Chapter Ten: The First Finale

A/N: And this is the end of the Battle City arc!

Mokuba spotted Setsuna running around the hallways in Alcatraz tower and dragged her toward the elevator over her mumbled protests. "Come on, Setsuna-kun!" Mokuba said brightly. "This time niisama is going to beat Yugi for sure." Then he went silent, because Setsuna wasn't even looking at him. She stared blankly at the floor for a while before just sighing and starting to steadily thump her head against the wall of the elevator.

"Setsuna?" Mokuba had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that it was really, really freaky to see Setsuna like this—she would usually have been the one to drag him to the dueling arena, not because she was interested in the outcome but because she could.

"I'm fine, Mokuba." Setsuna grumbled, having stopped smacking her head against the wall to just lean against it. "Once the room stops spinning, I'll be even more okay."

Mokuba hadn't lived to be eleven (which, among the Kaibas, was almost an unbelievable accomplishment) by being an idiot. "You're lying."

"So what if I am?" Setsuna grumbled. Her hands clenched into fists. "Look, it doesn't have anything to do with you. I'll watch the damn duel, so just stop bugging me."

If Setsuna hadn't been a girl, Mokuba would have punched her. As far as he could tell (and he was probably mostly right), she was just being twice as overdramatic as she usually was. "Then what is it about?" Mokuba asked crossly.

"Haven't a clue." Setsuna said. She straightened and turned around, and Mokuba noticed that her eyes were reddened. Only a little, since it was hard to tell anyway when a person's eyes were bright red anyway, but Mokuba was sure Setsuna wasn't at her best at all.

"I'm not taking that for an answer." Mokuba said stubbornly. "If it made you crazy enough that you're not even arguing with me the right way anymore, it has to be serious enough that I have to know about it."

Setsuna fixed him with a dull, if sullen, look, and sighed. "Fine. You really want to know?"

"Duh." Mokuba said, and crossed his arm. He had a minute to fill—the elevator ride up to the top of Alcatraz was a long one.

"Okay then. What if I told you that Akiko-oneesama had a soul that was broken into three pieces, once of which she managed to get back in addition to the one she already had?" Setsuna said hotly. "And that, because of the particular way her magic works, your brother might be in big trouble? Like, possibly life-endangering trouble? What would you say then?"

Mokuba said nothing for a long, strained moment. Setsuna was glaring at him the whole time, breathing hard and clenching her fists, which made it a little hard to think. Then, after a lot of thought, he said, "Then I'd say, what are we going to do about it?"

They made it to the dueling platform in time to watch the first turn of the duel. Mokuba ran ahead, smacking into Isono and whispering fiercely at him, while Setsuna went to her sister's side for a quick interrogation.

"Akiko-oneesama." Setsuna began, as Yami summoned his Queen's Knight in defense mode. The woman didn't even turn her head to face her. "Oneesama?"

"What is it, Setsuna-kun?" Akiko murmured.

Setsuna went for the blunt approach, because she didn't have it in her to act any other way. "Why do you have a Contract scroll?"

Akiko's eyes flickered. "Where did you find it?"

"In our room." Setsuna replied.

Akiko said nothing for a long moment. She finally turned to face her younger sister, her eyes dark. "Is there a problem with that arrangement, Setsuna-kun?"

Setsuna forced down her instinctual terror—so this feeling is what the others were talking about—and frowned severely. "Yeah, there is. Did you ever bother to tell Kaiba about it? And the possible side effects of your type of magic? Half the names on your list were crossed out."

"No, I did not." Akiko said quietly. "I have little to no reason to."

"What, are you going to say that what he doesn't know won't hurt him?" Setsuna demanded, fighting back her easily-triggered temper. It didn't work. "It will, Akiko. I have no idea what those other powers cost the people who enter a partnership with you when you use them, but it can't be all sunshine and daisies. What happens the first time you need to use whatever powers you took from his contract?"

Akiko sighed (which, again, was staggeringly emotional for someone like her) and kneeled down so she could face Setsuna evenly. She pulled something out of her hip holster (which should have housed her Dueling deck) and pressed it into Setsuna's hand. "Read this, Setsuna-kun. Maybe that will help you understand how this process works."

Setsuna stared at her hand, at the fist-sized notebook in it. She flipped it open and glanced at a few of the pages. The tiny book was loaded with charts, diagrams, and lists with Akiko's tiny handwriting all along the margins. "Are these supposed to be formulas?"

