shortly and the pair of them left, leaving the two teenagers alone to wait for the return of their friend.
With the Master Ball located, if not in their hands, she'd been able to free up her grunts to once more work on securing the country. She'd already had reports back from Germany about the successful occupation of a company called Schroeder, and she herself had almost acquired a controlling share of several American and German arms manufacturers.
Iszmash was proving more difficult.
On the other hand, she had been practicing for her duel against the runner up. Precedent showed that people who opposed Yugi Mutou first had to face Joey Wheeler... and usually ground him into the dust on their way to inevitable defeat. Fortunately for Mercury, she had no desire to face the King of Games.
For now, however, the simple pleasures of a smoothly running operation, and an eighteen by eighteen grid with two mines remaining.
The intercom on her desk chimed, prompting her to pause the game and take her feet off the desk in order to lean forward and press the PTT to reply.
"Yes?" She asked, calmly.
"Grunt Miko's here to see you, ma'am." Her secretary, a local girl called Himei, told her.
"Send her in. Thanks." Mercury replied, before minimising the game and sitting back with her hands folded in her lap. A few moments later, the door opened to admit the small figure of her youngest agent, a glasses-wearing girl from Goldenrod named Nanoha Miko.
"I've got it, Mercury-sama!" Miko told her, happily, darting forward to place a deck box on the desk. "The individual cards might not be powerful... but when you make them work together properly, they can destroy the most powerful of monsters."
"What's this..?" Mercury wondered, quietly, lifting the box and flipping it open to check through the cards. "Hmm... ohh, that's adorable." She grinned, before glancing up at Miko. "So this deck will let me beat Joey Wheeler?"
"It should." Miko nodded. "Most of his deck is built around big monsters... he'll never see it coming. These are the key cards." She took the deck back for a moment, flipping through it before showing them to Mercury – a trap and a spell.
"Huh... interesting." She smiled.
"Just watch out for Jinzo." Miko told her. "Oh... I've acquired an opponent for you to test the deck against. He's a real creep, so don't feel guilty."
"You fought him?" Mercury glanced at her junior.
"Yes. Well... kind of. He was picking on some of the other Battle City drop-outs with an insect deck..." Miko frowned, angrily. "Giving us bug-users a bad name... I had Kiman humiliate him."
"Well done." The Administrator smiled at her. "In the New World, there won't be space for trash like him... but at least here he can be put to some good."
Miko just nodded, mutely, before showing her mistress to the duelling arena where the duellist was being held.
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Yami sighed as he stepped out of the lift, heading down to the blimp, hoping that there was news.
They'd tried to keep their minds off of it during the duel and while they hadn't been completely successful (having come far too close to losing for Yami's liking before they'd finally got into gear), they had managed to win with a last minute turn about, using their Dark Paladin to destroy Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragons, with a little help from the Red Eyes Black Dragon that Joey had let him keep after he'd won it back from the Rare Hunter that had taken it from Joey in the first place.
But now the duel was over, the worry was sinking in again and they wanted to get back as soon as possible.
"Yugi."
Yami jumped and wheeled around, to find Tristan had been waiting for him by the tower's exit. "How's...?"
"Stable." Tristan nodded, knowing what Yami was trying to ask, "The Doc thinks he's going to be okay. The blimp's busted so they're going to take us in the air ambulance."
Relief coursed through Yami and the Pharaoh sensed the same emotion coming from his hikari. "Thank the Gods." Yami murmured.
"How'd you do?" Tristan asked, watching the tension slide from his friend, "You did win?"
"Of course." Yami snorted, not going to admit how close it had been.
"Not that there was any doubt." Tristan agreed, "But Joey said he'd be pissed if he had to fight Kaiba in the finals."
"Joey said?" Yugi seized control without thinking, apologising belatedly to Yami for doing so, "He's awake?"
"Uh huh. Woke up about ten minutes ago." Tristan replied, smiling slightly at Yugi's enthusiasm, "Come on, I'll take you to the helicopter."
They were halfway down to the copter when Yugi paused in his tracks, making Tristan stop and give him a worried look. "What?"
"Marik's not taking the same helicopter, is he?" Yugi asked, biting his lower lip, not able to see them getting back without incident if he was.
"No." Tristan reassured him, ushering his friend down the path, "His copter already left. Mokuba called for two. I guess he didn't trust Marik not to try something."
Yugi nodded, sensing Yami's agreement at the statement, the Pharaoh wouldn't have trusted Marik either.
"What about the staff?" Yugi asked, concerned, "Are the helicopters big enough for everyone?"
"There weren't as many people aboard as we thought," Tristan snorted, "Between the two copters, everyone's evacuating safely."
