Chapter Ten

In downtown Domino City, the duel within the ominous blue light continued.

"Just look at yourself now, Kaiba! I've got you on the run! Not so high and mighty now, are you?" Joey's lips curled in a cruel sneer. "How the mighty have fallen."

Seto looked coldly at Joey as he drew his next card. "That statement could apply to you, Wheeler."

Joey just laughed. "I haven't fallen! Now I'm more powerful than ever! And I can finally give you everything you deserve. The Neo-Orichalcos affords me that power."

"I lay two cards facedown and end my turn." Seto glowered. He wasn't about to admit it, but seeing Joey like this actually gave him the creeps. And also disturbing was that aside from the crowing about the Neo-Orichalcos, a lot of what he was saying was what he said in his right mind. Maybe the Neo-Orichalcos was drawing from what it knew Joey's real feelings were, similar to how the original Orichalcos had behaved. Seto knew Joey would never want its power, but he had certainly wanted to beat Seto in a duel in the past. And as far as Seto knew, Joey still generally disliked him, even though they had come a long way from their earliest interactions. For Seto's part, Joey still annoyed him, but deep down he had to admit that Joey really was a decent duelist.

"You really are getting desperate, Kaiba," Joey taunted. "You know I have more lifepoints than you and you're on the run!"

"Hardly," Seto retorted. How many times had a duelist turned things around when they had less lifepoints than the other player? Seto had seen it too many times to be terribly fazed by it now. Anyway, as much as he recognized Joey's strengths as a duelist, he knew that he was still the better player. He would not be defeated by Joey now, not when Joey was literally just a shell of his former self.

Nevertheless, as Joey continued to play with a viciousness unlike he ever had before, Seto had to admit that a small part of him was growing concerned. Maybe Joey couldn't beat him, but when he wasn't really playing against Joey, maybe the Neo-Orichalcos would be too strong an opponent for him.

"I am oh so totally blowing you away, Money Bags!" Joey cackled. "Red Eyes Black Dragon, take out his facedown card on the left!"

"You've activated my trap card," Seto said. "Sorry, your dragon is what's going to take a hit now." As much as it disturbed him, he tried to look into Joey's eyes, desperate to find some trace of the obnoxious Brooklyn boy who had irritated him so often. But instead of any spark of light, or even the blankness of Mokuba's eyes under Noa's control, he saw only a darkness the likes of which never belonged with Joey. And as his trap card drained the Red Eyes Black Dragon of a good portion of its power, that darkness took the form of utter hatred.

"You're gonna pay for that," Joey vowed.

"Be my guest," Seto said. "But you'll have to get another monster to do it. Your Red Eyes is practically useless. Just like you are right now. What do you think Yugi and your other friends are going to think when they find you in this condition?"

He hoped to stir something in the real Joey, if he was still there to be stirred at all. But that was a vain hope; Joey snarled at him. "Who cares what they'd think? I'm better now than I ever was. Maybe they'll be jealous."

"Not likely. Can you really imagine Yugi being happy that your mind has been eclipsed by the Neo-Orichalcos? Or Téa? She'll be sad."

"And Tristan would probably try to punch my lights out," Joey boasted. "Only I'd get him first."

Seto clenched his teeth. This was hopeless. If anyone could get through to Joey, it wasn't going to be him. He had to concentrate on winning. If he lost, who knew what would happen to him under the Neo-Orichalcos' unpredictability. Worse, who knew what would happen to Mokuba? In Joey's state, it wouldn't surprise Seto if he would decide to challenge Mokuba just for kicks. That was completely unacceptable.

"Alright, Wheeler. This ends here," he vowed. He drew another card. Exactly what I need.

"It sure does! Ready to say Bye-Bye to either your soul or your mind, Kaiba?" Joey smirked. "You know, I never thought I'd be able to defeat you in such a meaningful way. This is a lot better than just beating you in a regular old duel. Now I get to really cause permanent damage."

"You really hate me that much, Joey?" Seto shot back. "Or maybe I should ask, do you hate Mokuba that much? If you do that to me, Mokuba will suffer too."

For the first time there was a flicker of something human. "Mokuba," Joey said softly. But then it was gone and the Neo-Orichalcos symbol glowed more brightly on his forehead. "Mokuba would be better off without a sleaze like you around anyway!"

Now Seto flinched. Joey had hit a sore spot. He had to be grateful the Neo-Orichalcos was soundproof. Mokuba would never believe such a statement, but it would crush him to hear it. And even though Joey wasn't himself, Seto was furious.

"Watch yourself, Wheeler," he snarled. "Don't talk about things you don't understand."