"Yes." Akiko said, looking back up at the two duelists above. They seemed to be having a few problems going back and forth with their God cards. It would probably come down to a face-off between Obelisk and Osiris, and there was no guarantee that anyone would be okay if Yami was using his Puzzle to make the monsters temporarily real.

"You need to help me go over this. You're going to explain everything." Setsuna hissed, her eyes narrowed into a deathly glare. "I can't let anyone else get hurt."

Akiko gave her a sidelong glance and Setsuna was struck by how utterly contemptuous of everything she looked just then. "May I ask one question then, Setsuna-kun?"

"What is it?" Setsuna said, her voice very quiet.

"If it is dangerous enough for Kaiba-sama—and my method is indeed risky—and you have me stop, who is going to stop him?" Akiko murmured, tilting her head a little toward Yami Malik.

Setsuna gulped. "Mutou-san will…I think."

"Given his track record so far, I would guarantee nothing." Akiko remarked quietly. "His powers abide by passive rules, used to change the battlefield against unwary opponents. Against someone like Ishtar-san, that will not be enough."

Setsuna thought about it. "But you said earlier that Mutou-san used to cause all sorts of damage to people who caused him problems. He would be able to use that same magic against Malik, right?"

"While that is correct," and Akiko seemed to have a few reservations even about admitting that, "the psychological profile of the person who committed that much offensive magic to breaking his enemies' minds is not the one Mutou displays at the moment. Neither of them seem to be malicious enough at present to attack first or bend the established rules enough to permanently end the threat, though I lack access to any individual reports to confirm it."

Setsuna stared. "You know, that's really, really freaky that you actually thought about all of this."

Akiko blinked as though struck, but displayed no other sign of emotion. "My primary directive is ensuring the safety of Kaiba Mokuba. As such, it has also become my priority to protect all others willing to do the same. This includes most, but not all, of the passengers on this airship." She turned her head again to face Malik. "I am forbidden from actively seeking out and eliminating threats to that priority, however, by my employer. There are legal concerns."

"I shouldn't have to tell you that you sound like a robot." Setsuna mumbled grumpily. "Don't you ever have a single thought of your own that doesn't have to do with babysitting Mokuba-kun?"

Akiko rolled one shoulder, as though uncomfortable thinking about the topic. "Until our contract is terminated, that is my duty. I cannot allow pain, injury, or illness sway me…"

Setsuna walked away while Akiko was still whispering to herself. She met Mokuba coming back the other way.

"I think my sister's a robot in disguise." Setsuna announced, holding up the battered black notebook Akiko had given her. "A magical robot, yeah, but I don't think I've ever met someone who might as well think in binary code."

Mokuba snatched the book from Setsuna's hand and looked it over. "Well, I know niisama doesn't believe in magic, but I think he can believe in androids. So, what now? He's not listening to me, she's not listening to you, and everyone else is too wrapped up in what's going on to help us much."

Setsuna pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, I think it's time we fall back to the tried-and-true method of heroes everywhere."

"Wing it?"

"Wing it."

So, Seto lost. To anyone who's actually paid attention to the individual duels in the average plotline, this is absolutely not a surprise at all. Yugi only ever loses at games for plot reasons, after all. And obviously letting Kaiba keep a freaking GOD CARD wouldn't screw up the fate of the world a lot, because he's so responsible.

With Mokuba? Yes. With cards and mental instability and megalomaniacal laughter? Nah.

The kids, meanwhile, had hijacked the airship's mainframe to do a little responsible research, which apparently no one else had ever bothered thinking about. Besides, with the jets completely unresponsive until about five minutes ago (when Osiris's breath had somehow jump-started everything again), the crew were still on break.

Setsuna watched the occult symbols on the screen streak past, leaving little angular brushstroke blurs across her retinas. It was making her really dizzy and probably wasn't really what they were looking for anyway. "Hey Mokuba?"

"What is it?" Mokuba asked, going over the images and searching for some kind of match in a different database.

Setsuna yawned. "I think your brother needs to stop taking losing duels so personally."

Mokuba stared at her.

"What?"

Mokuba gave a short bark of a laugh. "Don't let him hear you say that, okay?"

THUD.

Both of them whipped around to find Jounouchi scrambling out the door, with Mai, Honda, Shizuka, Otogi, and Anzu in tow. The entire procession whipped through the control room like a typhoon, upending coffee cups and sandwich bags and bento boxes. After a minute or two, the two non-teenagers saw the doctor stumble into view.