"Good." Yugi nodded, wondering where Kaiba and Mokuba were as they reached the helicopter.
The pilots were impatient. They had orders to leave as quickly as possible and they had a patient onboard that they wanted to deliver to the hospital asap, so they hadn't been happy to wait for the last few people to arrive, and, the hatch had barely shut behind the pair of them before the chopper took to the air.
"Hey, Yuge." A weak voice called. Yugi froze up for a moment before turning around to find Joey waving at him.
"Joey, hey." Yugi smiled, trying to hide the guilt that coursed through him when he saw the state his friend was in. "How're you feeling?"
"Been better, been worse." Joey shrugged and winced as the movement aggravated his wound. Yugi's real emotions flashed across his face for a moment, and he shoved them back as quickly as he could, but Joey had already caught them and was now frowning. "Yuge..."
"I'm ok." Yugi lied, sitting down and looking out the window, still trying to figure out what exactly Kaiba was planning, how the CEO and his little brother were getting off of the island.
"Yugi..." Joey's call was sharper, concern obvious, but what he was about to say disappeared in the sounds of an explosion.
Yugi shot to his feet and turned to look out the window properly.
"What Yuge?" Joey demanded as everyone who was able rushed over to a window.
"The island!" Tea yelped, "It just..."
"Blew up..." The same woman from the kitchens, the one who had yelled at Jamie, whispered.
"What?" Joey demanded, trying to sit up properly to see for himself, only to let out a pained whimper and lie back, his sister hovering nervously.
"It's gone." Tristan was shocked.
"Mr Kaiba..." Roland, who had somehow managed to beat them to the helicopter, though Yugi didn't know how, let out a soft whisper, "Mr Mokuba..."
"They can't be gone." Yugi couldn't, wouldn't believe it. There was no way Kaiba would have killed himself over a Duel... was there? Even if Yugi could believe it of Kaiba, there was no way he would have taken Mokuba down with him...
"Yugi, look!" Tea pointed out the window by her.
Yugi darted over, looking out in time to see a white dragon rising from smoke.
"Blue Eyes?" One of the staff yelped.
"It's a Blue Eyes plane!" Someone else shouted, shocked.
And now Yugi knew where Seto and Mokuba were, his suspicions were confirmed when the jet drew even with their helicopter and Mokuba waved at him cheekily.
Then the pair were gone.
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Mercury smirked. Weevil was gloating. In the short time she'd known him; the bug user – despite a superficial resemblance to her own minion – had quickly grown to earn her loathing and disgust. He seemed to think he'd won – Insect Queen, a swarm of icky little eggs, and DNA Surgery all active facing off against her two adorable little monsters and single two face-down cards.
"Just get on with it." She sighed in mock annoyance. "Then you can go."
"Of course." Weevil cackled. "But I can't blame you for going to all this trouble just to face me! I'm an important Dueling champion after all!"
"He really is an idiot..." Mercury muttered to Miko, who was standing just behind her and to the left on the dueling platform. Weevil finally started to call his attack when the arena door banged open.
"What are you doing? You can't... oh!" One of the grunts guarding the door started, then trailed off. "Administrator Mars!"
"What?" Mercury started, looking away. Her distraction cost her the duel as she didn't activate the trap, but it was only a practice anyway and the safeties were turned to maximum. "Mars! What are you doing here?" She asked the older woman, worried. Was she being replaced?
"Fixing your mistakes." Mars told her as she swept into the room.
"I win, so I'll be going now." Weevil smirked, stepping off the arena pulpit and heading for the door.
"A.C." Mars gestured, and one of the six trainers following her casually threw a hand into the air, span an index finger in a little circle to call a spark then tossed it at Weevil. The spark expanded into a lightning bolt, which struck the green-haired duellist in the chest and blasted him back into the wall where he slid down to the floor and lay in a crumpled heap. Miko couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.
"Mistakes?" Mercury asked, wincing slightly. "I'm doing just fine here." She didn't step down from her own pulpit, knowing that Mars would use her height and comparatively larger frame to intimidate the smaller woman if she could.
"That's why Dialga is in the hands of our enemies, hmm?" Mars snorted. "Oh, Miko. I had wondered where you'd gotten to. I'm afraid your old friend Phobos had a bit of an accident... maybe you'd like to come work for the new model?" She smirked at the bug trainer, who glanced between Mars and her minions with real fear. She'd met the domineering woman only a couple of times before, and been just as terrified then. "Snow?"
"Heh." The blonde smirked. "Yeah. I'm Sub-administrator Phobos. Want to come back and work for a real trainer?"
