The dueling scenes are not that good and my knowledge of the game itself is not that great either, so please don't get mad when you read the scenes with the characters playing.


"Are these reports right!" demanded Jono.

The young cadet nodded. Jono grunted and dismissed the cadet. He raked his brain over the reports of the portals in correlation to the number of Followers breaking out of jail. This was not coincidence. It had been a few months and now almost half of the prosecuted Followers had disappeared. And with no way out, a week ago the portals' were sealed shut and communication with the human world was gone, not even powerful beings like Atem or Mai could leave, the Followers were trackless. The ones still jailed were there, but they had training to keep quiet. Jono growled.

"Shizuka is in the other world," he ran his hands in his head, "and so are the others. Oh God, if this is what I think it is then it's bad."

HW

Griffin, the leader of the group stationed in Domino, laughed. The tournament would be in play and all the fiends would be out there, collecting rare cards and finding that king's whore, Yugi Motou. He laughed some more at his own brilliance in giving Seto Kaiba Obelisk the Tormentor.

Remy rolled his eyes. Exiting the van he walked the streets of Domino. It was evening time and a bunch of kids were talking about Kaiba's tournament. He sighed exasperated; although he did find it funny, he would be putting his life on the line for the people who took everything from him and even if he refused his life was still in a tight spot. Walking some more he found himself in front of a game shop with a turtle on it. Blinking Remy opened the door.

"Hello, welcome to my shop," said a cheery old man.

Remy smiled politely; he examined the contents of the shelves, all wonderful games that he wanted to play. The old man kept to himself, and Remy could tell the man knew he was a foreigner, his dark complexion, dark brown hair, and grey eyes were obvious. The door opened again to reveal a boy…with hair like the Shadow Realm King.

Remy stared, he had been told the King's wife had his hair, but now that he saw the boy he could not believe it; the boy in front of him was short and scrawny. His entire demeanor screamed innocence and love, not nightmares and fear.

"Hey," he said.

"Yugi, how was your day?"

"Fine, Grandpa, and…" he hesitated, "I invited my friends over. We thought we should…"

He trailed off and saw Remy for the first time. Remy panicked.

"Oh, so sorry, I didn't see you. I'm Yugi."

He held his hand to Remy who trembled because he saw the six figures behind Yugi coming into the shop. Taking his options in play Remy decided to dash for it, until his grey eyes locked with lavender eyes. The one he looked at had bleach blond hair, tanned skin, and beautiful eyes. Remy felt his throat dry. As he tried to leave again he bumped straight into a rack of card games and mini-board games. The sound of him grunting and struggling was the only sound as the occupants watched, silent and awkward. Finally, Yugi with the lavender eyed boy knelt down to help Remy up; as he was being lifted he got a whiff of the blond.

"He smells so good," Remy thought. Then blushed as he found the boy had not let go of him. Also, that everyone was staring at him.

One hour later

"I bet Nice is beautiful," said Mana dreamily.

"Yes, it is during this time of the year, the ocean is still a little cool but warm enough and the beach isn't crowded at all," Remy replied. His French accent came through but it was not thick.

"So, you came for Battle City too, I can't believe how many young folks are here. I've been having customers all week. I'm almost out of Duel Monster stock," said Sugoroku as he handed out the tea.

"I see," said Remy, "I should have said earlier that is what I came for, but…I was nervous. Most people are out."

"Yeah, we're pretty much the only ones with any left, despite the low stock," Yugi plopped down on the loveseat next to Shizuka and Hiroto.

Remy recovered himself quickly after crashing into the rack, however now that he knew the company around him he felt at ease. Except for Marik, who was inspecting his every move; he was fidgety but that gave off nothing. None of the beings could see with their minds eye into him because of the potion he drank, so he wondered why Marik stared so, and why he liked it.

"We're glad to meet another opponent," chirped Mana.

"A nice one anyway," glumly said Ryou.

"Yeah," Ishizu sighed.

"The others are not nice."

"No, Remy," said Sugoroku, "in fact some hoodlums have tried to break into the shop just for cards and…."

"Nothing else," Yugi finished.

Remy nodded and checked his watch, if he stayed longer, Griffin would wail and accuse him of lies. Also, he had to hide the fact he had found them. Remy reasoned that he wanted to live a few days more.

"I have to leave."

"So soon?" Marik signed, the first time speaking at all. Remy knew sign language; they used it to communicate without causing suspicion.

"Yes, I need to get back to my hotel," he said while signing.

"Okay," said Yugi. He smiled and Remy wanted to melt down. This boy was not an abomination! No, he was sweet and gave a stranger company for no reason. Remy left the room, thanking for the tea and the time.