"Wasn't he in a coma?" Setsuna asked in disbelief.

The doctor gave a helpless shrug. "I don't know what's going on either! The one with point hair just grabbed him and shook him awake." He mimed the motion, but only briefly. "And then they all escaped!"

The two kids exchanged looks. Finally, Mokuba just shook his head and turned back to the monitors. "Grown-ups," he said, in tones of great, put-upon disapproval.

Setsuna giggled in spite of herself.

Jounouchi and Seto proceeded to get into an instant fight for third place at the base of the tower. Of course, Jounouchi lost, but at least he managed to piss Seto off in the meantime. That just left the long-overdue match between Yugi and Malik up in the air. Or something—honestly, Mokuba had long since stopped paying attention to almost anything the Egyptian did. The tournament itself had stopped meaning much more than another electricity bill to Mokuba after Seto had lost.

Setsuna, who had been leaning over the consoles to watch the duel outside of the front window, said, "Told you."

"Shut up," said Mokuba.

About an hour or so later, it was time for the final duel. The biggest deal ever. The last hurrah. Yami/Yugi Mutou and (Yami) Malik Ishtar. Or rather, Yami versus Yami Malik while their respective better halves were busy trying not to be completely and utterly devoured by the purple aura stuff that was apparently a product of Yami Malik's weird magic item and entirely too little sleep.

"What I wouldn't give to be able to smash Malik-chan's head in right now." Setsuna mumbled, but perhaps not quietly enough.

"Enough comments from the peanut gallery." Yami Malik snapped, and there was a certain amount of grand gesturing that had to go with it. There was never going to be such a thing as a non-theatrical villain in this universe.

Setsuna responded the mature way and chose to make funny faces and stick her tongue out at him. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the most mature way. But it was something, and for someone who couldn't do anything against Malik anyway," harmless irritant" was about the best anyone could expect.

"Get on with it, Ishtar." Seto ordered, obviously in no mood to deal with the Egyptian's shenanigans. This was even despite the fact that he'd won the duel for third place over Jounouchi, though admittedly he was probably still sore about the blond using his precious Blue Eyes White Dragon against him. "If you idiots take any longer I'm just going to start giving out penalties."

Akiko, for her part, seemed to be staring contemplatively up at the platform and thinking hard. Setsuna found she couldn't blame her.

The situation had long since stopped making any sort of scientific sense. Setsuna was one of those weird people who tended to think in terms of scientific inquiry while talking about whatever type of supernatural oddity came her way. It was one of the reasons she would have made a horrible mage, even if she'd had a single spark of magic in her—she couldn't stop being critical of everything and just believe in it. Belief was one of her weak points; overanalyzing something was a strength of hers.

This was one of those things that gave people like her massive tension headaches.

Okay, Malik—both of them—on one end of the field. She wasn't sure how that worked, exactly—wasn't Yami Malik supposed to be just a split personality?—but she had already wasted too much time thinking about it. She understood that Yugi and Yami were two fully separate spirits just inhabiting a single body (which also gave her a bit of a headache) but seriously, what the hell?

"Akiko?" Setsuna murmured without turning her head. "What's so interesting?"

"The specific parameters of this spell are undefined and unjustified by magical theory." Akiko murmured, her red eyes flitting between the littler, gentler Yugi and the less psychopathic Malik. "Spirits can manifest through a binding spell such as this one, but not true multiple personalities. They are fundamentally mundane and not individuals unto themselves."

"Given the glowing eyeball on his forehead," Setsuna suggested quietly, "I think it's more like this particular one is a bit enhanced."

Akiko nodded minutely. "With an artifact such as the Millennium Rod in hand reinforcing its own existence, I suppose it is possible that the subject could have gained independence from its host…"

Setsuna frowned a little. "Okay, that works for the magical theory aspect. How are we going to get everyone down intact, then?"

"Ideally, Mutou-san's secondary spirit will win the duel and the rules magic involved will devour only Ishtar-san's split personality." Akiko didn't display any real concern over this, but considering that she almost never changed her expression, Setsuna couldn't be sure. "But this type of magic deals in contracts and rules—deals. It can be destructive, provided that one never loses or cheats."

Setsuna quickly went over everything she knew about magic that relied on rules. There wasn't a lot. "It probably was self-destructive a lot of the time."