"Why, you..." Mercury ground out through gritted teeth, shadow aura coalescing around her as her emotions darkened.
"Huh." Mars muttered, watching. "Files didn't say anything about you being positive..."
"Mercury-sama is a skilled trainer and a shadow mage!" Miko stammered, moving to stand next to her. "W-we have a plan, e-everything is in place, s-so..."
"Tchi. Like I care." Mars snorted. "As of now, all of Mercury's holdings are being transferred into my name. Administrator Mercury, these orders came from Cyrus himself." She strode forward and presented the blue-haired administrator with a sealed envelope. Mercury passed it to Miko, who opened the envelope with shaking hands as she tried to control her fear.
"Read it." Mars ordered her while Mercury fumed, shadows darkening. As a response, the one called A.C. lit up with a soft glow and the hum of charging electricity.
"C-commander Mercury..." Miko began reading. Had her mistress been demoted? "You are hereby reassigned. Report immediately to P-paradias headquarters for duties as... as Liason and to direct our forces p-personally. Administrator Mars will relieve you of o-over all command of Other World operations..." She paused. "That's all. It's s-signed Cyrus." She told Mercury, looking up from the paper of the sealed orders.
"Huh. Looks like you've got somewhere else to be. Run along, little girl." Mars smirked, and her trainers stepped aside to make a route for Mercury to leave. Miko made to follow her, but was stopped as Snow put out an arm to block her.
"Seriously, kid." Snow murmured. "Merc's on a sinking ship. You should jump."
"I d-don't betray my f-friends..." Miko replied, just as quietly. "Infiltrator Snow."
The ice-type dropped her arm, glaring daggers at the bug-user's back as the smaller girl quick-stepped to catch up with Mercury, much to her superior, Deimos' – also known as Flame – amusement.
"Mercury-sama..?" Miko asked, catching up outside and presenting her with the duel deck and Weevil's disk, which she'd worked so hard to retrieve.
"What is it, Miko?" The blue-haired girl asked, a little more forcefully than she'd intended.
"T-the deck..." She offered it to her mistress, timidly.
"What's the point?" Mercury scowled. "It's Mars' job now. Who the hell does she think she is, marching in and taking over like that, with her little team of genetic freaks?"
"Y-you mean... they were all PKNE-positive..?" Miko asked, eyes going wide. "Is that why... that A.C. could throw lightning..?"
"Yeah." Mercury made a derisive noise. "Just human-shaped Pokémon who think they're so much better than everyone else. Like that Francis witch. Prancing around pretending to be a hero just because she feels the cold a little bit and breathes underwater." The blue-haired woman sounded bitter and older than her twenty-two years should allow.
"B-but with the magic you've learned... and your skills... you're a match for any of them." Miko tried to placate her. "The power of the stone..."
"It's just a rock!" Mercury snarled at her, stopping to glare. "Don't you get it? Paradius gave me power, now I'm being sent back as a sacrifice to placate them before they decide they don't need our help to break this world apart!" She held her stance for a moment, making Miko cringe, before relenting. "I'm sorry, Miko-chan. I shouldn't take it out on you... you've been nothing but loyal to me since you were transferred..."
"It's okay, Mercury-sama..." Miko smiled back, feeling a pang inside. If Mercury knew... "I won't abandon you." She paused. "There is... more news. I didn't tell you yet because I wanted your mind to be clear during practice... and Mars doesn't know."
"What?" Mercury looked at her, confused.
"Two KC helicopters left a few minutes before I brought you the deck. One of them was carrying a mechanic from the aviations department... the competitors for the Battle city tournament should be returning soon, and they'll be heading straight for Kaiba Corp."
"I see..." Mercury frowned. "If I get Dialga first..."
"They won't be able to push you aside." She nods. "We should set a trap."
"Alright." Mercury nodded. "One last try... we'll show the others what Mercury can do. I'm not out yet."
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"What's going on?" Joey demanded, having missed what everyone else had seen.
"Seto has a Blue Eyes White Dragon plane." Tristan snorted. "He decided to take that instead."
"Trust Kaiba." Joey snorted, "He's obsessed with that dragon."
"Like you're much better about Red Eyes." Tea chuckled.
Yugi paused and unhitched his deck from its holder, sorting through until he found the card he was looking for. "Speaking of," Yugi said, offering the card to Joey, "I think this belongs to you."
Joey's eyes widened, having temporarily forgotten about the card. "Did it help?" He asked, reaching for his own cards, picking the bottom card up, thinking.
"Couldn't have beaten Kaiba without it." Yugi smiled, "I owe you one."
