Note: Well, here's the new chapter of Plasmashock! The battle between our heroes and Dr. Steinman is about to commence! Who will be victorious? Enjoy the new chapter!

Chapter 9: A Surgeon's Delusion

Once Jonouchi was healed, the four young men hurried up toward the tunnel leading to Dr. Steinman's surgical wing. Just before they even went in, though, Bakura suddenly went in another direction. "Hey, Bakura, where are you going?" Jonouchi asked in surprise.

"Who me?" Bakura said, "Oh, my work here is done for now. You guys are on your own from here!"

"Bakura, wait!" Atem shouted, but the albino had already made a leap over the stairwell and disappeared.

"Let him go for a while Atem." Raiden said, "Right now we've got some business to settle."

"Got it Raiden." Atem replied, and turned to Jonouchi and Honda. "You heard him! Let's take down Dr. Steinman!"

"Right!" they both said. And with that, they made their entrance into the tunnel. They were preparing their weapons midway when out of nowhere, a whale call sounded forth. They stopped immediately.

"Did you hear that?" Honda said.

"Yeah," Atem replied, "it sounds like a humpback whale." Another whale call followed, this time with the sound of heavy footsteps. Honda frowned.

"It's no whale." he said, "A Big Daddy's nearby. No doubt it's looking for a Scavenger to guard."

Jonouchi gave a look of panic. "A-a-a Hunter?!"

"Relax." Honda reassured, "Like all Hunters, this Big Daddy will attack only if he's provoked. If you try to harm it or the Scavenger it guards, they won't stop until you're dead."

"Sooo I guess we shouldn't get on his bad side, right?" Jonouchi said.

"For lack of a better warning, yes." Honda said. He stared ahead of the gate ahead. "However, there are times when you need to confront these giants."

"And for what reason?" Atem asked.

"To harvest some Nagi." Honda replied, and he frowned as though with heartache. "I never harvest Nagi myself though. I saw someone else do it once; it not only creeped me out, it broke my heart as well." He shut his eyes and shook his head quickly, stray tears flowing down his cheeks. Then he opened his eyes, a serious look once again crossing his face. "Anyway, let's get our little appointment with that Picasso Surgeon." Atem and Jonouchi stared in confusion, but they put it aside and nodded. They headed to the door at the other side of the tunnel, and upon entering the sound of grenades filled their ears like fireworks. "Whoa!" Honda shouted as he dodged a grenade thrown by a splicer, "Is this the place that got blocked off?!"

"This is it!" Atem said, pointing to the door where he and Jonouchi saw Dr. Steinman flee. "And there's the debris over there!"

"All right then, I'll handle this!" Honda said and he rushed over. The splicer, noticing the unicorn haired man, threw yet another grenade to destroy him.

"Die already parasite!" the splicer roared. Honda immediately dodged the explosion aimed at him, and he glared.

"You dynamite splicers just won't give up, will ya?" he shouted. He quickly look at the debris blocking the door. I can't lift all this trash with that splicer attacking me, he thought, so maybe I can use his firepower to blast the whole thing altogether! Right on cue, the dynamite splicer threw yet another grenade. Quickly, Honda used his Telekinesis to catch the firebomb. Then he threw it right on debris, destroying the roadblock in seconds. The splicer became angry and threw another grenade in the mix, but once again Honda caught it with his Telekinesis. This time though, he threw it right back at the splicer, who let out a scream as the explosion killed him. "All right! It's all clear!" Honda shouted.

"Good shot, Honda!" Atem praised. "Now let's head on in there!" With that, the three friends rushed through the door. However, it was not long before they were met with a horrible sight. The scent of death and blood was even more potent, and sitting on a wheelchair was the corpse of a woman, whose body was out of proportion and whose face was slashed and stretched into something unnatural. It appeared to be a fresh kill, and it still had a look of horror etched on its face.

"Oh my God!" Honda gasped in shock.

"That Dr. Steinman is sick!" Jonouchi said, "He operates on 'em while they're still awake."

"How low can he go?" Atem muttered, but then he looked by the corpse. There was a video diary hanging nearby. Atem stepped over and picked it up, turning it on to show his curious friends. On the screen was a surgeon that they all recognized as Dr. Steinman.

"Today I had lunch with the goddess!" he sighed merrily, "'Steinman,' she said, 'I am here to free you from the tyranny of the commonplace! I am here to show you… a new kind of beauty!'

