Chapter 7
"What?" Yami pushed to the front of the group and immediately recognized the unforgettable harpy lady. "That's Mai's harpy lady."
"But we left her at home!" Joey moved beside Yami and watched the duel, seeing the lady monster move and attack the zombie revealing Mai. "Hey it is Mai!"
"Hey guys! I didn't want to stay at home and not help. So I decided to search for you guys but instead I ran into this thing! I knew it was a duel monster because it wasn't acting the same as the other monsters." She grinned and then gasped, looking over to her proud harpy monster who was struggling with the creature.
"Let me help Mai!" Yami moved forward and pulled out the dark magician card Mokuba gave him. "I think this is the best step." He stared down at it, eyes thoughtful. "These aren't the same duel monsters as our usual cards." He held the card up and summoned. "Dark Magician!"
Yami stared with awe as the more physical being appeared and he smirked, folding his arms. "It's my turn now! Attack the zombie monster and help Harpy Lady!"
Dark Magician immediately rushed forward and thrust his rod out, sending an attack at the zombie monster. It screamed in a weird garbly sound, overpowered by the much stronger monster and the creature fell forward, blood and broken bones as it lay there.
"Woah… that's much more hardcore!" Joey stated the obvious in surprise.
Yami nodded and walked over, the body disappearing and its card laying innocently in place. "These are strange though… I do prefer them to regular duel monsters." He whispered quietly and slid the two monster cards back to the front of his deck.
"Well that was surprisingly easy and boring." Bakura muttered and walked over. He bent down and wiped a finger through the strange blood the creature had shed and sniffed it.
"Is it real?" Marik bent down and swiped a tan finger through the puzzle of blood. "It feels it." He licked it and moaned. "Tastes it too."
Disgusted, Joey looked away from the puddle of blood. "The blood doesn't bother me but… could they not be so creepy." He shuddered and stared down at Yami's pocket. "It's hard to believe Malik and Ryou are part of those things."
"I am one of them too." Yami reminded and turned, looking to Mai who was watching the two Yami's in disgust. "Can you tell the other's we've captured the zombie and that we'll be going to see Mokuba and sort out the cure now? Hopefully by tomorrow the cure will be found." They could only hope.
On the way to Mokuba's, Yami Marik and Yami Bakura got into a fight over who the better duellist was, mostly Marik taunting Bakura who fell for it.
Yami's patience was growing thin and he turned, staring at the two men. "Then sort it out with a duel! We don't need you right now anyway." He walked ahead and Joey followed.
"You heard him." Bakura pulled out his occult deck and Marik nodded, rummaging around and widening his eyes. "I have no cards!"
"Then I automatically win." Bakura smirked and pocketed his deck, turning to leave.
"What? No you don't!" Marik ran forward and jumped, slamming the shorter Yami to the floor and growling. "If we can't win in a duel then I'll win in a fight!"
Joey looked over his shoulder unsurely. "Do you think it was a smart idea leaving them? We can't trust them."
"I'm sure it wasn't but I'm fed up of them and I don't need their help anymore. Marik has no millennium power and Bakura's mind is full with Yami Marik at the moment. We'll find them again later when we need them. For now this is more important." He looked over to Joey and held back a smile. "Besides, it's been a long time since the two of us got to hang out, Joey."
"Yeah that's true! I wish it was under better circumstances." Joey stared around at the bloodied streets and scratched his neck. "I don't think a lot of people were listening about staying locked inside and not killing the zombies. They're probably protecting family but otherwise they seem to be attacking random zombies or there'd be less bloodshed, right?"
"Yes that's right? That's why we need to sort the immunisation out as quickly as possible." Yami muttered and stared up at the Kaiba Corp gates. "Hm, the garden is empty. I wonder where Mokuba put them all." He pushed the gates open and walked through and up the long winding pavement, eyes moving to Joey. "At least you don't have to worry about being attacked anymore." He chuckled and knocked on the front door.
"Master Mokuba there's two men at the door."
"Thank you." Mokuba turned away from Seto's room and walked through the hallways to the front door. He peered out cautiously and then grinned. "I knew they could do it!" he laughed and eagerly pulled the doors open. "Hello welcome! You found the zombie?" he asked excitedly and turned, shutting the doors and staring at the monster card. "Fantastic! Come with me!" he ran ahead and talked happily on the way.
"It was quite easy with the help of the millennium ring." Yami stopped as the other two continued to move ahead and turned, staring into the glass room at the familiar zombie. "Seto Kaiba… This isn't the first time you've been turned into a zombie is it?" he chuckled, mind cast back to the moment with Seto Kaiba in a coma after Yami's mind crush. "You should be used to being a zombie." He turned, wickedly smirking and running down the hall to follow the other two boys.
"Here we are!" Mokuba picked up two white coats and pushed them into two sets of arms. "Put these on or you can't come in."
The two pulled the white lab coats on and when Mokuba was satisfied, he opened the door and they stepped inside.
"Wow this place is huge!" Joey walked through the lab, ignoring the scientists and kneeling down to look into a beaker, curious as he stared at an extremely mini version of Blue Eyes White Dragon. "Hey I want one with Red Eyes." He reached out and poked the test tube. The little monster inside didn't react and he stood, turning and seeing another larger tube with a bigger Blue Eyes inside it. "Wow! It's like the room of baby duel monsters." He pressed a hand to the glass and the specimen inside did react, turning to the side slightly away from the noise. "Wow! This is so cool!"
"Please don't break anything Joey." Mokuba watched the blonde duellist nervously and sighed, unsure if it had been a smart idea to let the blonde in.
"Here." Yami pulled the duel monsters card out and handed it over to the men around the table. "Do you wish for me to summon it? It might attack?"
"We need to extract and examine it so summoning it will be a good idea." Mokuba whispered something to the scientists and one left, returning minutes later holding some metal chains.
"We need to get the monster strapped down to the table to prevent it escaping or biting any of us." He held up a gag and grinned thinly. "We need someone to gag it though. None of the scientists can be risked and I'm in charge." Mokuba sheepishly turned his attention to Yami. "Would you mind?"
"They aren't attacking me. It'll be fine." Yami took the gag and raised the card up, summoning the monster and quickly Joey took the lower half and Yami the upper and the two bound it down to the table then Yami stuffed the gag in its mouth. "There."
"Thank you Yami! You guys can head home for the night or stay over here. We have some rooms you can take." Mokuba paused and thought it over. "Actually it'd be better if all of your friends came here. This house is the safest place in Domino City at the moment and your friends won't risk being attacked."
"I'll go and get them." Yami volunteered and looked to Joey. "You stay here. They won't attack me but you're still a risk. It's safer for you to stay put."
"But-"
"No Joey." Yami put a hand up and silenced him. "Your sister will be fine. The rest of the guys too. You have to trust me."
"…I trust you Yuug… I just… I don't know what I'd do if Serenity was attacked and they were unable to find a cure. I love her Yugi. Make sure you don't let anything happen." He held Yami's shoulders and sighed, arms dropping.
"I promise they'll be fine. If I can find Mai I'll ask her if we can use her car. It'll be safer to transport us all over in that and I can attack and zombie humans that try to get close." He promised and smiled, clapping Joey on the shoulder. "Go look at Seto Kaiba if you want to feel better. I know you'll enjoy it after all the comments he made to you." Yami winked and headed out of the lab but a scientist stopped him.
"Please sir, wash your hands first." He indicated to the soap at the side and Yami nodded.
TBC