"Heh." Joey looked pleased, "I was sleeping, but my card wasn't." He grinned. "I'll do you a trade, Yuge." He offered the card in his hand.
Yugi's eyes widened when he saw what it was. "You serious?" Yugi whispered, stunned.
"I'd much rather have Red Eyes then this." Joey shrugged, having been given The Winged Dragon of Ra by one of the security guards who had apparently confiscated it from Marik, "At least Red Eyes likes me. I can't even use Ra." Joey smirked, "Not that this means I'm not going to crush you, next time we duel."
"We still have the finals to play." Yami took over for just a moment, to smirk back at his friend.
"Perhaps I should hold onto this then," Joey took his offering back, only slightly, grinning to show he was joking, "So you can't use it against me."
"A deal perhaps?" Yami suggested, "I won't use Ra, if you don't use Red Eyes."
"That's not fair Yuge!" Tristan protested, "You know he needs Red Eyes to beat you!"
"You saying I can't do it on my own?" Joey demanded, looking put out.
"I'm saying you need every trick you can get." Tristan snorted.
"I can beat Yuge, even without Red Eyes!" Joey protested.
"Thanks Yami." Yugi murmured down the link, grateful Joey had been distracted as the debate grew in volume; right up until the paramedic who was riding in the back demanded that it stopped, for her patient's wellbeing.
'As much as I hate to admit it, Kaiba did most of the distracting.' Yami snorted. He sensed amusement from his hikari, who knew that Yami hated being outdone by anyone, even in things like this.
"I'll take your deal, Yuge." Joey nodded at the Pharaoh, "I won't use Red Eyes, if you don't use Ra."
They traded cards, Red Eyes returning to his rightful owner and Ra joining the other two Gods who now rested within Yugi's deck.
With the return of his dragon, Joey felt relief course through him. It felt like it was over, all over, finally and he couldn't understand why.
Marik was still out there, still after Yugi, and, though the Rod had been blown up with the island, at least so they believed, he wouldn't be surprised if there was another power out there that Marik could use to harm his friend, so why, with the return of Red Eyes, did it feel like it was over, at least this part was, there would be other battles in the future.
Speaking of battles, he looked over to where Yugi was very deliberately not looking in his direction. "Yuge..."
"Guys, I need to tell you something, and you're not going to like it." Jamie started speaking at the same moment Joey did, her voice loud enough to override his.
As concerned as he was for the Trainer, Joey let out a frustrated snort, wondering if events were conspiring against him getting to talk properly to Yugi.
"What?" Tristan frowned, "What's wrong?"
"It's not that I don't like you guys," Jamie sighed, "And it's not that I'm not grateful for everything you've done for me, Yugi..."
"What?" Now Tristan's tone took on a hint of warning, making Jamie giggle slightly internally.
"He thinks I'm going to attack them or something." She sent to Bakura, then remembered that she'd returned the Ring to Ryou and glanced at the Tomb Robber before she answered. "I'm leaving."
"Ha, good joke." Joey snorted, then looked at her properly, "You serious?"
"Why?" Tea asked, confused.
"I found out there are other people, other Pokémon, who have been sent here by Galactic and they're scared, confused and alone." Jamie explained. "Whole cites have been ruined, and they've needed help and I've been living in Domino happily while others from my world have been suffering." She looked like she was kicking herself, "I have to go. I have to help them."
"I understand." Yugi nodded.
She smiled slightly. She could imagine Yugi doing the same in her position.
"Isn't there someone else who could go?" Tea asked.
"No. It has to be me. I'm the only Pokémon Trainer who has high level connections in this world. There's no one else."
"Who's going with you?" Tristan asked, worried for his friend.
"No one. Just me and Aisu."
"Just... what about your other Pokémon?" Joey demanded.
"Actually that's where I need to ask you a favour, Joey." Jamie smiled slightly, though she looked slightly depressed, as she unclipped a Pokeball and looked at it intently, "I was hoping, since you did so well with Kaida, you'd be willing to look after Iblis for me."
"You want me to look after your Charizard?" Joey asked, staring at the ball in her hand, shocked.
"I don't trust people with my Pokémon easily." Jamie told him, "I've raised them all from a low level, worked hard with them, and I have no choice but to leave them behind to protect the Day Care Centre, but I want to leave Iblis with you. He's temperamental and doesn't trust people easily but he likes you, so I was hoping... since you're good with Pokémon and you work at the Day Care six days a week..." She offered the Pokeball.
"I'd be honoured." Joey nodded slowly, taking the offer, staring at the Pokeball, "If you're sure."
"I am."
