A Tale of Two Kings
Chapter 2:
Believe it or not, Seto Kaiba was the only other seat of power. Because of the way he helped Marik and Malik with past schemes to rule the world, Marik let Kaiba keep Kaiba Corp and his big mansion. But Malik was constantly whining to his yami about dreams he'd been having. He dreamt that Kaiba would someday get tired of them ruling everything and that he'd take the millennium puzzles. Marik seriously doubted this but did something about it nonetheless. He took Kaiba's little brother, Mokuba, and put him in a cell somewhere in the castle. Kaiba didn't take this very well, but he couldn't do very much about it.
But Seto Kaiba wasn't the only person who was free. Little did Marik and Malik know, Yugi and Yugi were alive and plotting against them.
Since that day when half the world was put under the power of the two Egyptians, Yami and his hikari went into hiding with some of the others that weren't captured.
Sadly, that was a very small number against Marik's billions. Only six of the original gang was left. Yami, Yugi, Joey, Mai, Ryou and Bakura. Marik managed to capture Tristan, Otogi, and Serenity. Actually, Marik wanted Bakura to join his side because they were pretty good friends. But Ryou forbad Bakura to join the side of evil.
In order to keep out of Marik's site, Yami, Yugi and the others had to go under ground. They were living in an old building that had sunk below the surface when Marik took over Domino. It was very uncomfortable, and small. But it suited their purposes.
The only reason they were eluding Marik's guards and trying desperately to stay alive was because they needed to overthrow Marik. Ryou thought it would be cute if they had a name for themselves. So, to please him, Yugi named there little organization the Anti Marik Association. Also known as the AMA.
"Okay, okay you guys!" Yugi shouted over the noise of his friends' chattering, "We need to come to order!"
They started to quiet down and then looked at Yugi, who was standing by the blackboard at the front of the small room.
Yugi motioned for his yami to come up and speak. "Okay." Yami said, "We can't keep out of Marik's reach for much longer. This is starting to get dangerous. Yesterday, as I'm sure you know, Otogi was captured by Marik's guards while on his way back here from the grocery store. Now, does anyone have any idea what he was doing out of the building?!"
Everyone looked at Joey, who was looking really guilty. "…"
"Joey?" Yugi asked, "Something you want to tell me?"
"…Eh… All right, all right! I confess! I did it! I sent Otogi to the store to get me pudding!"
"I knew he was insane." Mai whispered to Ryou, "This is just the beginning."
Yami shook his head, "Joey… we have food here. I mean, we need everyone we can get to be on our side. We can't go around sacrificing people by making them go to the grocery store to buy pudding!"
"What kind of pudding did you want?" Yugi asked.
Yami glared at his light, "Yugi, it doesn't matter-"
"Chocolate…" Joey answered, licking his lips. "Delicious, creamy, soft…"
Everyone started to drool and their eyes started to roll back in their heads. Yami slammed his hand down on the blackboard to get their attention, "Hey! We need to focus. Joey, no more trips out side of the building! That was dangerous! If they would have followed Otogi back here, they could have captured all of us! Then where would the world be?"
Joey lowered his head, "He already took Serenity… if he took me, too, then we'd be together again."
"Hey, no! You can't think like that!" Yugi put his hand on Joey's shoulder, "You want to be with your sister on the outside, free. Not in Marik's dungeon. If we hold on a little bit longer, I know we'll win!"
"That's right," Ryou added, "You've just got to have a little faith."
"…I-I guess you're right." Joey smiled wistfully, "We just need to hang on a little longer. Then we can free my sister."
"But how can we stop him?" Mai asked, "We're out manned 300 million to one! Marik and Malik have the millennium rods and puzzles! They're about to take over Africa, and after that Asia is all that's left! It all seems so hopeless."
"Thanks for the negative side, Mai…" Yami said. "Now, to lift your spirits, I shall give you the positive side."
Everyone looked expectantly at him.
"Well…" he thought for a minute, "We're all still alive."
Bakura groaned, "I should of joined Marik when I had the chance…"
"No, Bakura!" Ryou shook his finger at his yami, "We're here to support the good side. Not the upcoming apocalypse."
"Have you seen the world lately?! The apocalypse is already here! The sky is black… the ground is muddy and full of cracks… and Oprah died last week! These are all signs of the end!"
"Yeah, I was wondering about that Oprah thing…" Joey said.
"None of that matters!" Yami sat on the floor with the rest of them, "We're going to beat Marik and Malik and nothing is going to stop us."
"That's why we called this meeting." Yugi added, "Because today we're going to put our heads together and find a way to beat Marik. Any ideas?"
It was quiet for a minute.
Mai stretched her arms, "Well, couldn't we go to Asia and hide there until we figure this out? You said it yourself; it's getting too dangerous to stay so close to Marik. I mean, we're ten miles away from the castle."
"How could we get to Asia?!" Ryou asked, "I mean, one of us got caught just going to the store."
"Mai, I don't think that's going to work." Yami said, "Anymore ideas?"
There was another moment of silence.
"Ah… I've got it! I've got it!" Joey jumped up and shouted, "I know how to beat Marik!"
"Really?! What is it, Joey?!" They all asked with excitement.
"All we have to do is go outside and get captured! Then we'll get taken to Marik's castle!"
"…" everyone was quiet.
"When they put us in a cell or whatever, we can sneak out and find Marik! See? It's easier to get in the castle that way!"
"…Are you nuts?!" Mai and Bakura shouted.
"It's a good idea!" Joey retorted, "We'll be in the castle and we can sneak out!"
"Joey," Yugi sighed, "What if we get executed before we even get to the cells? I mean, Marik could order us dead on the street. There's no guarantee that we'd even make it to the castle."
"But it's a shot!"
"Yes, it is." Yami nodded, "But I'm not willing to give in to Marik so easily."
"I guess you're right. That would only give that slime-ball more satisfaction." Joey sat back down, "So, who has any other ideas?"
Yugi thought for a while. "Hey, I got it!"
"What?" they asked.
"We could call Kaiba."
"…Huh?!" Mai, Ryou, and Joey were shocked, "K-Kaiba? You mean Seto Kaiba?!
"Duh. What other Kaiba do we know? I mean, sure he isn't crazy about us but-"
"But Kaiba's already joined Marik's side! There's no way in hell he'd help us out." Joey growled, "Besides, we don't need him. We can do this by ourselves."
"No, we can't Joey. Not by ourselves."
"…We don't even have a phone here. And Kaiba Corp is on the other side of town." Mai said, "Even if we did want his help, how would we contact him?"
"There's a payphone right on the corner." Ryou began to side with Yugi, "It's worth a shot, isn't it? We can call him tomorrow."
Yami nodded, "Is that okay with everyone?"
They nodded, but Joey was silent.
"Okay then," Yugi said, "We'll go to the payphone early in the morning and call Kaiba."
