Family Matters
"How can the Seal possibly get any stronger?" Yami asked.
"We're dealing with a force greater than the darkest shadows and older than time itself. Does that answer your question?" Dartz asks as he receives 3000 more life points for a total of 10100.
"His life points are out of control," Joey groaned. Dartz commands his Orichalcos Malevolence to switch Emily's Amethyst Cat into attack mode. Kaiba tries to weaken his monster by activating his Shrink card, but it ends up being destroyed. The Seal's third layer had now rendered all spells and traps useless against Dartz. Joey protects Emily by revealing his magic card Graceful Dice. The roll of the die results in a two and Amethyst Cat's attack points are raised to 2400. He tries to activate his Skull Dice too, but the Seal destroys it. Orichalcos Malevolence is destroyed, but the damage is absorbed by Orichalcos Chtora.
"Does the princess really mean that much to you three?" Dartz asks. "Because you're using your cards to protect her. That's pointless, especially when I can still target her. Now, Mirror Knights Max, Lyra, and Yugi, clear the field of Emily's monsters."
Forgive me, Princess, Lyra wonders as she takes out Amethyst Cat. Max and Yugi take out her two little spellcasters.
Pegasus tries to land a direct attack, but Emily shields herself with her duel disk. Princess Emily, please tell me Yugi boy gave you the card, Pegasus wonders as he leans his sword against her. She wonders if he's talking about that blank card Yami gave her before the duel began. It unlocks the secret of the Legendary Dragons.
"What are you waiting for? Attack her," Dartz demands as Pegasus finally lands his attack, pushing Emily against the barrier.
"Oh, no, Emily," Joey gasps.
"Get up, Briar," Kaiba encouraged. "Let's go!"
"I'm fine," she insists as she stands up. "Thanks for your concern." Those attacks did 3000 points of damge, dropping her down to 16200. Max had 2000 attack points equal to Panther Warrior's and Yugi had 1600 equal to Magician's Valkyria's. Lyra had 3000 equal to Black Luster Soldier's and Pegasus had 2400 equal to Kaiser Glider's. The attack strength equal to those of the creatures they reflected. What did Pegasus mean when he said the secret of the Legendary Dragons? Could he have been talking about the card my father gave me?
Dartz ends his turn by placing a card face down. Kaiba was done playing games and he refused to be pushed around any longer. The card he draws is the Fang of Critias. "Here's something you should take into account about me and my friends. Whenever we're in trouble, our decks come through for us. That's because we believe in the Heart of the Cards." And his Legendary Dragon appears on the field. Kaiba faces Yami and says to him, "If I know your gaming strategies as well as I think I do, then I can assume that the face down card you played a few turns ago is Mirror Force."
"You're right," Yami says, impressed with his guess. Kaiba merges Critias with Yami's trap to form Mirror Force Dragon. He orders his Dragon to attack Pegasus because he's the only Knight with a mirror shield. This was what Kaiba needed to do so he could activate his Dragon's ability of Absorb Reflection. Now the blast would destroy all of Dartz's monsters, including his Chtora. The four Knights groan from the attack, but assure their friends that they're all right. Kaiba did it, he saved them from being lost forever by attacking them all at once with his Dragon.
"Very impressive, Kaiba, but I'll be just fine," Dartz said as his monster continued to absorb all the damage he would have received. But there was one more surprise. It had the abilty to evolve after being destroyed in battle. Dartz's new monster was Orichalcos Shuneros and it had 20000 attack points. "Don't look so surprised," Dartz said to his opponents. "You're the ones who created this unstoppable beast."
"It can wipe us out with one attack!"
"Very observant, Princess. But before I do that, I have some more bad news to share." Orichalcos Shuneros unleashes Orichalcos Dexia and Orichalcos Aristeros. Dexia had the ability to be 300 attck points stronger than any monster it would battle and Aristeros would be 300 defense points stronger and intercept all attacks. Even with their team efforts, the heroes wouldn't be able to find a way to stand against Dartz's triple threat. The rest of the team didn't know what to do, so they just passed. Dartz could have attacked anybody, but for sheer pleasure, he decided to do away with Emily and get rid of her once and for all. So he recieved 1500 life points thanks to his three monsters and declared an attack. Knowing she'll lose, Kaiba uses his Dragon to protect Emily. But Dartz knew he would do that, which was why he activated his trap Martyr Curse, forcing Mirror Force Dragon to engage in battle and canceling out his special ability. Without his Absorb Reflection, he would be destroyed by Shuneros' Photon Ring Blast.
