Yu-Gi-Oh! ORichalcos.

Hey, what's up everybody? Did you miss me?

Good lord, it's been a while since I've updated this story. Horrifying, isn't it? With this being the tenth chapter, making it my second story to get into double digits, I figured I'd thank everyone who's reviewed so far. To all those who've favourite and not reviewed, I thank you as well. You guys motivate me to write this, all of you. This epic mood is also a result of listening to "Nemesis." Heavy song/track. I also found that I'd done quite well in my exams this semester, as opposed to doing absolutely poorly last semester. Boo-yah!

K5Rakitan: Well, Pegasus would have had a hand in designing the buildings for Industrial Illusions. That probably accounts for a lot. The fact that the building is doubling as a jail and that this is set at night also makes it quite empty.

Cosmic Kiss (Cozzy): She knows she's awesome; it's her character that has helped make this such an interesting fic so far. I'm seriously hoping I have used her properly.

China Smith: Thanks for the duel compliments, again. To any who write duels, have some specific goals in mind, and if it gets to the stage where you have to use or invent cards to replenish the hand . . . it's probably usually not a good sign.

Kicking Cherries (Chezza): AKA, Gekko's fiancé. Don't argue with that one. Thanks for all the praise, you're just great. Hoping to see an update soon! *Thumbs-up-finger-snap* I take full credit for introducing you. *nervous grin* Don't hurt me.

Twilight Rose Witch: Sanokal is feeling generous. He welcomes any attempts on his soul . . . they generally bring reviews with them. Heh-heh-heh. Proof that I must slowly be going insane . . . if I'm not already. Thanks guys! Now I'll have to get to at least 20 chapters!

Dust to Dust! Part 2

Bandit Keith had had one heck of a rocky life. He'd become a Duel Monsters Champion, at which point he'd degenerated into what most people saw now. He'd been unseated and humiliated by Maximillion Pegasus, and plotted revenge ever since.

Without said opportunity, he degenerated even more, falling into depression, and making contact with the underground. The Duelist Kingdom tournament had provided his first opportunity to get back at Pegasus, and he teamed up with, and then betrayed a trio of duelists, who come to think of it had been reported missing . . .

After one of them was defeated by an amateur, he didn't think much of it, having locked them underground to starve, but they'd managed to slip out of that one – not that it mattered that much.

But then that punk, Joey Wheeler, defeated him in the semi-finals, ruining his chances of revenge! He made a desperate attempt to get the prize money from Pegasus, but the cunning prima doma had dumped him into the ocean.

Then, Marik had found him, struggling in the water. He'd brainwashed him, and forced him to duel Yugi Muto, taking that pendant of his. He struggled to resist, but the man was just too powerful. And even when he did escape, Marik shattered his mind and dumped what was left into the darkness.

He didn't think he'd get out of that one, but Yako Tenma had brought him back with the power of a card, and then given him the card. Looking for information about the disappearance of Pegasus provided the opening that Keith needed to get back at Joey Wheeler. And so, he orchestrated the entire R.A. Project – or set the foundations, anyway.

But Wheeler had beaten him again. He'd returned the card he'd 'borrowed,' telling Keith to remember how it felt to duel for fun before coming to find him again.

Of course, the authorities had placed him under arrest. Tenma vouched for him, requesting that the former card professor be kept under house arrest with him. Apparently, Wheeler had told Tenma what he'd told Keith.

And yet Keith still felt that he was in more danger than he'd ever been in his life, looking across at Dirk, who was hidden behind his Gadget monsters.

He activated the trap card before Dirk could attack.

"I activate the Damage Diet trap card!" he yelled. "Now, I'm gonna use this trap to halve the damage that I take this turn!" he yelled.

Dirk gritted his teeth – he'd been hoping to take Keith out without using too many monsters. "Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon attacks your Engine Part Token!" he yelled. The gigantic mechanical dragon fired a blast of flame at the piece of scrap, melting it in an instant.

Keith cried out as the flames surrounded him, life points down to 2250.

"Because I sacrificed Red Gadget to summon my Dragon, he dishes out 400 more points of pain when he deals damage!" yelled Dirk. The Dragon fired a spikes past Keith, the glancing blow knocking the man to his knees as his life points fell to 2050.

"Now, Gadjiltron Chimera attacks your puny Engine Shell!" snarled Dirk. The tri headed beast bellowed and charged, head butting Keith's monster and shattering it. Keith groaned, and clutched his stomach, life points at 1450.

"Engine Shell summons an Engine Part Token," he gasped. Another pile of scrap appeared. (0/0)

"Red Gadget, cleave it in half!" laughed Dirk. The red robot chopped the monster in half, and Keith collapsed as his life points went down to 550.

"Now, Yellow Gadget, attack directly!" yelled Dirk.

Keith moved his hand weakly to his disk, and touched a button. "I play the spell card, Dark Wall of Air!" he moaned. "It blocks your direct attacks this turn," he explained, and a dark tornado surrounded his weakened form.

"Of course," said Dirk, unconcerned. "My Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon picks up the boost from your Engine Tuner, bringing him up to 4500 attack points!" The great machine bellowed as its strength rose, the goblin engineers swarming over it.

Keith groaned as he tried to push himself to his feet. Though his duels in the KaibaCorp building had dealt real damage, it hadn't been anything like what this Seal had dealt. He hadn't been expecting this amount of pain.

He slumped back to the ground again with a cry of pain, and looked with dim eyes at his duel disk.

Black smoke seemed to pour from it.

He struggled up again as Dirk laughed.