Walking down the streets again, Remy sighed. He pulled out his deck and flipped through it finding Ra and three copies of it. He had to distribute the fakes on the tournament to hide his tracks and throw Yugi and the others off his trail. He put his deck back and kept walking.

After several blocks he became aware of being followed. Remy kept his walk brisk and felt for his dagger, the machete being left to be cleaned by Grendy. He looked out of the corner of his eye to see lavender to his side. Remy jumped and was caught by Marik.

Marik looked at Remy. He could not shake an uneasy feeling about the boy. And, he was quite stunning. His lips were rosy and he had high cheek bones. Marik followed Remy after Yugi decided that they should get some rest and forget about Battle City, mostly because everyone was on edge.

He held Remy close and the boy reciprocated. They stared at each other for a while, until Marik decided what he wanted to do with the boy. He dragged and slightly carried him to the park, where he hid them behind a tree and started making out with Remy, who again reciprocated.

SR

"Jono says it's true, Your Majesty," grimly said Seth.

"An attack any day now and we can't contact the others."

"No," replied Mahad, who grimaced. His children were stuck in the lions' den with those fiends in one place, they just had to deal with a problem of Followers sieging the palace, and they were in the Shadow Realm.

"I see," Atem sighed. "We need to start preparing our forces, quietly, telegram the same to the other kingdoms. We have to be ready for this-"

"IT'S GONE," Akefia shrieked in anger pounding in the room in his gargoyle form. He was half gargoyle from his father and it showed with his midnight black skin and bat wings with claws and fang and his hair going down his back and merging with his tail. "It's gone, who took it, how, who, why, when-"

Atem struck him upside the head, calming the man down.

"What is gone, Akefia?"

"The…skeleton…key."

"Sire," Seth said, face sickly pale as was Mahad, "we are in dire trouble if…"

"If those traitors have the key."

The door opened with a messenger running through, "Sire, urgent news, Atlantis has been attacked!"

Atem and the others sounded the alarm hidden behind the king's dais. A high pitched whistle rang through the palace and the generals quickly prepared the army. Atem stayed in the throne room, keeping the stored shadow magic safe with Seth and Kisara, in her dragon shape, at his side. The army and half of the council had posts all over the palace. Soon enough, locks were heard clicking in parts unknown.

"They're coming through the dungeons," Akefia hissed, still in gargoyle form.

"Let them try," said Shada to his left.

Marching was heard up the stairs and halls; the Followers of Zork were regular beings who had been tainted by greed and hate. Their weapons consisted of enchanted jewels that canceled magic. What the general and dungeon master noticed were the strange figures donned in armor, real armor.

"Oh shit," Akefia eyes widened, "humans!"

The army gasped but stopped when the first shot was fired by one of the armor clad people. And the battle began.

HW

Yugi and his guardians gathered at the plaza, in a few minutes Battle City would start. Of course, the game itself did not brighten any of the young duelists. Earlier in the week, all communication with the Shadow Realm had been disconnected and then people attacked the guardians at their condo; no one was badly injured, but Shizuka had gotten poison in her eyes and she was recovering at a hospice meant for Shadow Realm visitors. Ishizu was able to stop it before it did further damage although Shizuka had to wear bandages. Hiroto was with her now and Ishizu stayed with Sugoroku to keep him from getting hurt.

So, Yugi, Ryou, Mana, and Marik waited for the competition to begin and weave out the fiends that dared to harm their family.

"Guys, hey!"

They turned to see Remy jogging to them, blushing slightly as Marik came closer.

"Hey, man, what took you so long?" half-heartedly chirped Mana.

Remy noticed, "Why do you four look so glum?"

"Our friend, Shizuka," Mana began slowly.

She stopped so Ryou finished, "She was injured and now she's in danger of losing her sight."

"Oh," he said. Marik gave Remy an odd look then rubbed his back. Remy leaned his head on the blond's shoulder.

"You two seem cozy," surprisingly, this came from Yugi, who got the two to blush and back off. The unoffended giggled, relieving the air of tension.

"It's not news," said Ryou cheekily, "we saw the way Marik came home all flushed and how you kept texting the whole week. And it seems you," he pointed to Marik, "should not keep things from your boyfriend."

Remy hid his tomato tinted face in his hands as Marik launched for Ryou. Yugi just watched as Mana tried to break them up. He smiled, however listened intently for the start of the tournament.