"Ta-ta, Kaiba," said Dartz. "We can't keep the Great Leviathan waiting."
But Kaiba refused to give in. He activates his trap card Wish of Final Effort to convert his Dragon's attack points into his life points. "I will not let you put me down or torture my friends," he growled.
Emily couldn't believe it. Kaiba tried to protect her again. "Kaiba,"
"Save it, Briar."
"No. I'm saying it now. This proves I was right about you all along. You care about us."
He faces her and grins. "Like I said, I won't let him hurt you. I won't leave you either. You're the only one who can save us and we can't lose you. I'm sorry for the way I treated you in the past. You're my friend, Briar." He meant what he said about his feelings for her. Kaiba didn't want to lose Emily and it was time he started being a friend to her and the others for all that they've done for him.
She smiles back at him. "Thank you, Kaiba. You're a real friend."
It disgusted Dartz to see Emily being protected so much by her teammates, but this gave the term 'soul survivor' another meaning. Joey was touched to hear Emily say that about Kaiba, but he couldn't forget the danger she was just in. "You jerk," he tells Dartz. "You were really gonna kill her just now, weren't you?"
Téa gasped hearing him say that. "Why are you being a bully to Emily?" She asks, remembering how he was attacking her.
Dartz grins and tells her, "Because I enjoy torturing her. It amuses me to see her in the same pain I inflicted upon my sister."
Téa couldn't stand it. "Stop it! Leave her alone! What did she do to you?"
"Silence!" Dartz yells and uses his magic against her and the others. Overhwelmed by its force, they're all knocked unconscious.
"No!" Emily cries. She turns around and leans against the barrier, calling for her friends. "Are you all right? Duke? Tristan? Téa!"
"Poor little princess. You're all alone now," Dartz tells her. Yami places his hand over her shoulder and rubs it. Hearing her crying, Dartz assures her, "Don't worry, Princess. Your friends are fine. I don't need weak souls. I just wanted to spend some personal quality time with you. Is that so wrong?"
She turns around and faces him with tears of pain and anger. "Stop it."
"But there's something I think you and the others will want to know, Princess. You and I met five thousand years ago in Egypt."
Emily dries her eyes. "What?"
"You obviously don't remember, but I was there on the day you were born."
"Go on."
Dartz continues and explains, "When the battle of Atlantis came to an end, I thought the Great Leviathan was gone forever. That is, until I came to Egypt."
Emily was the only one who was confused, but her teammates wondered if it had to do with the pictures they saw in Dartz's private room. Nontheless, Emily asks her opponent, "Hold on, what does that evil creature of yours have to do with me?"
Dartz smiled. "I thought you'd never ask!" And he uses the magic of the Orichalcos to generate more scenes of the past. "Behold the palace of Egypt in the year 3000 B.C.! Ring any bells?"
The team of heroes looked. "Now that you mention it, something about this place is familiar to me, but I'm not sure why," said Joey.
"Me too," Kaiba said in agreement.
"This is our home," Emily replied.
Looking down at the scene, they saw what looked like their ancient selves playing in the courtyard, but much younger. "Hold on, is that me and Mystery from when we were children?" Yami asked. It wasn't just them, but the rest of their friends. Joey saw Freya and recognized her as she was playing with his ancient self. Kaiba saw Kisara doing the same thing with his ancient self.
"You called yourselves the Children of Millennia because of your loyalty to your Great Goddess and that you were family to one another." After the battle of Atlantis came to an end, Dartz was forced to wander the earth. Eventually, he came to Egypt and learned about the Battle of the Gods. When Dartz came to Egypt, he noticed how similar the kingdom was to his homeland with all of the magic and monsters.