I asked her, 'What do you mean Goddess?'

'Symmetry, dear Steinman. It is time we do something about symmetry!'" The video proved to be short, but the entry was very disturbing.

"I suppose that answers my question." Atem said in disgust.

"NO GODDESS! HE'LL RUIN EVERYTHING!" a mad voice screeched suddenly from the corner. The three friends rushed over to investigate, and found a male splicer chasing after a surgeon in a bloody garb. It was Dr. Steinman.

"Come over here and fight like a real man, you quack!" the splicer threatened as the surgeon ran. Steinman stopped and then pointed at the splicer.

"GET HIM!" he roared, "SLAY THAT HARPY, TEAR HIM TO BITS!!" In answer to his command, a security bot flew into view, and Steinman ran off again before a turret made its first attack. After a direct hit on the splicer, the security bot finished him off. Once the splicer was dead, it was about to fly away when it suddenly detected the three friends, who had witnessed the whole thing!

"YAAHH, GET OUT OF THE WAY!!" Jonouchi hollered in warning as the security bot started shooting. Luckily, Atem and Honda didn't have to be told twice. Just in time, they all dodged the bullets, in a rather literal sense. Then Honda took out his revolver and fired at the security bot, destroying it with a full clip of bullets. The turret ahead of the team started shooting its own bullets though, and Honda barely had the time to move out of harm's way.

"We'll handle this one Honda!" Atem shouted, and he shot out an electrical charge with his Bolt. The turret short-circuited immediately. "Take it down Jonouchi!"

"You got it!" Jonouchi replied, raising his sword. Through his Blaze plasmid, the blade of the sword burst into flames. He made a jump toward the malfunctioning turret before him. With a great battle cry, he sliced the machine in two, which exploded on impact thanks to the flaming sword. Luckily for Jonouchi, the Blaze plasmid made him impervious to fire, and he emerged from the firey blast unharmed. "Whew, that takes care of that thing."

Atem and Honda rushed forward to join with their friend. "Are you all right Jonouchi?" Atem asked.

"I've never felt better, Atem!" Jonouchi said with a playful smirk, then he turned serious once again. "Right now though, we'll have to catch up with Steinman!"

"Oh yeah, right!" Honda said, "Let's go!" So the three friends rushed down the hall towards the main operating room. They were almost there when, as they passed, a video diary fell from a shelf and clattered onto the floor. Atem quickly turned around, as did Honda and Jonouchi.

"Another one?!" Jonouchi said, "Those things must really be popular! What does this one have to say?"

"Let's find out." Honda said, and he turned the video diary on. Much to their disturbance, it was another entry made by Dr. Steinman himself.

"Venus is walking the halls," he said dreamily, "shimmering, like a scalpel! 'Steinman!' she calls, 'Steinman, I have what you are looking for! Just open your eyes!' And when I see her, she cuts me into a thousand beautiful pieces!" The whole time, the mad doctor was gesturing like he was in a Shakespeare play, trying to convey his admiration to the goddess he adored. He looked rather silly doing so, but even that did not lighten the disturbing aura.

"Pathetic." Atem said when the entry was over, "The real Venus may have approved of Picasso's visions on the canvas, but I highly doubt that she approves of Steinman's application of these visions on living creatures."

"Tell me about it." Honda agreed, "The abstract form is art when it's applied to painting and sculpture. But if it's applied to the actual human body, that is mutilation!"

"Well what are we waiting for?" Jonouchi piped up, "Let go and kick some butt!" And so they continued onward. It was not long before the reached the doorway leading to the main operating room. A scream of pain and horror managed to break through the barrier, traveling through the air around the three friends. The scream was quickly dying down to a choking moan, and some coughing.

"Mother of Ra!" Atem said in a hushed tone, filled with a sense of fear. "It can't be what I think it is, can it?" Jonouchi and Honda likewise gave a gasp of shock, and followed behind Atem as he went through the door. They quietly approached a large window, and from behind that window, their worst fears were confirmed. Dr. Steinman was cutting up a woman with his scalpel. She was bleeding and horribly disfigured. Worst of all, she was wide awake while the operation was taking place; even so, it was evident that she was dying. The three friends watched unseen as the surgeon lifted the scalpel away.