Unbeknownst to the group, except Remy, several men were watching them and one in particular, Griffin sat in the café not too far away. The guardians were weakened, so going after the God Cards would not be hard and resurrecting another Zork to destroy the Shadow Realm would be a small task. He smiled lecherously at Yugi Motou. Maybe an alliance with the Half-Angel would be productive.

Yugi saw Griffin. Yugi saw all of Griffin, his motives and feelings. He also saw the man's Duel Disk.

"Contestants," rang a computerized female voice, "Battle City may commence."

The Half-Angel went to the man.

"Griffin," the man's eyes widened, "I challenge you to a duel."

88888888

In the last few moves, Yugi had to watch out. The Swords of Revealing Light left him useless for two more turns. Griffin had two rock monsters protecting his life points. He guessed he was waiting for a particular monster to summon, but he could not see what monster. His Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts and Berfomet were with him, but he needed his Polymerization to make Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast. He drew and luck had it, Polymerization was in his hand.

"I use Polymerization to combine my monsters to make Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast."

"Too bad, little Angel," Griffin sneered, "you still can't attack."

Yugi was tight lipped. He needed to think of what monster could take that long to draw. Not many needed three sacrifices only two, and Griffin had not attacked his life points directly.

Remy watched, concerned. Griffin had seven copies of Exodia the Forbidden One. He wanted to tell Yugi, everyone that he could help them tell them were to find the fiends. What use was life if he did not have anyone? The others cheered him on, Marik silently observing the man.

"Now, little Angel, soon you'll know why you and your kind are so foolish and join us," Griffin laughed internally as he found more pieces of Exodia. As Griffin did that, he also put in play another rock monster.

Yugi bit his bottom lip. He looked at Griffin again; the man was full of vile wants, one of them making the Half-Angel nauseous.

"Wait, a power hungry man. Like Kaiba's obsession, his Blue-Eyes is what his power is, honorable. But he cares only for the overwhelming source of…Exodia, he needs all his parts."

"You're waiting for Exodia," Yugi stated.

"So, once I have him, I'll simply destroy your monster and life points."

One more turn, and Yugi could attack, but he had to draw first. What he found was Light Force Sword. He put it faced down for now.

Griffin passed this turn, deciding to play more with the Angel. The Swords of Revealing Light vanish and Yugi activates his trap card.

"Ah!" Griffin cries as Exodia's Left Arm is pierced. "You'll pay for that!"

"No I won't, Chimera attack his monsters!"

The rock monster on the left and in the middle are destroyed, leaving one monster left. Griffin puts his Exodia head in defense to try and protect his life points. Yugi draws.

"Hey,bastard, you won't last long!"

"Mana!" Ryou and Yugi exclaim. Marik smiles proudly.

"What! Don't pretend you're not thinking it."

Yugi shook his head back and forth and went back to the duel as Griffin quit glaring at the girl. Yugi activates Chain Destruction and it destroys all the Exodia heads in Griffin's deck.

"No! You freakin' Angel Whore!"

"Shove it," yells Ryou.

"Griffin, you did this to yourself," says Yugi. "All your deck is stalling and depending on one monster, that's not good. And I sacrifice Chimera to summon Summoned Skull, attack his monsters."

Griffin was out of monsters and the Exocdia arm was still trapped for another turn. Looking at his hand, he saw that he had no way to protect himself with pieces of Exodia. He drew ending his turn.

"Summoned Skull attack his life points directly," a flash of lightning came from the beast and Griffin lost. He slumped down and then was in the grip of a very angered being.

You're going to tell me what I need to know now, Marik said as he dragged Griffin into a corner handing Yugi his deck.

"That…was amazing!" said Remy.

"Yeah," Yugi felt something on his fingertips. The cards were marked; he ripped them and threw them away. He then saw Remy, every part of Remy. He kept quiet, deciding to see what the foreigner would do on his own.

"I think we should split up for now," said Ryou. Mana nodded

"Yes, I'll meet you guys at the pier in two hours. See ya, Remy," the three dispersed.

Marik came back. Griffin had proven useful saying that teams and surveillance were everywhere for them and rare cards. He saw Remy waiting.

"I'll see you around, okay ?" Marik signed.

"Yes."

They kissed and left.

888888

Seto had watched the whole duel with Mokuba who had cheered Yugi with the others. His plan was in play, Yugi would get to the finals and there Seto will win his God Card, and the third one he had heard about from Griffin. Remy Larouse had the Winged Dragon of Ra as it showed in his data base.

"Mokuba."

"Yeah, Nii-sama," he said cheerily.

"We're leaving. Get the case."

The two brothers walked out in stride, Seto determined to win back his title and be the top duelist again.