Music Lover's Alert: "Stand Up" and "One Love" by Flobots, "After The Revolution," "SOA" and "Behind That Gate" by Davis Rovics, and "Simple Song of Freedom" by Bobby Darin. They are all in a playlist on my K5Rakitan You Tube account, so you won't need to click through them while you are reading! I was going to throw in a Nickleback song as well, but apparently Nickleback is too tight-fisted with its songs to allow other people to put them in playlists. That's one of the reasons why I like David Rovics better. He believes in the creative commons! Seriously, though. Nickleback still gets ten cents or something from the advertisement every time one of its songs is played on Youtube, so I have no idea why it would not allow its music videos to be featured in playlists. Maybe it has a weird agreement with its record company or something. Sorry, I'm ranting!
.com/playlist?list=PL1C64576F5910CA2B
Disclaimer: Since I am an American, I own the Declaration of Independence. However, I did not write it. It was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. I also own the Noelite theme song, but I'm more of a sing-in-the-shower kind of person than I am a record-it-and-post-it-all-over-the-internet, so just read it like a poem and enjoy the other music, which I do not own.
Chapter 37 Duel!
Kisara glided down to land on the spacious snow-covered lawn of Domino City Hall. Glancing around her, she was surprised to see that over a thousand people were already gathered on the surrounding sidewalks, watching City Hall to see what would happen next. Kisara released the holographic transmitters, and from them sprang Yugi, Ishizu, Tam, Joan, and several other Noelites. The crowd cheered when they saw the spiky-haired King of Games, and surged onto the lawn of City Hall. They lifted him high into the air, and for a few minutes, Yugi surfed the crowd, uncertain of what else to do.
A blond man with his buxom wife and two little boys pushed their way through the crowd. "Move it! Step aside! Best friend coming through!"
"Joey!" Yugi exclaimed.
"Yep! It's me, pal! I'm surprised you even remember my name. What's the deal? You never call, you never write, and then all of a sudden you show up back in Japan and this is how I find out! We've gotta work on our communication, buddy!"
"I'm sorry Joey, but things were just so crazy!"
"Yeah, I know. You're saving the world and all that jazz, but aren't we supposed to do that together? What happened to the dynamic duo?"
Yugi spoke to the crowd. "OK guys! You can put me down now." Once he was back on his feet, Yugi turned to Joey. "You know what? You're right! Let's lead this march together!"
Before he could say another word, the protesters stormed City Hall. They pushed easily past the startled armed guards at the entrance, who were not prepared for a riot and were reluctant to shoot due to all the women and children who were present. The people marched up the marble stairs to the mayor's office.
The mayor, a former employee of Industrial Illusions, was really nothing more than a figurehead elected by the grace of his enormous campaign budget and ass-kissing. The protesters found him, bound him, and carried him out to the duelists and the Noelites. The mayor was dumped on the ground before them, squirming and demanding to be released.
"I'm sorry," said Yugi, "but the final decision isn't up to me. The people must decide whether or not they want to keep you in office."
The people cheered and chanted Yugi's name while he stood there with the mayor at his feet, wondering what to do. Moments later, a convoy of military trucks pulled into the square. At first, the crowd booed their arrival and threw things at them. Snowballs and rice cakes pelted the sides of the trucks. However, they crowd's attitude changed when they caught sight of Penguin as the guards lifted her high into the air for everyone to see. They fell silent at the sight of the world's most famous outlaw, battered and bruised from her stint in prison.
Joan approached the truck and help up a microphone for Penguin. The blonde took it and addressed the crowd. Her voice boomed through Kisara's speakers. "People of Earth! For the first time, I am proud to be one of you. You have stood up against your oppressors and re-claimed your freedom. Now, you must be cautious not to repeat the mistakes that your predecessors have made. This politician lying on the ground before you must answer for his crimes. However, we must not act rashly towards him. We will detain him until we can judge his actions fairly with a trial. Until then, we must round up the other corporate leaders and take them into custody. Onward, to the nearest Global Enterprises tower!"