"Jamie, you can't be serious." Tea protested, concerned, "You want to leave? On your own? Without anyone to help you? You don't know this world; you don't know the people, or the cultures or the languages..."
"I'm heading to Tokyo," Mai interrupted, speaking up for the first time since the helicopter had taken off and looking the Trainer in the eyes. "I'll take you as far as that."
"What?" Jamie's eyes went huge and she stared at Mai in shock, as if the thought of someone coming with her had never occurred to her.
"I'll go with you as far as Tokyo." Mai offered. "If you're willing to put up with me."
"You sure? I mean, it's not exactly easy travelling my way." Jamie asked once Mai's offer had sunk in, more than willing to have company but certain, from what she had seen of those from this world, they wouldn't be willing to travel the way she travelled, on foot at all times, and, considering the layout of the rifts that had been mapped by Kaiba Corp's satellites, it wasn't just going to be a walk in the park to find some of the areas between here and Tokyo. "And your car..."
"It's a rental, I could just put it into the local outlet and they'd return it to the right depo." Mai shrugged, "And I can get my own supplies."
Jamie nodded, thinking it over, "You'd need a Pokémon. It's not safe to approach wild ones who are confused or hurt without one and I wouldn't recommend travelling without protection anyway."
"Couldn't I borrow one of yours?" Mai asked.
"No, but..."A thought struck Jamie and she pulled two Pokeballs out of her bag, looking over at Bakura and wondering why she hadn't asked before, "What were in those Pokeballs you gave me yesterday?" She asked the Tomb Robber, who tried to think. Yesterday seemed like an eternity ago now.
"Staravia and Seviper." He replied.
"A what and a what?" Tea asked.
"Staravia," Jamie hitched her Pokedex out of her pocket and called it up on screen, letting everyone look before changing the picture, "And Seviper." She passed it around again.
"Can I meet Staravia?" Mai asked, quite taken with the bird she'd seen on screen.
Jamie nodded, "I'll introduce you at the Day Care Centre, when I drop off my team. If you and Staravia don't get on and you really want a bird Pokémon, there are other flyers there. Pidgeotto or Alteria might like you instead."
"Won't Kaiba mind if you take Pokémon from the Day Care Centre without his permission?" Tristan snorted.
"He keeps telling me they're my Pokémon." Jamie shook her head, "If they're mine, I can lend them to a friend if I want."
Yugi couldn't help wondering if it worked like that, while Yami snorted his amusement at her complete disregard for Kaiba's authority.
"When are you going to leave?" Tea asked quietly, glad Mai was going with Jamie as far as Tokyo, but wishing Jamie wasn't leaving at all.
Jamie looked at Mai, having planned on leaving first thing in the morning, but not used to having to plan for someone else. "Tomorrow morning?" She asked.
"Tomorrow afternoon." Mai shook her head, "I want to pick up some stuff before we leave and no offence but I want my own sleeping bag."
Jamie grinned slightly, "Fair enough."
"I take it this means you need the stuff you've been hiding at mine?" Bakura asked, watching events unfold and earning himself a glower from Jamie and Jamie a glower from Tristan.
"What stuff?" The teen demanded.
"I love the fact that I've lived with Yugi for the last few months and now, because I have a few secrets you think I'm going to endanger someone." Jamie's midnight blue eyes flashed angrily, "If you have to know, I've been buying new camping equipment, but there wasn't enough room to store it all at the Game Shop so I asked 'Kura to look after it for me." She said, glaring at the brunette who backed down with an apology, then she turned to Bakura, "And yes, if you don't mind."
He did, but since he wanted her as far away from the danger he could cause as possible, he shook his head, "Not a problem."
"Thanks." Jamie nodded.
"Where are you staying tonight, Mai?" Tea asked softly, breaking the mood that had been rising.
"I have a hotel booked." Mai lied, though she could get one easily enough. She was kind of surprised at herself, actually. Surprised that she had wanted to get away from those who had called themselves her friends as quickly as she could, even the one who had risked his life to save hers, and yet she had jumped at the chance to go with a complete stranger on a dangerous journey that would take her away from big cities and Duel Monsters tournaments... "Thanks for the offer though."
"Any time." Tea nodded.
Mai moved over to sit beside Jamie and the Jamie pulled out a sheaf of print outs she had in her backpack, showing Mai where they'd need to go and estimating how much time it would take to get from Domino to Tokyo on foot. It wasn't going to be a quick journey by any stretch of the imagination.
Listening to them chatter got them through the journey, though Joey, who still hadn't gotten to talk to Yugi, fell asleep as Jamie mentioned somewhere and Mai mentioned she'd heard rumour about horse spirits whose manes and tails were on fire living there, getting Jamie excited about something called Ponyta, and didn't wake up until the helicopter was hit by something and everyone either held on tightly or fell on the floor.