Akiko nodded. "Correct in theory. Regardless, I am uncertain how to proceed. Ishtar-san's victory would undoubtedly result in the deaths of everyone aboard this airship from a combination of the backlash of this form of magic and his own efforts, but I do not think I can interfere in Mutou-san's favor."

"Right. 'Cause that would fall under 'cheating' somewhere." Setsuna huffed. "Okay, here comes the first attack…"

WHOOSH. Yami's life points proceeded to drop by five hundred and the killer leech thingy Malik had summoned waved its huge head tauntingly. As though on cue, the "normal" Yugi gave a hiss of pain and thrashed against his bonds as the purple magic—or whatever it really was (since it gave the oddest impression of sentience)—dissolved part of his lower leg into nothingness.

Setsuna was never one for being speechless with shock, so maybe ranting in utter bafflement was more up her alley. "…I just saw someone's foot get gnawed off by shadow stuff. What the hell?"

"It's just a trick." Seto grumbled.

"I'll believe that once you start believing that." Setsuna shot back. She turned back to the platform. "Holy crap."

After the Vampire Leech was destroyed by Yami's Queen's Knight, the duel seemed to turn into something more akin to a relentless back-and-forth between the two spirits. The blonde warrior decked out in red was promptly destroyed by one of Malik's four-star monsters, Juragedo. Then the magic and traps finally made their own appearance, with Exchange and other spells lashing across the dueling arena just to make the entire power struggle more interesting.

Yami summoned King's Knight and then dragged Jack's Knight out of his deck, and by this point everyone recognized the setup for his coup de grace in the form of a three-hundred-foot-long scarlet serpent dragon.

At the exact same time, Malik proceeded to summon his Winged Dragon of Ra in Phoenix Mode using Monster Reborn (a.k.a. Raise Dead).

"This is going to be ugly." Anzu said.

Mokuba immediately corrected her, for his older brother's sake. "No, it's going to be awesome."

Setsuna facepalmed. Not that she was against awesomeness itself (in fact, quite the opposite), but this really wasn't the time to be talking about it. Not when people might get killed.

Then again, Mokuba and Seto were the only ones who still thought it was just a game. Malik would probably do his best to disillusion them later on.

Other me, don't worry about it! Yugi half-shouted mentally, because he'd already lost most of his mouth and throat to the Shadow Realm and couldn't have made a sound if he'd tried.

I'm not going to let you die here, Yugi! Yami snarled back, with raw, protective rage surging along their link. Yami was desperate, tired, furious, and not at all in the mood to compromise with anyone regarding his partner's safety.

And I won't let you kill him either! Yugi retorted.

That was one of the things that had always marked the two of them as different. Yami, while not exactly evil anymore, was no saint. He could be roused to anger easily, depending on the reason, and when he hated someone he wouldn't ever let that grudge go, not until he had his revenge in some form or another. He had a mindset that didn't allow him to relate to normal humans all that well, mostly due to his experience of being in the Puzzle for so long that he forgot he was even a person, but partially also because his judgmental nature was something that had served him well before.

Yugi got angry. Everyone did eventually, but Yugi didn't hate. He didn't feel that bubbling rage in his chest that threatened to make him surge over the edge of morality and take a crowbar (or playing card, as the case may be) to someone's skull. In fact, without Yugi, Yami knew he would be no better than Yami Malik. It was one of the reasons he was so fiercely protective of him. And even now, Yugi was talking him down from issuing a potentially-lethal beatdown to the arrogant son of a bitch that was Yami Malik.

Malik himself dangled limply from the shadow restraints on his side of the field, totally unresponsive. Yami had heard Yugi calling out to his fellow host more than once, though he was still slightly confused by it. Malik on his own had tried to kidnap their friends several times, and Mokuba had mentioned several kidnapping attempts that might have also been the result of Ghoul activity (before Sonozaki had apparently shut them down by force), but… Yami did see Malik as an enemy, if one defeated by its own problems.

Yugi saw someone in pain and reached out to them without thinking. That was just how Yugi was. Yami was glad of it, even if he didn't fully understand it.

"Hey, Mutou-kun!" Someone was shouting at them from below. Yami looked down and Setsuna waved.

Yami heard a stray thought from Yugi that basically went, What is she—?

"Me and neesan have a theory." Setsuna spoke extremely quickly—Yami could see Seto start to open his mouth to tell her to shut up already. "Watch what you do with Yami Malik—we think he might be able to survive even the backlash from a Shadow Game without the original personality."

What? Yugi asked silently.

