Duelist's Point
Chapter 37: The Gauntlet is Thrown
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Bakura decided that no matter how lithe his frame was and how controlled his footsteps were, the Pharaoh sucked at stealth. This thought was confirmed when Yami spotted and recognized Croquet and promptly shouted, "You! You're one of Pegasus's heads, right?"
Smacking his own forehead, Bakura hissed, "What are you doing, you idiot?"
Yami cocked an eyebrow at him, as if asking, "You really doubt me?" and saying "Just watch," at the same time.
A confused Croquet stopped pacing the hallway to blink at the two new faces, hands reaching for his earpiece and his gun simultaneously.
"Who are you? Trespassers are not allowed on the premises."
"Pass a message along to your boss, would you?" Yami interjected, ignoring the query. "Tell him to meet me on the roof in twelve hours. Then we'll duel fairly – no Millennium Items, no Mind Shuffling, no magic."
Even more bewildered, Croquet turned to the staircase, completely forgetting about the two mysterious trespassers who looked strangely familiar in his rush to deliver the message to Pegasus…
After Croquet left, Yami decided to go free Yuugi and then figure out what to do from there on. Bakura slipped into the dungeons easily and picked the lock, letting Yami into the cell while he leaned against the bars. Although he attempted to feign disinterest, the way his eyes kept glancing at Yami betrayed his true sentiments.
"Partner…" Yami whispered, bending over the huddled mess that was the other half of his soul.
Yuugi blinked up at him wordlessly. Yami helped him up into a sitting position and held onto him. "How are you feeling, Partner? I'm sorry you had to go through that horrible procedure… I should've been the one suffering, not you."
Yuugi shook his head and sighed as he leaned into Yami's embrace.
"C'mon, stand up," Yami urged, helping him stand upright. Yuugi wobbled a little before bracing himself against the wall. "Can you stand?" Yuugi nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but the only thing that came out was a hoarse gasping noise. "Don't strain yourself, Partner. Let your voice rest. You can talk to me in here." He tapped his head, smiling gently. Yuugi nodded again and looked up at him, expression urgent.
//We need to save Bakura-kun and Anzu and Honda-kun and the Other Anzu!//
/Yes, do you know where they are?/
//Yes!// With a sudden burst of energy, Yuugi pulled away from Yami and began walking out of the cell. He gasped when he walked past Bakura, startled because he hadn't known that he was there.
"No need to be frightened, Partner, it's just Bakura," Yami said, slightly amused. Yuugi turned to him, frowning.
/That's not Bakura-kun, Other Me!/ Yuugi exclaimed indignantly.
"No, it's not Bakura-kun, but it is Bakura," Yami said steadily, wrapping an arm around Yuugi again and leading them down the tiny hallway between the rows of cells.
Following them, Bakura snorted. "I'm flattered your little partner is so frightened of me, Pharaoh," he commented snidely.
Yami rolled his eyes. "He's not frightened; you just startled him."
"What are we doing now?" Bakura interrupted, hands jammed into his pockets.
"Rescuing the Other Bakura and the others," Yami said, letting Yuugi lead the way.
"Why are we just walking in broad daylight again?" Bakura said, sounding annoyed.
Yami laughed. Yuugi looked between him and Bakura, eyes expressing his confusion at their camaraderie. "You and your sneaking around. Don't worry, before the twelve hours are up, Pegasus won't do anything to us. He won't refuse a challenge."
//Twelve hours?//
"I challenged Pegasus to a fair duel on the roof in twelve hours," Yami explained, following Yuugi up several flights of stairs. "I figure that it would give us some time to get everything together."
//That was very smart, Other Me.//
Yami smiled at him. Yuugi had led them to a large door which seemed to emit a strange light. He opened the door cautiously, eyes darting around the dark room. Their friends' bodies lay adjacent to one another on the floor, just as Yuugi had left them. He ran to Ryou's body and shook it desperately. Bakura looked on impassively.
"What's happened to them?" Yami asked, standing next to Yuugi.
//Their souls are trapped in Celestine's Gameboard.//
"How did you escape, Partner?"