"This is the pilot speaking." He sounded nervous over the loudspeaker system installed in the huge air ambulance, "We seem to have a problem..."
"Jamie!" Serenity pointed out her window.
"Galactic!" Jamie swore and demanded everyone hold on tight, before hitting the ramp release button.
It opened slowly and before it was halfway there Jamie had turned to Joey and asked if she could borrow Iblis. Joey nodded and given her the Pokeball back. Then the Trainer had sent out the Charizard, climbed on his back and dropped out the door, just escaping the helicopter before it was hit again.
Serenity watched out the window as Jamie scared off one lot of grunts, only for another to fly alongside the chopper and demand it land.
"It's not Jamie they're after." Bakura muttered, scowling as the helicopter started to descend onto the concrete of Domino's harbour.
"But who else could they want?" Serenity asked, worried as they touched down.
Her question was answered a moment later as three grunts boarded, backed up by impressive looking Pokémon.
"We're looking for Joey Wheeler." One of them growled.
"I'm Joey." Tristan stepped forward as Yami took over and got between the grunts and the real Joey, who tried to speak up but was silenced by a glare from the Pharaoh, "What do you want?"
"Our boss wants to speak with you." Another answered, "You see, you have something that belongs to us."
"I don't think so." Tristan snorted, "Even if I did have something belonging to you, I wouldn't speak with your boss. Now I suggest you leave."
"You will come with us." The last grunt growled, "Our boss doesn't take no for an answer."
"What does your boss want?" Yami demanded, buying time for Jamie, as Tristan glanced quickly at Joey who was trying to sit up and reach for his Pokeballs, which were in the bag next to his.
"Your friend has a rather rare Pokémon that belongs to Team Galactic." The first grunt snorted, "We want it back."
"Flygon! Haunter!" Bakura sent out his two Pokémon, not to protect Joey but to cause enough chaos for someone to slip away with Dialga.
He'd been in Jamie's head, he knew what legend stated Dialga could do, had seen the temporal Pokémon in action, and it was for Jamie's sake that he and his Pokémon backed the grunts out of the helicopter, unwilling to let them take the key to destroying her world forever.
Something red and metallic and vaguely bug like darted into the helicopter, seized Serenity and darted back out again.
"No!" Joey bellowed, forcing himself onto his feet and seizing his Duel Disk and Pokeballs, before rushing out after his sister.
"Shit." Tristan darted out after him, knowing full damn well that Joey wouldn't be rational if Galactic had Serenity and that Joey was in fit state to fight anyone, Yami close behind.
A huge red Pokémon with massive claws held Serenity tightly, threatening to strike.
"I see Scizor was a better motivator then those grunts." A woman laughed as she stepped out of the shadows.
The grunts in question were busy with the Tomb Robber's Pokémon.
"Get your bug to let go of my sister." Joey growled, reaching for Kaida's ball, then remembering that the Dragonair was still exhausted from their earlier Shadow Game.
"Who are you?" Tristan took command again, trying to keep the bad guys attention on him.
"I am Galactic Admin Mercury." The woman snorted, "And Wheeler has my Pokémon. Once it's returned, your sister will go free."
"I'm Wheeler." Tristan and Joey said at the same time.
"You can't both be Wheeler." Mercury snorted, "Scizor?"
The Pokémon tightened his grip and Serenity let out a pained squeak.
"I'm Joey Wheeler!" Joey shoved past Tristan, adrenaline pushing him far beyond the pain, though it would catch up with him quickly, "Let my sister go, you bitch."
"I've heard you like playing games with lives on the line." Mercury snorted. "So Duel me."
"Duel you?" Joey snarled, "I'll tear you limb from limb if you hurt my sister."
"You win, I'll let your sister go and you won't see me again. You lose, I'm taking Dialga and..."
"Joey no..." Serenity shook her head, knowing how injured her brother was.
"No choice, Serenity." Joey growled, shuffling his deck and about to put his Duel Disk on when Yami grabbed his arm.
"Let me do it."
"It's my sister, Yuge." Joey snapped.
"Wheeler must duel, no one else." Mercury sniggered at them. "Especially not the King of Games. Do you really think I'm that stupid? We know who you are, Yugi Mutou. Now back away and let your friend duel. Or else."
"Yuge..." Joey growled.
Yami backed off slightly.
"Let me stand in." Tristan spoke up, catching Mercury's attention, "I can't duel my way out of a paper bag so I'm no threat on my own. Joey can duel by proxy, by telling me what to do. He can't duel you as he is."