Yami understood instantly, even if his partner didn't. Without Yugi, Yami wouldn't exist. He'd still be trapped in the Puzzle, one way or another. And if Yugi died—or his soul disappeared—it would be the same way. But if the original Malik was completely destroyed…

The spirit's mental voice was hard when he finally managed to come up with a response to Yugi's wordless inquiry. We have two options—we either kill them both, or we find a way to trap Yami Malik separately and take him out of the picture.

But…

Yami winced mentally. We can't keep Yami Malik at bay forever. And he needs to be stopped permanently, whatever way we can.

There was a silent sigh from Yugi. I know. Just let me try Malik again.

Maybe, once, Malik might have been able to throw off his alternate personality's control. Yami doubted the Egyptian would be able to muster the strength now.

Malik! Come on, talk to me! Yugi called. No response. Malik, we can't do this without you! No one else can stop your other self…

To Yami's utter shock, he saw Malik's spirit glance up at them with dull eyes. Yugi…?

Malik!

Another miracle, courtesy of Yugi's infinite kindness.

Yugi…help me… The Egyptian shuddered violently as he struggled against his bonds. But it didn't look like the fight would last long—Yami knew a beaten dog when he saw one. Malik was so terrified of his other personality that any encouragement Yugi could give was hollow in the face of it.

Yami Malik snorted. "Trying to play hero, Yugi-chan?"

Yugi glared at him, but it wasn't intense enough to make a dent. Besides, Yugi was more occupied trying to keep Malik from just giving up. As it was, the Egyptian needed all the help he could get.

Yami gave the violet-eyed spirit a scarlet death glare. "Get bent, you arrogant bastard."

Somewhere below, Jounouchi echoed the sentiment with a sharp, "You tell him, Pharaoh!"

Malik seemed to close in on himself, as if in terror, and Yami felt Yugi give a groan. Come on, Malik! You were so close!

Malik gave a tired little sigh. Rishid…

Yami Malik snarled—he must have heard the name as well.

I think we have options now, other me. Yugi said in a rare moment of deviousness. Usually Yugi was a little more straightforward, awkward, and kind to everyone in general.

Yami sighed mentally. He looked down. "Setsuna-kun?"

"What is it, Mutou-kun?" Setsuna asked mildly, while everyone else was wondering what the hell was going on, since none of them were psychics. Undoubtedly, the girl was and had heard them perfectly.

"Get Rishid."

Setsuna blinked, as did Yami Malik, but she was gone before the spirit could even figure out which way to lash out at her. For a little thing with a vicious temper and an acid tongue to match, but no actual powers or particularly useful combat skills, she could be pretty fast when she wanted to make a quick exit. Yami noticed that Sonozaki hadn't moved.

Yami Malik snarled again, "I will get you for this, Pharaoh!"

Yami smirked back. And because he was never one to hold back on either snark or taunts, he said, "Whatever. You're living on borrowed time."

And really, aside from the whole confrontation between Yami Malik and Malik and the card magic card called Ragnarok and the whole Shadow Realm thing going away, that was that. Yugi and Yami owned the three Egyptian God Cards, nobody was in a coma anymore, and everything was pretty much going to be the way it should have been.

A happy ending, really.

Sonozaki said absolutely nothing as Seto dismissed her to accompany the others on the blimp (or whatever it was called now—the actual helium-filled part was long gone), while he and Mokuba went down toward the base of KaibaCorp Island to rig the entire artificial setup to explode into so many steel fragments. She did as she was ordered—that was all she needed to know. She would follow Seto's orders, so long as they did not clash with the CEO's emphasis on his younger brother's safety being paramount.

She bumped into Setsuna on the way to the blimp. Normally she would have avoided the girl as much as she could without being rude, but there didn't seem to be any way to escape her now.

Setsuna didn't look her in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

Sonozaki blinked. Paused, knelt to see what was wrong. It was something she had picked up by watching Mazaki.

Setsuna was crying. It wasn't a huge mess—there was a little sniffling, and only a few tears escaped her eyes, but her younger sister was well and truly upset.

"What do you have to apologize for?" Sonozaki asked, tilting her head to indicate both curiosity and willingness to listen. She was getting better at acting normal, mostly from watching Mutou's friends interact, but she wasn't perfect. "I wasn't aware…"

"It's not something that happened recently." Setsuna said, her voice cracking. "Look, I was going to get Rishid like Mutou asked and he was already awake, and Ishizu was getting him to his feet. And I went to the computers to see if the stuff Mokuba-kun and I were looking at was done being analyzed."