"You know, I bet he doesn't even know about half the stuff you've done," Joey continued. "Does he know about the time you climbed up on Pegasus' wall to try to force Yugi's hand in a duel?"

Seto glowered. "If he does, he doesn't know it from me. But if he ever asks me about it, I'll tell him the truth—that I did it for him. It was the only way I had left to win and save him from Pegasus. Am I proud of it? No. It was a rotten thing to do. But I don't regret it either. I don't regret anything I've ever done to protect my brother."

"Well, you didn't do so well at saving him from Pegasus, Genius," Joey mocked. "Who was it that Pegasus sealed in a soul card next? Hey, what did it feel like, having your soul pulled out of your body?"

Seto gripped the cards in his hand, his knuckles turning white. It was true—he had failed, but not for lack of trying. He had fought with all his might. It just hadn't been good enough to beat Pegasus. He tried not to think about the past and instead focus on the future. And he wasn't about to show Joey how shaken he was if he could help it.

"You should know," Seto retorted. "You've experienced it yourself."

Again a slight waver. "That's right," he whispered. "Mai. . . ."

Seto pounced. "Yes! Mai Valentine. She became corrupted by the Orichalcos and fought you for the fate of your soul. And you lost, just like you lost against the Neo-Orichalcos tonight! Do you remember, Wheeler?"

"Yeah. . . ." Joey's hand trembled.

Praying he could keep breaking through, Seto pressed on. "Is that what you want to be like, Wheeler? Like Mai after the Orichalcos darkened her heart? The Orichalcos took her because she was so afraid of losing after Yami Marik broke her spirit. She was so new to the idea of friendship that he was able to shatter it with his psychological torture. But you! You've experienced friendship for years. You've listened to Téa prattle on about it hundreds of times and you've done it yourself a lot. So what kind of hold does the Neo-Orichalcos have over you? Tell me that. I know you don't want power. You haven't had your self-confidence and your trust in your friends shattered. What's left?"

"I . . . it . . ." Joey quaked. Clearly he was awakening to the realization of what was happening to him and trying to fight against it. But from the way his eyes were flickering, the Neo-Orichalcos still had far too great a hold over him to be broken. And indeed, in a moment Joey was gone and it was the Neo-Orichalcos that spoke next. "Shut up, Kaiba. Your lame attempts to bring me back are never gonna work. I'll never listen to you, especially not anymore. I belong to the Neo-Orichalcos now."

Seto snarled, his hope extinguished. "So be it. We've wasted enough time here. Let's end this."

"You're right, we have. And you are going down, Kaiba!" Joey cried.

"Not today." Seto laid his cards on the field. "I distracted you long enough to assemble all three of my Blue Eyes White Dragons. It's an old strategy, but a good one. And it's going to work here. You know what comes next. I'm going to merge them into the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

Joey fell back. "Not that!"

"Even when your mind is not your own, you don't have the ability to beat me. Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, White Lightning Attack!"

Joey screamed as the creature destroyed his last chances of winning the duel and his lifepoints dropped to zero. Then the blue light closed in on him for the second time that night.

Seto stepped back, his eyes narrowed. Would the Neo-Orichalcos do anything else to Joey? Or would it decide to keep him as its mind-controlled slave?

The answer was soon obvious when it faded completely. Joey was still looking at Seto with almost palpable hatred, only now it seemed even worse. The Neo-Orichalcos had decided to feed even more of its evil into the mind-control. "Next time you won't be so lucky, Kaiba," he vowed. "I'll see you in Hell." He stormed off.

Seto stared after him. "Wheeler . . ."

"Big Brother!" Mokuba was running towards Seto now, relieved and overjoyed that he was safe.

Seto caught him in an embrace and held him close. "It's all over now," he assured Mokuba.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Mokuba said. "But . . . I feel really bad for Joey." He turned to look as Joey faded into the night. "He's not himself. He'll feel horrible about what he's doing."

I wonder if he'll feel horrible about this duel, Seto couldn't help thinking.

But he frowned. Even if Joey had expressed many of his real feelings, he would never want Seto to actually lose his soul or his mind. Seto could at least be sure of that.

"What are we going to do about Joey?" Mokuba worried. "There has to be some way to help him!"

"It won't be from me," Seto said. "I tried. I couldn't get through to him."

"Well . . . maybe Yugi can," Mokuba hoped. "And Téa and Tristan."

"We'll see," Seto said noncommittally.

Mokuba hesitated. "Seto . . . you're really upset, aren't you."

Seto hesitated too. "That's a treacherous fate to happen to anyone," he said at last.

"Yeah, but when it's someone you know . . ." Mokuba bit his lip. "He must have said some really awful things. I saw the way you looked sometimes when he was talking."