As Yuugi looked up at Yami, his lips quirked upwards the slightest bit. //I won.//
Eyes glittering with pride, Yami grinned and clapped him on the back. Meanwhile, Bakura was scanning the room, hands on the cold stone walls. He murmured a quiet "Aha!" as a stone brick slid away to reveal another room, one that glowed brightly.
"What is it, Bakura?" Yami asked, joining him at the strange hole in the wall.
"See for yourself," Bakura said, shifting to his left to allow Yami more space. Peering through the hole, Yami saw a tall blonde woman standing over a topless box that sat on a table.
//That's Celestine,// Yuugi thought to Yami, also peering through the hole. //Everyone is in the box.//
"How should we get them out?" Yami asked.
"By force, of course, Pharaoh; how else?" And with that, Bakura slid the stone aside, which set in motion the movements of the bricks around it, revealing a doorway that led to the other room. He crept through the door, silently traveling behind Celestine's back.
Sensing something behind her, she whipped around to see what it was – but Bakura was too fast for her. He held her from behind, holding his knife at her throat.
"Let them go," he said simply.
A tiny voice retorted, "Not likely!"
"It would be so easy to kill you," Bakura hissed, the knife just barely cutting into her skin. "Let them go."
With a blast of energy, she pushed him away, spinning around. Both sets of her eyes were glowing violently.
"Don't mess with me!" she squeaked, but Bakura smirked – his plan had worked accordingly; she had lost her concentration on the Gameboard. Gloating, he failed to block the stream of magic drills coming at him. However, Yami projected his own dark stream of magic from the Millennium Puzzle, deflecting Celestine's spell. Her eyes followed the magic back to its caster and gasped in surprise.
"You!" she hissed in distaste.
"What? Who are you?" Yami demanded.
"Forgotten me already?" Celestine giggled, charging up another spell. "Silly little Blue."
"You with me, Bakura?" Yami boomed, his Third Eye glowing violently. Bakura smirked maliciously, eyeing Celestine.
"I don't usually do teamwork, Pharaoh, but for you, I'll make an exception," he drawled, the Ring on his chest beginning to glow, the pointers tinkling as he gathered dark energy from the Realm of Shadows.
Ryou stirred, eyes opening slowly. He blinked rapidly as Yuugi's face came into focus above him. Oh thank god, he thought. He had been so worried about Yuugi after he'd won the game.
"Yuugi-kun," he sighed softly. Yuugi smiled a little and touched his cheek briefly, which brought Ryou to full consciousness with a warm jolt. He watched as Yuugi turned to Anzu, who was stirring next to him.
"Yuugi!" she exclaimed, hugging him. "I'm so happy that you're safe!"
When everyone was awake and sitting up, Yuugi beckoned for them to follow him to the other room.
There, Bakura was bent over Yami, hand on his shoulder. He said something that they didn't hear, but Yami nodded and replied firmly, "I'm fine; that last deflection was just unexpected."
"Other Yuugi!" Honda and Anzu exclaimed in unison.
"Spirit!" Ryou said. All three looked confused at the proximity of Yami and Bakura. At their voices, Bakura yanked his hand from Yami and backed away, face filled with his usual scornful indifference.
"Everyone!" Yami said, sitting up. "You're okay."
//What happened to Celestine?// Yuugi queried, although his eyes were looking between Bakura and his other again.
"Bakura and I managed to knock out Celestine for the time being," Yami said aloud, motioning to the body lying on the other side of the room, "but I don't know how long she'll stay like that. We had better leave. We still need to find the others before the duel."
"The duel?" Honda asked as Yami ushered them out of the room.
"I challenged Pegasus to a duel on the roof in twelve hours. We have until then to assemble and plan," he explained.
"Where is everyone else?" Anzu asked, worried.
"We don't know," Yami confessed. "That's what we have to find out. Let's get to the castle roof; from there we can summon monsters and fly around to look for them."
"Good idea," Ryou commented as they followed Yami up a staircase. Then, they carefully climbed a small set of stairs that came out from the ceiling and led to a trapdoor that led to the roof.
As soon as they were on the roof, Yami summoned Osiris and Bakura summoned Diabound Kernel. Anzu, Mazaki, and Honda rushed to climb onto Yami's monster, and so Yuugi and Ryou mounted Diabound. They agreed to split up to circle the island for their other friends.