Okay, I'm going to say ahead of time that this chapter is going to be a short read, but I am hoping that you will find it satisfying nonetheless. Here we go…


Chapter 6- Time is Running Out

Nearly sixteen years later

Yubel thundered through the once ruined citadel she had claimed and rebuilt with her powers when she had discovered it with Chazz all those years ago. For the years that had passed since, she had had her forces search for the girl Alexis after the infant had mysteriously vanished but they had so far come up with nothing. Now, because the girl's sixteenth birthday was about to dawn, she was becoming ragingly desperate. She was being defeated, and if her enemies succeeded in keeping Alexis away from her, that defeat would be a fatal one. So she had ordered Chazz to resummon all of their search parties back to the citadel. The fools had to have missed something, she thought.

Chazz waited for her at the entrance corridor to the throne room. She lifted her eyes up and smiled at him. Under her tutelage, the boy had grown into a strong-willed duellist and a loyal teenage son.

"Mother," he acknowledged.

"Chazz," she spoke endearingly. "Sorry to rip you away from Duel Academy."

"It's alright," he said as they began to walk down the corridor together. "I know how important this is to you. Besides, I could use a little break."

"You still haven't convinced that girl you love her?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, really. She won't fall for me because she's got her heart set on Jaden."

Yubel stiffened. Her orange and green eyes turned from sympathy to anger. "Jaden?" she hissed.

"Jaden Yuki, not Jaden Moto," Chazz corrected himself in a hurry.

"Oh," Yubel replied, gradually calming down.

What was I thinking anyway, she thought. Jaden, Judai, is still holed up with his parents in their family home at the Kaiba compound.

"Sorry."

"It's okay, I should have been more specific. But like I said, it doesn't matter. I've gotten over Alexis Rhodes anyway."

Yubel stopped again. Another first name coincidence? No, she decided. She was really getting desperate if she was being this startled by something as trivial as someone sharing the same name as her prey.

But perhaps - - -

"Rhodes? I think I've heard that name somewhere."

"Probably her brother Atticus. He's this big music star slash pro duellist."

That must be it, Yubel concluded, although she was still unsettled by how close the coincidences were. She changed the subject.

"Are they all here?"

"Yep. The last party came in half an hour ago."

Yubel and Chazz strode into the throne room. Right in front of her throne stood the leaders of the search parties. The rest of the duel monster spirits she had enlisted to serve her over the years waited in the audience chamber below for her to address them.

Chazz halted next to the throne as Yubel continued pacing past him and stood there at his post. Yubel paced back the other way, an action that made the party leaders nervous. They had good reason to be.

"It's incredible!" she shrieked suddenly. "Sixteen years! And not a trace of her?! She can't simply have vanished into thin air!"

She approached the leaders and brought her voice down to a cooler and more neutral tone. "Are you sure you've searched everywhere?"

One of the leaders, Ojama Black, took a step forward. "Yep, yep. Everywhere. All the world, mistress."

His fellow leaders spoke up. "Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Everywhere. Here. There. Anywhere."

"Quiet," Chazz hissed at them.

"What about the cities? The towns? Forests, mountains, islands?"

Ojama Black thought and made a mental checklist. "Uhh, yeah. We searched cities. Towns. Forests. Mountains. I - Islands. Uhh, houses. And err, what've I missed?"

"There's something you missed?" Yubel uttered in a low growl.

"No, no, mistress. We searched 'em, searched a whole lot of 'em earlier today. I just forgot what they're called. Oh wait, I remember. And all the cradles."

Yubel's eyes widened. "Cradles?" she asked blankly.

Ojama Black nodded, happy that he remembered the word. "Yep, yep. Every cradle."

"Cradle!" Yubel exclaimed. She turned to face Chazz. Unbeknownst to any of her servants, a deadly smile appeared on her face. "Did you hear that, my son? All these years, they've been looking for a baby."

She rounded on the party leaders again and began to laugh insanely. They chose to laugh along with her. Chazz restrained himself, knowing what was going to come out of the servants' blatant stupidity.

It came.

The laughter fell away from Yubel's face, replaced by immense fury. "Fools!" she roared, bringing both her anger and power to their maximum.

In fright, the Duel Spirits started to flee the room in droves.

"Idiots!" she screamed as she threw her energy attacks at them, smiting the party leaders. "Imbeciles!"

She kept throwing attack after attack after them until any servant who survived through fleeing had vacated the room. Then she relaxed, and then nearly doubled over.

"Mother?" Chazz asked in concern.

"I am fine," she answered, regaining her stance. But she knew she was not. Her lifeforce was weakening, slowly eroding away from her body, because of how much it was tied into the curse. The longer it took for her to activate it, the weaker she would get, until - - - - -

Yubel shook the thought out of her head and limped over to her throne. "They are hopeless. A complete disgrace," she muttered as she collapsed into it.

Chazz knelt by her side. "Mother, forgive me. I should have chosen more efficient servants."

Yubel glanced wearily at him and smiled, pulling up her hand and stroked her fingers through his spiky black hair. "Ahh, my dear Chazz," she sighed. "My son. You are my last hope."

"Anything."

"Unlock the wealth of your family. Use it. Find her. Find Alexis Kaiba before the end of this day."

"I will, mother," he promised.

"Then go, and do not fail me."

Chazz nodded, rising to his feet and bowed respectively before turning and leaving the room.

:*:

As he walked back along the corridor, Chazz put his thoughts to his new mission. The first place he would go to look would be at Duel Academy. For a long time, he had suspected that the girl he knew as Alexis Rhodes could be the missing Kaiba girl his mother had been searching all these years for, but he had kept quiet because of how infatuated he had been with her. But no matter how he felt or tried to express his feelings, she ignored him and kept her attention raptly on Jaden.

If his suspicions about her were true, well, then she had her chance. And if his other suspicions about Jaden Yuki somehow being the son of Yugi and Teà Moto were correct - well, how else could the slacker be so skilled - then that would just make his revenge that much sweeter.


It seems that Chazz has once and for all decided where his loyalty lies. What will happen next?