"Tristan." Joey growled, just wanting to get it over with so he could save his sister.
"No. Wheeler only." Mercury snorted. "How many times do I have to repeat it?"
"Fine." Joey growled, activating his disk. "You're going down."
Mercury smirked. She would prove to Cyrus that it was her that was worthy of being Dialga's Master, not that cow, Mars, who had been sent to replace her and she would do so by crushing the teen, who currently held the Pokémon, at his own game.
"It's time to Duel."
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They weren't after her.
It didn't compute in Jamie's mind.
From the moment she'd fallen into this world she'd been hunted down by Team Galactic and now they had her at a disadvantage and they weren't interested in more than keeping her away from the helicopter?
What was so important about...?
No... no, No, NO!
How could they know?
No one knew Joey had Dialga except those who had been on the island!
"IBLIS," She demanded, risking everything on this one move, one she'd never used when she'd been riding her Charizard before because of the danger to herself, "BLAST BURN!"
The Charizard attacked, firing a ball of fire out which exploded outwards, not affecting Iblis but knocking out all the Pokémon surrounding it, the shockwave sending Jamie tumbling from his back, unconscious.
"ZAAARD!" Iblis, who couldn't do more than glide thanks to the energy it had expended, let out a terrified bellow, knowing it would be unable to reach her in time.
"FLYYY!" Flygon darted under the falling Trainer, flying upside down in order to catch her in its arms, before dropping her by his Trainer and going to the Fire/Flying type's aid, helping it get rid of those who had used its temporary weakness to try and knock it from the sky.
Haunter, who was using the night to its full advantage, defeated the grunts that had been aboard the blimp, and was about to start on the nearby Grunts in the air, when spirit shadow, his 'Trainer', who was carrying the fallen Gym Leader, asked him to 'distract' Scizor.
Haunter liked when spirit shadow asked him to 'distract' someone. They'd done it before, when they'd stolen those Pokémon from the other Trainers and it basically consisted of aggravating the person in question until they dropped everything and chased after him.
And it would be even more of a challenge because it was a bug Pokémon he was supposed to be distracting and it would have lots of attacks that could be fun to fight against.
"Haunt." The ghost nodded and disappeared into the darkness.
"Let me take her." Someone grasped his shoulder and he wheeled around, glowering, only to find that it was the pilot from the helicopter. "If you're a Monster Tamer, then you need to fight. I'll look after her." He indicated Jamie.
"Stay close. I don't want her out of my sight." Bakura growled, noting that Iblis and Flygon were clearing last of the flyers and there were only a few left, hovering around their boss, who had taken Joey's sister hostage (in what had probably been a stroke of sheer dumb luck since barely anyone even knew that Wheeler had a sister) and was, for some unknown reason, duelling against Joey.
Bakura wasn't stupid. He knew how injured Joey was.
He also knew the teen was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he didn't duel, Mercury would kill his sister unless he gave them Dialga.
He duelled and he lost, he would have to give up the Lord of Time and not only his sister, but Jamie's entire world and maybe this one too, would be destroyed.
He duelled and won, there was no guarantee that Mercury would free his sister.
Jamie would have done anything in her power to help her friend, but she was unconscious...
Bakura didn't want Dialga to fall into the hands of Galactic because of how much it would hurt Jamie and how much it would interfere with his own plans, but did he really want to get involved in the fight of one of the Pharaoh's bodyguards...?
"JOEY!" Serenity screamed.
Joey fell to his knees as Mercury's cute monsters bypassed his Jinzo and struck him directly.
The Pharaoh darted to Joey's side, helping him to his feet, the blonde leaning heavily on the much smaller teen, who shook slightly with the effort of holding his friend up.
Everyone was so focused on that, that they missed the fact Scizor shook his head irritably, snapping at something in the air around it.
Haunter was doing his job...
"He shouldn't be duelling..." The pilot who was carrying Jamie complained.
"It's his sister." Bakura disagreed, old pain striking his heart, "He should fight until his last breath."
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"I've got you Joey." Yugi murmured.
Joey could feel his friend shaking, his weight almost more than Yugi's slight frame could handle, but after that last attack, he was beginning to feel light headed again and he needed all the support he could get.
He felt Yugi's height shift and heard Yami hiss.
"End it fast Joey." The Pharaoh actually sounded scared. In any other situation, knowing that Yami was scared would have freaked him out, but he couldn't get any more freaked out then he was now.
When it had been his life on the line, he had been willing to fight to the death to stop anyone else getting hurt.
When it had been Yugi's life on the line, he had been able to come up with a last minute solution and save his friend, twice.