"Well, well, Mr Bandit, it seems that you've reached your last legs, old man. Why don't you just give up? Let the Great Beast claim your soul so that we can rid the world of people like you!"

"Let's get something straight on the pecking order, you little runt!" snarled Keith. "First there's you, then the dirt! Then there are the worms inside the dirt! Then there's my deck. Then Tenma – and then me. The great Bandit Keith!"

He drew ferociously. "I will not tolerate this kind of disrespect, you lower-than-dirt lowlife!" roared Keith furiously. "And to prove it, I first play Pot of Greed! With two more cards, things look a lot brighter!" He drew two more cards. "Then I play four cards facedown!" he said. "That's my turn done!"

"All you proved is that you're losing your mind," remarked Dirk calmly. "You can't activate spell or trap cards when my Ancient Gears attack you." He drew.

"And that's my cue!" said Keith. "I activate the trap card, Yellow Alert! Now, I summon a monster in defence mode to shield me!" He selected the card. "I summon Engine Violence!" he called.

A giant hotrod engine with legs and cannons attached appeared in front of Keith, crossing its gun-arms in front of it. (2100/1200)

"Then, I'll destroy my own monster with Fiendish Trap Hole as it was summoned by an effect!" laughed Keith. The monster shattered, leaving behind twin piles of scrap – Engine Part Tokens. "Next, I play the Scrap Garage trap!" laughed Keith. "Since my Engine hit the scrap heap, this card summons all the Engines in my graveyard!"

Two Engine Shells, followed by Engine Violence, burst out of the graveyard with the creaking of rusting metal.

"Their effects rust away, along with their points, but they're still defenders!" said Keith. "Finally, I play Threatening Roar! This trap prevents you from attacking!" He grinned. "I did that all before you could attack, so go ahead and end your turn."

Dirk scoffed. "Don't think that you can get away with that. I'll just finish you off next turn!" He slid two cards into his disk. "I play these two cards facedown, and end my turn." Seriously? Four trap cards in one turn? Well, it doesn't matter. With Sareketsu Armour and Stronghold the Moving Fortress, I'm sorted. This guy can't even match my monsters power, especially when boosted by the almighty Seal of Orichalcos!

Bandit Keith drew, praying for a life saving card. He peeked nervously at it. This'll help. "I activate the Graceful Charity spell card! I draw three cards, and then I discard two!" He drew three cards, and grinned. "That's it. I win."

Dirk didn't believe him, but Keith had one dangerous look on his face that showed that he believed what he said.

Keith held up a card, screaming. "I sacrifice my three Engine monsters to summon this card!" he yelled, slamming it onto his duel disk.

He screamed as blue fog wafted about the area.

Dirk squinted as a dark beam of power erupted out of the ground behind Bandit Keith. A gigantic serpentine form emerged from the fog, sickly pink, with stubby arms, dark wings, and a colossal beaked head, with a fiendish face underneath it. The giant monster roared at Dirk, and even with the Seal of Orichalcos bolstering him, he felt fear. (?/?)

"Hah-hah!" laughed Keith. "Lemme introduce the Wicked Eraser!"

"Bu-but, that's a God card," protested Dirk, composure down the drain. "You're not supposed to have that, Yako Tenma is!"

Keith shrugged. "I reacquired this guy. And he's going to take you down! The Wicked Eraser gains 1000 attack points for every card that you control!"

"One thousand? For each one?" asked Dirk in horror. "But I have-"

"Eight," said Keith. "Let's see your dragon match up to the Eraser!"

The Wicked Eraser keened loudly, attack points at 8000.

He raised his arm. "I forgot how this felt!" he yelled, as black smoke shrouded him. "Wicked Eraser, destroy Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon with Digestive Breath!"

The Wicked Eraser's beak cranked open, a terrible sucking sound was heard, and it blasted a stream of liquid energy at Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon, dissolving the mighty mechanical dragon.

Dirk howled as the backlash dropped his life points to zero.

Keith staggered backward as the holograms disappeared, and the Seal closed in on Dirk.

"This can't be happening!" screamed Dirk. "Noooooooooo!"

There was a rushing sound as his soul was swept away.

Keith groaned, and walked over to Dirk's soulless body, grabbing the green stone that the Store Breaker had worn around his neck, then the Seal of Orichalcos card that had fallen out of his clothes. He put them in his pocket.

"I don't have to worry about that," he muttered. "Not with something worse tugging at me."

. .

Gekko opened the door to the security booth. "Richie!" he yelled.

Richie turned from the screens. "We got a problem . . . I think," he said grimly.

Gekko looked at the screen to see the Eraser blasting Dirk's monsters away.

"That was from a few minutes ago," said Richie. "He's coming back upstairs now."

Gekko sighed in relief – no need to worry about Keith escaping then.

. .

In the temple, Dartz knelt in front of the altar, watching as a carving of a thin man in robes appeared beside that of the large man in robes.

"My soldiers fall, and yet still the Wicked Gods elude me," he said calmly.

"But no matter." He looked at another of his newest carvings – the image of a boy with spiky hair, and wearing an upside-down pyramid around his neck.

"After all, all souls are destined to come to me."

Dartz rose, and walked toward three serpent mouths, where three cards sat.

One blue, depicting a blue-skinned giant.

One red, depicting a scarlet, snake-like dragon.

One yellow, depicting a golden bird-like dragon.

That's the pecking order for you. You don't mess with the pecking order.

Yeah, I'm just rambling. Not sure exactly how the next chapters are gonna go from here on out.

But that's the fun part.

Please review! I like talking to you guys!