". . . That's to be expected in a situation like this," Seto finally said.

Mokuba pushed away and looked up at him. "But I want to help, Seto! You always do so much for me! For once I wish I could help you! If you'd just talk to me when things go wrong . . . !"

"Kid." Seto laid a hand on Mokuba's shoulder. "The best thing you can do for me is to enjoy life. I've always tried to make sure you had a normal childhood in spite of everything."

"But . . . how can I enjoy things or have any kind of a normal childhood when abnormal things keep happening?!" Mokuba exclaimed. "I worry about you, Seto, so much. All these crazy people are always trying to come after you, or KaibaCorp, and I always have to worry that one of these times, one of them's going to succeed in separating us!" His voice lowered. "Now I even had to worry that a friend was going to do it. . . ."

"But it didn't happen," Seto said. "And it's not going to. No matter what comes at us, we're going to get through it."

Mokuba looked down. That had been true so far, but on some occasions, only because Yugi and the others had helped them. Still, he wanted to believe Seto's words. He didn't want to have to live in fear of one day things going terribly wrong and never being able to be fixed.

"Yeah," he finally said.

"We will," Seto insisted. "And I'm sure Yugi will find a way to save Wheeler." Deep down, he honestly hoped so.

"Oh!" Mokuba suddenly remembered. "Yugi said that Leon's alive but in some kind of suspended animation!"

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Now how would he know that? And it sounds ridiculous."

"But it must be true," Mokuba pleaded. "Yugi seemed to know what he was talking about!"

"He usually always does," Seto had to admit.

"And he said Marik's okay!" Mokuba exclaimed. "They're all coming out here. They were hoping to catch Joey, but . . . it's too late for that now. . . . And they were hoping you'd let one of our doctors examine Rishid and Alister."

"What?!" Seto stared at Mokuba in disbelief. "Why?"

"Yugi said he'd explain more when they got here," Mokuba said.

"But why would he feel like our doctors had to examine them?" Seto frowned. "There are plenty of hospitals and clinics they could go to."

"Well . . ." Mokuba shifted. "He said it was some kind of a magical sickness that was hurting them physically. . . ."

Seto was in further disbelief. "Our doctors won't have any idea how to deal with magical ailments!" he cried.

Mokuba gave a helpless shrug. "I guess Yugi thought it'd still be better than taking them someplace where the doctors would ask a bunch of uncomfortable questions."

Seto frowned. "There's something more going on here. Yugi had better have some really good explanations."

Duke's car turned the corner and pulled up to the curb just then, followed by David's. Yugi, Tristan, and Téa were out in an instant.

"Where's Joey?" Tristan demanded.

"Gone," Seto greeted them. "I defeated him and the Neo-Orichalcos increased its hold over his mind. Then he left."

"I'm really sorry," Mokuba said. "That this happened to him and he's gone again, I mean. I'm sure glad Seto won."

"So are we, Mokuba," Yugi said. "We don't want any more friends to fall."

Seto raised an eyebrow at being called a friend, but for once he didn't counter it.

Marik climbed out of David's car. "Mokuba!"

Mokuba's eyes lit up. "Marik!" He ran to his friend, hugging him around the waist. "I was so worried! What happened?! Where've you been?! Why didn't you or somebody call?!"

Marik hugged him close. "I'm afraid it's a long story," he said.

"And we really do need to get Alister and Rishid checked out by a doctor," Yugi said. "Kaiba, would it be alright for one of your doctors to look at them?"

Seto frowned. "I still don't understand why you're insisting on that. You must have some specific reason."

"We need to know exactly what's happening to their bodies," Yugi said. "But since it's a magical sickness, no doctor will know what's causing it. But we were hoping that your doctors would be more receptive to keeping the weird aspects secret."

"I guess I can arrange it." Seto took out his cellphone. "But it won't be free."

"They wouldn't expect it to be," Yugi said. "Thank you, Kaiba."

Within moments Seto had the meeting arranged and hung up the phone. "He'll meet us at the KaibaCorp infirmary if we come right now," he said.

"Great! That's exactly what we were hoping for," Yugi smiled.

"I still want to know what's going on," Seto said. "And why you said that Leonhard von Schroider is alive."

"He is," Yugi assured him. "And we'll explain everything, Kaiba, but at KaibaCorp." He and the others hurried to get back in their respective vehicles.

"We'll meet you there!" Mokuba waved as he scrambled into the limo.

Scowling, and still certain that there was something Yugi was reluctant to tell him, Seto followed.

xxxx

Seto's doctor was most certainly baffled by the case that had suddenly been dropped in his lap. And after examining both Rishid and Alister, the only news he could bring everyone was grim.