"Notice anything familiar?" Dartz asked again, focusing his gaze on Mystery. "I did too when I first saw her. I thought it was a trick, but I couldn't help but notice a resemblance between that child and a certain someone. Eventually, I finally understood why. What I'm trying to say is, Pharaoh, my Melinda and your Mystery are one and the same."
"One and the same?" Yami repeated in question. His eyes widened. "Wait, you mean, Melinda was reincarnated into Mystery?"
Joey started babbling. "But then, you- she- they-"
"But that means," Emily stops herself and gasps. "No!"
Dartz grins and wipes his brow. "Not quite what you anticipated, is it, Princess, you and I being distant relatives? But it's true. And when I saw my reincarnated sister, I knew that one day the battle of Atlantis would begin again and the Great Leviathan would return. But I knew it was too soon and was curious to know why my sister would begin a whole new life so soon. Then I found out she had a new destiny. Melinda had been reborn into the heiress of the Great Goddess Millennia."
The scene changes again and the Children of Millennia grow into adults. "I continued to watch over Mystery as time passed. And then you were born, Emily, to carry out her legacy. To me, that also meant that you were the new chosen one. So I decided to focus my intentions on the next generation."
"If you were there when I was born, why didn't you attempt to kill me back then?"
"Because someone else was out to kill you, and quite frankly, they were in my way. I knew that if I was going to succeed in my plans, I had to protect you as best as I could until my time would come." Another scene plays with the pharaoh and queen playing a Shadow Game against the Dark Lord's minions. To everyone's surprise, it's Max and Bakura.
The royal subjects Seto and Joseph step in to protect their leaders. "Allow us to vanquish these intruders, Pharaoh and Queen," Seto pleaded.
The queen refused. "No, I shall handle this!" Dartz revealed that Bakura was her nemesis, the heir of the Dark Lord Cobalt and he was the one who wanted to kill the princess with the help of his partner. Yami stands by his queen's side and together they summon their two beasts. The pharaoh summons Obelisk the Tormentor and the queen summons a silver dragon with seven different colored jewels. It was Rainbow Dragon.
"The power of the Gods is with us," Yami and Mystery whisper, and they order their monsters to subdue their opponents.
"Why are you showing us this?" Emily asked.
"The day you were born was also the day the Battle of the Gods began again," Dartz answered. "And I was able to witness the strength of Millennia's chosen warriors. Who would have thought that they would also be the ones destined to wield the powers of the Legendary Dragons?"
There actually were times when Dartz interacted with Millennia's chosen warriors and even got himself involved in certain situations, but that was of little importance. He started showing his rivals the scene of their last stand against the Dark Lord's evil forces and how they used Millennia's power to save the world. This was when Dartz realized how powerful they all were.
Using Millennia's power, the four warriors reign victorious, but only for a brief moment. They didn't have the power to destroy the darkness, which was why Yami locked the magic away. But he and his friends knew the magic would one day be unleashed and the world would need the children of the Gods again. Dartz decided to look forward to that time as he witnessed the four heroes settle their affairs and say their last words.
The scene was bringing tears to Yami's eyes as he was hearing his last wish and Mystery's, wanting for everyone to return and live in happiness; including their daughter. "When Mystery and I sent Emily away, it wasn't out of abandonment. It was for love."
"You saved my life that night," she tells him. "You saved all of us." She faces Dartz and tells him, "So this is why you've been targeting me and my friends."
Dartz nods. "You should be flattered. Never before had I encountered such a powerful group of souls."
Emily's eyes fill with tears of anger again. "You're sick."
"Oh, I'm the sick one?" Dartz asks her. "The fact remains that you were born in the age of the Shadow Games and the whole world was nearly destroyed five thousand years ago because of you."
"That's a lie!"
"I told you, I was there. I saw the way your mother and father abused the power of the Gods and conjured creatures of darkness to do their bidding. And I knew that one day you would commit the same wicked acts as you would continue their legacy. Everything you saw from here all started from the day you were born, which means all that happened was your fault. You're evil, Emily, and there's no denying it! And soon you'll get what you deserve. Once I defeat you in this duel, I'm going to kill you!"