Sonozaki waited patiently for her to continue, running her fingers through her sister's hair while being careful to avoid tugging. Something she'd seen Jounouchi do when his sister was worried sick over everyone.

"Why didn't you tell anyone, oneesama?" Setsuna mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

Sonozaki was, at best, drawing a total blank. "About what, Setsuna-kun?"

"About what our father did to you!" Setsuna snarled, her eyes still puffy but now blazing in anger. "About all the experiments, about ripping your soul to bits so you'd be a better weapon for whoever could afford to hire you and put up with the strain you put on their magic when you needed help keeping yourself together…about all the crap you had to deal with just because he wanted a 'perfect daughter'." The quotes around the phrase were almost audible.

Sonozaki blinked. She was at a complete loss.

"I saw the notes." Setsuna went on, practically ranting. "I saw his signature. How could he do that to you?"

"Sonozaki Toushiro is my father, yes, and the two of us are related through him," she finally said, very evenly, "and he wanted me to be the greatest warrior in our combined clans. He told me so."

"How old were you when he had your soul split?" Setsuna bit out.

"Six."

Setsuna looked completely horrified. She tried to put her sister at ease by remaining calm, but the green-haired girl was, if anything, more incensed. "You've been living with only a third of your soul for seventeen years? How is that even—oh hell, is that why you know what soul anchors are?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Setsuna stared at her. Then she did something Sonozaki hadn't expected at all—she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck in a tight, secure hug.

It took a long, awkward moment, but she slowly responded by hugging her sister back. Setsuna gave a little sob and buried her face in her sister's short hair, the pressure increasing rather than diminishing. After a while, she carefully lifted the girl off the ground and carried her the rest of the way to the passenger compartments of the blimp. It wasn't hard—Setsuna weighed less than half of what Malik had.

"I'm sorry, Akiko-oneesama." Setsuna mumbled into her sister's shirt once they were in what passed for the lounge. Several of the duelists were already there, and giving them odd looks, but the blue-haired bodyguard would have dismissed them anyway if she'd noticed at all.

Akiko merely gave a sort of sigh and sat down in the nearest armchair. "It's fine, imouto-chan."

Oddly enough, she felt a little flare of warmth in her chest, though she had no idea what it meant.

And that was the end of Battle City. It was the end of a long trial for nearly everyone involved.

Seto would give up Duel Monsters for a few weeks to concentrate on his company and getting over his loss. Mokuba would be there for him, while Sonozaki and Setsuna were there to keep them both safe and sane. Yugi would activate the Egyptian ritual designed to give his partner his memories back. Anzu and Jounouchi would be there for him when it came time to give up his closest friend. Shizuka would head back to her mother, giving Honda and Otogi motivation to pine for her. Mai would take off on a world tour in dueling, secure in the knowledge that she always had at least one crazy town to belong to. Malik, Ishizu, and Rishid would return to Egypt, free of a malicious leech of a spirit. The Ghouls would disband.

And life goes on.

But it's not the end of this story, not by a long shot.

Deep in the underbelly of the world, underneath several miles of ocean and ocean floor, there was a terrible rumble from a crevasse in the Pacific. Below where any mortal eyes could see, green light flooded the deep and there was a low, malevolent growl.

Far above, in the CEO's office of a company called Doma, a green-haired man clasped his hands, interweaving his long fingers, and cast a contemplative look toward the sea. Gold and teal gleamed in the lightning-streaked darkness.

Deeply amused by the petty chatter he could hear from far below and from those he had already fed to his monstrous master, Dartz merely inclined his head at the ancient creature. He would fall down in true worship of its magnificence in time. Now, there was work to do.

He picked up his office phone and dialed a number.

"What do you require, Dartz-sama?" came a triad of voices from the other end. His most loyal followers were listening avidly to his every word. The skilled, loyal Raphael, the fiercely devoted (if not obsessive) Amelda, and the convenient tool of a thug known as Valon.

Dartz smiled, catlike, in the shadows of his office. It would soon be time to call his master to this world, for the first time since its arrival to this wretched world in the days of Atlantis. "It's time to begin the hunt."

A/N: And off we go to the modified Doma arc!

This is actually the shortest chapter in a while, and I'm sorry if it seems kind of disjointed-it's easier for me to work in scenes than in chapters, I guess.