"All I can say for sure is that both of those men are being slowly and systematically poisoned," he said. "I don't understand by what."

The group exchanged stricken looks. Seto narrowed his eyes. "And what are their chances?" he asked, voicing the question on all of their minds.

"The Egyptian, Rishid Ishtar, is managing to resist it much better than Alister Mackenzie," the physician answered. "They will both eventually die if a cure can't be found. Alister, most likely, will succumb much faster than Rishid. Whatever that poison is, he's had a far larger dose."

"How long do we have?" Alister asked.

The doctor hesitated. "For you, at the rate your body is reacting, probably not more than a day or two. Maybe double that for Rishid. You should both stay here under our care."

"No thanks," Alister countered. "There's nothing you'd be able to do for us. The thing that's causing our illness is a magical stone."

"What?" The physician stared at him.

"It is true," Rishid said.

Marik ran over to Rishid. "I don't believe this," he insisted. "I'll find a way to save you, Rishid. Surely if we defeat the true source of the Neo-Orichalcos, it will stop the poison!"

"It may," Rishid said, "but I am not even certain where to find it. It wasn't on the island."

Alister looked away. "I deserve this, but Rishid doesn't. He never wanted to go along with me in my plan, not really."

"We both participated," Rishid said. "If you deserve it, I do as well."

Seto looked back and forth between them. "What's going on here?" he demanded. "What are you talking about?"

Alister took a deep breath and raised his gaze to meet that of his former enemy's. "The Neo-Orichalcos. . . . It's our fault. Now we're taking the punishment for it."

Seto stiffened. "What?!"

"Calm down, Kaiba," Yugi exclaimed. "What they did wasn't right, but they did have a good reason. A reason you and I can understand all too well."

The next thirty minutes were spent explaining what had happened once again. Seto listened, his expression dark. Mokuba was sickened and stunned.

"This is all awful," he gasped at the conclusion. "No wonder you guys snapped like that, when everybody seemed to be dead and the Neo-Orichalcos was right there. I'm sure it must have been influencing you to do what you did."

"Well, regardless, that hardly matters now," Alister growled. He held a hand to his heart. "We're going to drop dead in a number of hours unless we stop the Neo-Orichalcos once and for all. Maybe. We don't actually know destroying it at its source will stop the poison."

Marik clenched a fist. "We should look at Ishizu's research," he said. "There may be a clue in that."

Rishid nodded. "I have always kept it with me." He indicated a briefcase at his side.

"Then this is what I think we should do," Yugi said. "Some of us should go over Ishizu's research and try to figure out where the source of the Neo-Orichalcos is. The rest of us should go look for Joey."

"That's almost certainly pointless, Yugi," Seto told him. "The sure way to save him is to break the spell of the Neo-Orichalcos. And that's something you're not going to do by trying to get through to him."

"I won't believe that until I've faced him myself," Yugi insisted.

"And if nothing else, we could always knock him out and tie him up," Tristan said. "He'd thank us for it when he came back to himself. He'll never forgive himself for what he's going around trying to do."

"Someone else will need to tell Serenity and Mrs. Kawai," Duke said. "Someone who will tell them the whole story and not try to gloss over what's happened."

"Oh, you mean like you." Tristan glowered at him.

"You said it," Duke retorted.

"I should stay here and help go through Ishizu's research," Marik said.

"You should stay too, Grampa," Yugi told Solomon, who frowned.

"But I might be able to help with Joseph," Solomon protested.

"I think Yugi's right, Mr. Muto," Téa said. "You know a lot about archaeology and ancient stuff. You could be really helpful here."

"Well . . . if you really think so," Solomon said. "I might be useful at that."

"Great," Yugi smiled, relieved that his grandfather would be out of danger.

"Mokuba and I'll stay too," Seto said. He wasn't about to face Joey again. That would only make everything worse.

Duke looked to David. "You should also stay. You don't know Joey very well and it's probably unlikely that you could get through to him."

David frowned. "But you're going to go?"

"Yeah." Duke nodded. "I want to talk to Serenity. After that, I'll help in the search for Joey."

"And we're sure going," Téa declared, indicating herself, Tristan, and Yugi.

"What about us?" Bakura wondered. "I'd be happy to help, although I don't know that I could do much of any good if I ran into Joey."

Yami Bakura growled. "It would be idiotic for you to face him alone in his state. If you insist on going, I'll go as well."

Bakura smiled a bit. "Thank you, Yami."

"Alright." Yugi headed for the door. "Let's do this, everyone. We'll do everything we can to save Joey from the Neo-Orichalcos!"

"Yeah!" Tristan and Téa cheered.

"Good luck," Seto said without real hope.