"What can I do with this one, Venus?" Dr. Steinman queried to no one in particular, And then to the horror of the onlookers, he started hacking on the body shrieking, "SHE WON'T—STAY—STILL!!" He lifted the head up, continuing his rant. "I want to make them beautiful,"—he slashed the woman's body, hard—"BUT THEY ALWAYS TURN OUT WRONG!" Turning away from the 'patient', he turned on the light to reveal one by one, the bodies of other female patients long dead, all sprawled out on a large disk like they were crucified. "This one, too FAT!" he shouted as he showed the first one on the right hand side. And when the next one was revealed on the left-hand side, he roared in despair, "This one, TOO TALL!" Finally the third disk was revealed at the center, revealing to be empty. "And now THIS ONE!" He bellowed in anguish, grabbing the woman on the operating table, lifting her off, slamming her on the disk, and pinning her there in a crucifix position with a cry, "TOO SYMMETRICAL!!" By then, the woman stopped moving. And for that matter, she stopped breathing. The Picasso surgeon let out a tired breath as he finally calmed down. "Oh well," he sighed, "as they always say: Back to the old drawing board!" At first, the three friends stared in confusion as the surgeon momentarily stepped to the side. But then a scream came from the side—a feminine scream of anger that was mixed with horror. When Dr. Steinman returned to view, he returned with his next 'patient': a beautiful woman with light blonde hair and violet eyes. She had white tank top and a violet vest, and on her arms were sleeves that were not attached to any shirt. She also wore a violet miniskirt made of leather, and violet leather high heeled boots that reached to her knees. The woman had a look on her lovely face that is both horrified and pissed at the same time, and she struggled to get free from Dr. Steinman's grip. But the surgeon slammed her onto the operating table, pinning her down with one arm.

"Let go of me you… YOU BEAST!" She roared in anger, flailing her arm in an attempt to push him away.

"Well, who's calling who a beast?!" Dr. Steinman retorted, shoving her arm onto the operating table. "But don't worry. When I'm done with you, you'll be the fairest of all the women in Kyoki!"

"No! Let go! Help!" she shouted as Steinman took his scalpel and aimed it toward the woman's cheek.

"Why that no-good…" Jonouchi growled as his rage began to build up until finally he said, "This ends now!"

"Jonouchi, wait!" Atem shouted as his friend ran toward the window.

But the blonde was not listening, and his hot coal skin glowed like the raging fire it represented as he roared with all al his might, "HEY! GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF HER RIGHT NOW!"

Dr. Steinman suddenly stopped what he was doing. "What's this, Goddess?" He looked up and saw all three friends at the window and recoiled in shock. "GAH! Intruders?! Oh the HUMANITY! They are ugly!" To the horror of the three friends in front of him, Steinman's very words turned towards the ironic as his right forearm suddenly started to bulge. "UGLY—UGLY--" A hole burst open from that tumor-like bulge, and his arm turned inside out, morphing into a chaingun with a still functional hand underneath. And as he aimed his new arm gun he let out the raging cry, "AAALL UUUUGLYYYY!!" That's when he fired at the window. Jonouchi's eyes widened in shock, and he started doing the 'ACK!' dance just to dodge all those bullets.

"So much for a sneak attack!" Honda shouted.

Steinman, enraged at the fact that his arm gun kept missing, gave the young woman a shove. "I'LL DEAL WITH YOU LATER!" The woman let out a shriek as she fell off the operating table onto the floor. Jonouchi heard her cry loud and clear, however. He let out a gasp at Steinman's cruel act, and he glared at the surgeon, his initial panic forgotten. The Blaze plasmid that marked his skin once again glowed with the flames of righteous anger, and he raised his sword.

"How dare you touch her like that, and just like you did with all the other people you worked on!" Jonouchi roared, "You're not gonna get away with it this time!" With a great battle cry, he leapt through the now broken window, his sword surrounded by flames. "TAKE THIS!" And he swung his blade, striking the Picasso surgeon on the arm. It was a small flesh wound, but the attack was enough for Steinman's shirt to catch fire. The surgeon let out a scream and ran quickly to the lower level of his lair.

"Don't let him get away!" Atem shouted, as he and Honda rushed inside. Jonouchi ran ahead in hot pursuit of his target.

"Come back so I can turn you into fried chicken!" Jonouchi bellowed as he rushed in hot pursuit of Steinman. The lower level of the room was filled with water, and Steinman jumps in and douses the flames before it could spread any further.

"HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT MY SURGERY YOU HORRID MONSTER!" Steinman shouted, and he starts shooting again. The bullets hit Jonouchi on the side of the stomach, and the blonde let out a small scream of pain.

"Jonouchi!" Atem hollered in shock.

"UGH!" Jonouchi said, clutching his stomach, "Atem! Steinman's in the water! This is your chance!" Atem let out a gasp, realizing that his friend was right. The electricity surged through his body, and quickly he aimed his Bolt on the water.

"Huh?" Steinman said, looking up from his previous target. Right at that moment, Atem's Bolt plasmid struck the water. But just as the electricity was about to reach him, Steinman leapt out of the water onto a large box above!

"He dodged my attack!" Atem said in dismay.

"HA! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT, YOU HARPY?!" Steinman hollered triumphantly before he started shooting again. "IT WON'T WORK ON ME!"

Honda immediately used Telekinesis to grab hold of a fuel tank. "Oh yeah?" he said, "Well maybe this will!" And he hurled it at Steinman, causing an explosion on impact. Luckily all three friends were out of blast range. It wasn't until the explosion faded into smoke that Honda looked up. Imagine their horror when, after three seconds, Steinman launched himself out of the smoke and landed right on top of the Telekinesis wielder, murder in his eyes. Soon they were locked in a grapple.

"LOOK IN THE MIRROR!!" Steinman shrieked. "YOU'RE HIDEOUS!"

"You got this—all backwards…" Honda hissed in growing anger, "…And you really should—lie down! You look TERRIBLE!" Using all of his strength, he shoved the surgeon off, and then started shooting with his own pistol. Of course, Steinman started shooting back with his arm gun. The gunfight began to escalate, and it wasn't long before Steinman was gaining the advantage.

"Shit!" Jonouchi shouted, "If we don't do something, he'll not only kill us, he'll kill that woman too!"

At that moment Raiden spoke up from the Video Phone. "Great Buddha, Atem! My family's lives are at stake! Would you courteously hurry up and take care of that sick bastard of a surgeon?!" No sooner than he finished, that Atem began to feel rage building up within him. The rage slowly grew, along with tremendous strength. The Bolt plasmid began to flicker on his skin.

"Atem?" Jonouchi said worriedly, "What's up?" Atem began to look around. Then his eyes widened with inspiration.

"We can take him down!" Atem said.

"Atem! Wait--" Jonouchi shouted, but the crimson-eyed youth had already rushed over toward the gunfight.

"Honda! Pull back!" Atem roared, surprising Honda.

"Atem, get out of the way! It's dangerous!" Honda shouted.

"Just trust me on this one!" Atem said and spun his quarterstaff pipe to knock Steinman's bullets out of harm's way.

"WHAT?!" Steinman gasped, and his own fury began to surface. "WHY YOU--" The surgeon started shooting at Atem, but he just knocked every bullet out of the way. Then he nimbly rushed away to the stairs leading up to the main operating room. "COME BACK HERE!" Steinman bellowed as he ran in hot pursuit, shooting his arm gun the whole time.

"Crud, has Atem gone mad?!" Honda asked.

"I don't think so!" Jonouchi suddenly replied, pointing upward, "Look!" And Honda did look. He let out a gasp as Atem's actions suddenly made sense!

"HOLD STILL SO I CAN SHOOT YOU DOWN YOU HARPY!" Steinman bellowed, shooting wildly. All the while, Atem dodged and blocked his attacks, moving a bit farther away. This infuriated Steinman even more and he rushed closer, stopping to shoot yet again.

"NOW JONOUCHI!" Atem commanded, and the sandy blonde nodded in understanding. He concentrated hard, and channeled the fires of the Blaze plasmid into his sword. Then with a battle cry, he swung the flaming sword down to the ground. A wall of fire traveled from the blade toward Steinman. The mad surgeon looked behind him, then suddenly looked down on the ground, then back up at the flames again, this time with a look of utter fear. For he was standing right on top of an oil spill, and he had realized this too late! The oil spill burst into flame, and Steinman screamed as he caught on fire. He rushed all the way back down to the lower level to dive into the water.

"Talk about stupid!" Jonouchi said to Honda, "He's on fire for the second time and he still doesn't do the Stop, Drop and Roll!"

"That's a splicer for ya!" Honda replied. Meanwhile, Atem rushed back too, fueled by his own rage. A huge ball of electricity began to form between his hands, filling with incredible strength and power. By the time Dr. Steinman had finished dousing the fire, the ball of electricity had reached its full size.