But when it was his sister's life on the line, he was scared, because the consequences seemed far too real, far too terrifying...
"Joey..." Serenity whimpered.
Joey drew, frowning as Scizor snapped at something again. It had been doing that a lot during the Duel. "Mercury, it's over." He managed to call, "I activate De-Spell, destroying your Heart of Clear Water leaving your monster wide open for..."
He indicated his Jinzo who, without a real order from Joey, struck down Mercury's Princess, destroying her life points.
"I win. Now free my sister." Joey growled.
"Not until you give me Dialga!"
"Haunter! Now!" Bakura ordered.
Haunter struck the bug/steel type with something that peed it off and it let go of Serenity to chase after the ghost/poison type.
"Joey!" Serenity darted to her brother's side.
"NO! NO!" Mercury screeched, lunging forwards, going for Joey. "GIVE IT TO ME! IT'S MINE!"
Yami shoved Joey towards Tristan, protecting his friend, before instinctively lashing out with his magic, sending Mercury sprawling.
He watched her get to her feet, waiting to see what her next plan of attack was.
"Yuge, behind you!"
Yami wheeled around to find himself face to face with Scizor, who looked rather pissed off and took a swipe at him with one of its huge claws.
"Staravia!"
The large brown bird Pokémon swooped past with glowing wings, bashing into Scizor and knocking it back about five foot.
Yami, having been caught by surprise by both Scizor and the save, looked at the person who'd ordered the attack and had another surprise thrown on his when he saw that, instead of the Pokémon Trainer he'd expected, the one holding the Pokeball was none other then Mai, who had surprised herself by using the ball she'd seen fall out of Jamie's pocket when she'd been demanded Iblis back from Joey.
Scizor attacked the bird with Metal Claw. Staravia narrowly avoided it and glanced at Mai, waiting for orders.
"Attack?" Mai asked, rather then commanded, but Staravia shot forward, raking at the Bug/Steel type with its sharp talons as Yami turned back to Mercury who looked like she'd lost the plot completely and was sending out her entire team to fight them.
They needed Jamie…
"Dialga, come out!" Joey's voice cut over the noise of the Pokémon and the red light that deposited the huge Time Pokémon above them, one of its legs crushing a nearby warehouse, made everyone and everything stop and look.
"That Pokémon is mine!" Mercury snarled, "And I will take it by force if I have to! Everyone, attack!"
"Roar of Time."
Dialga bellowed and once again Joey and his Pokémon disappeared, this time just taking the enemy's Pokémon with them, including those of the Grunts that were still fighting Iblis and Flygon (though there weren't many now). Then they were back and Mercury's team weren't, leaving the admin all alone.
"No… it can't be over! I won't let her take my future away from me!" Mercury protested, "I won't!" She went to dart past Yami and attack Joey, who had returned from the past unconscious.
"Tristan, get him to hospital!" Yami demanded, seeing what she was planning and preventing it in the only way he could think of.
Darkness swarmed, surrounding Yami and pulling Mercury in as she tried to dart past the Pharaoh.
Then the bubble closed trapping Yami and Mercury inside.
"What did he do?" Mai demanded of Tristan, who looked a little pale and was busy tending to Joey, who was once again in desperate need of medical attention, which was, thankfully about to be provided by the chopper crew who rushed Joey, Serenity, who refused to be parted from her brother, and Jamie, who was still out cold from the blast, to hospital and left the rest of them there. "Tristan!"
"Yugi's used the only card he had left to defend us." Tristan answered slowly. "He's pulled Mercury into a Shadow Game."
Mai froze, remembering her own Shadow Game and the Penalty for losing. "He wouldn't…" It was Yugi. He wouldn't do that to someone, he couldn't, surely….
"There was no choice Mai." Tristan sounded a little frosty, "If you didn't notice," He recalled Dialga to its ball and sat down, waiting for the bubble to disappear, "She wasn't going to give up. Now only one of them is coming back safely." Tea sat down beside him, "Yugi's risking his own soul to protect us, Mai, and I, for one, appreciate it."
"But…" The Shadow Realm? Wasn't there another way?
"If you don't agree with me, then go. We'll see you off tomorrow, if Jamie's alright to travel." Tristan snorted dismissively.
"Valentine." Mai was about to leave, as she obviously wasn't wanted here by Tristan or Tea, who were just waiting for Yugi's return, when Bakura of all people called her name. She turned to glower at him, only to find him bowing his head submissively, "If I might ask for a lift to the hospital…?"
She nodded shortly and the pair of them left, leaving the two teenagers alone to wait for the return of their friend.