"PLASMA BOLT!" Atem shouted as he hurled the ball of electricity toward the surgeon. It landed right in front of Steinman on to the water, and this time he could not escape. Lightning bolts were dancing upon the water, and the surgeon let out a bloodcurdling scream as he was being electrocuted. Finally he collapsed on his hands and knees as the electricity died down. Atem's rage died down as well, and he was breathing heavily. For a while, the three friends stared at him. Then to their shock, Steinman slowly rose up. He had patches of scorched flesh, and he was staggering like a zombie as he walked. He let out a wicked chuckle, which slowly grew into mad laughter.

"You think you can destroy me that easily?!" taunted Steinman, "I'M INVINCIBLE! Just you wait! I'll tear you disgusting creatures to bits, and I'll wipe you off of the face of the earth!" As he had just gotten close enough to reach out and touch them, a strange noise echoed behind him.

"Funny you should say that." A familiar feminine voice said. Steinman slowly turned around to look behind him, while the three friends gasped in surprise. It was that woman in violet, the same young woman who they were trying to save. And in her hand was a handheld crossbow. "I was going to take those words right out of your mouth." And with that, she pulled the trigger. The crossbow bolt pierced the mad surgeon in between the eyes, and with blood spurting out he fell to the ground, dead. Only then did the three friends step forward, as the woman put her crossbow away.

"Are you all right Miss?" Jonouchi asked in concern. The woman gave him a smile.

"Well, if you guys hadn't shown up, I'd be dead!" she replied, "You really saved me back there!"

"Heh, heh, heh, glad we could help." Jonouchi said, grinning sheepishly in spite of the pain.

"I don't suppose we've met before. I'm Mai Kujaku." The woman introduced. "And you are…?"

"Honda Hiroto." Honda said.

"Honda?" Mai questioned, then she gave a look of surprise, "Oh, so you're the adoptive nephew of Dr. Julie Langford, right?"

"Yeah, I'm the one." Honda admitted.

"Anyway, My name's Jonouchi Katsuya." Jonouchi said, "My friend and I came from the surface, just so you know."

"My name is Atem. Atem Kakita." Atem said.

"Nice to meet you." Mai said, shaking his hand. Her eyes soon had a look of confusion. "It's kinda strange, really. You look so…"

"What?" Atem asked.

"Familiar." She replied. Before Atem could ask any questions, though, Raiden appeared on the Video Phone.

"Are you guys all right?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, Raiden." Atem said, "We got him. With a little help, of course."

"It's about time." Raiden sighed, "In any case, get the key to Emergency Access so we can head to Dragon King's Bounty."

"Raiden?!" Mai gasped in amazement as Atem bent down to search Steinman's body, "Oh my God! So this is the Raiden everyone was talking about!" It wasn't long before Atem finally found the key, which took the form of something similar to a credit card.

"Found it." Atem confirmed.

"All right!" Jonouchi said, "Let's head on over and—UGH!" To everyone's shock, he slumped on to his knees, still clutching the bleeding wound on his side.

"Jonouchi!" Honda shouted, taking hold of his friend and examining the wound. "Not good. At your level, it's going to take more than just a Nami serum to treat this injury. Luckily I picked up some First Aid kits just in case. Try not to move, it'll take a few minutes."

"But what about Emergency Access?" Jonouchi said.

"Try not to talk for a moment." Mai said, "After risking your life to save mine, you need treatment."

"Mai's right, Jonouchi." Atem said, "It would be a bad idea for you to go to Emergency Access in your condition." Seeing his friend's look of disappointment, Atem said, "I'll tell you what. I'll go on ahead of you and open access to the bathysphere that leads to Dragon King's Bounty."

"Say what?!" Jonouchi said, "Y-you can't go out there alone!"

"I'll be just fine." Atem said, "Now meet me at Emergency Access once you're healed."

"Sounds like a good plan, Atem." Raiden agreed, "Oh, and take Honda and Mai with you too." There was a slight pause, before Jonouchi let out a sigh of defeat.

"Okay." He replied, "Just be careful out there, buddy."

"I will." Atem said, and with that he left the main operating room, leaving the blonde in the care of their new comrades.

Note: That's it for this chapter! Now things are getting exciting, since Mai has joined our group of heroes! In the next chapter, Atem is about to find himself in a moral dilemma. What will be his decision? Until next time!