The crowd cheered and chanted Penguin's name. Then, they chucked the mayor in the back of one of the military trucks. The trucks began to move slowly forward again, and the crowd cleared the way for them so that they could take the lead. Yugi, Ishizu, Joey, and the Noelites walked beside the truck, leading the massive crowd.
As they marched, Kisara hovered over them between the sky scrapers. Bakura's conversation and Yugi's message blared from the huge speakers she carried. Faces appeared in the windows of apartment complexes and office buildings to view the spectacle. They were all the people who had their televisions and radios turned off when the message first aired. Once the people indoors realized what was happening, they raced outside to join the tail end of the procession. Within the hour, their numbers had increased tenfold.
The march halted at the steps of Global Communications, the largest Global Enterprises branch in Domino. The jet black skyscraper towered over the protesters. Yugi took the microphone while Kisara circled the building with her speakers. Yugi's voice boomed through the city, echoing off the other skyscrapers. "Bakura! We know you're in there. Show yourself!"
An evil laugh resounded through the city. It was as if Bakura had his own sound system with the speakers embedded in the Global Communications tower itself. "Ah Yugi! Come to save the word again, have we? Don't you realize that without my leadership, the world would be in absolute chaos?"
Penguin, who was still riding in the military truck, reached over the edge of it and tapped Yugi on the shoulder. Yugi understood her meaning and handed her the microphone. Penguin took a deep breath and recited the first long sentence of an ancient document from memory. "When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
The country that had adopted this document was dissolved decades ago, yet its words still swayed the crowd. Bakura, however, was not impressed. The albino CEO spoke slickly to Penguin. "You think that you can just declare yourselves independent from the rest of the world with a few words? Running a government takes skill and experience, but most importantly-"
"—A benevolent heart!" Penguin interrupted.
"Wrong! It takes a powerful military!" From out of nowhere, six military planes zoomed amidst the sky scrapers in an opulent display of power. They fired at the crowd and at Kisara. The crowd erupted in screams of panic while Kisara dodged the bullets by only a hair. Infuriated, Kisara unleashed a massive burst of white lightning at one of the planes. It exploded in mid-air, sending debris flying everywhere. In an attempt to dodge the debris, a second plane careened into Global Communications. It smashed into the sky scraper where it ignited a fire and sent smoke billowing out the side of it. Meanwhile, the prison guards in the trucks raised their weapons and concentrated their fire on another plane, sending it spiraling to the ground. Kisara blasted the three remaining planes, and the people cheered.
During the confusion, Ishizu de-activated her hologram. In her place, Seto Kaiba appeared. He had been watching all the action over Kaiba Corp's satellite, so he knew the score. He yanked the microphone out of Penguin's hand and yelled into it. "Bakura! You can't hide behind your guns forever. Come out here and face me, you coward! I challenge you to a duel!"
Bakura appeared at the front entrance of his sky scraper wearing an extravagant tailored blue suit studded with diamond buttons. A platinum globe-shaped ring gleamed on his left hand. Several years ago when he still possessed the millennium ring, he had hidden a piece of his spirit in his uncle's platinum ring for safe-keeping. When Ryou inherited the ring at age 18, the evil spirit re-possessed the body of the innocent young boy.
Even though there was no visible amplification device on him, Bakura's voice still boomed loud enough for everyone to hear. "Fool! When you challenge me, you challenge the entire oligarchy." Maximillion Pegasus, Brown, Jones, Pattel, and several other richly clad CEOs emerged at his side. Bakura descended the onyx steps before the main entrance of his tower menacingly as she spoke. "Now, since Pegasus is the only other duelist in the oligarchy who knows the difference between a trap card and a spell card, he will be dueling by my side."
The white-haired, brown-eyed CEOs whipped out portable duel disks out of their pockets and strapped them around their wrists. Pegasus's flamboyant pink suit contrasted sharply with Bakura's more dignified one. Seto Kaiba activated a subroutine in his holographic generation system, causing a duel disk to appear on his arm.
"Wait!" Yelled Yugi, "I'm dueling with you!"
The crowd cheered and chanted Yugi's name as Seto grudgingly activated the same subroutine for Yugi's hologram. Deep down, Seto knew that he stood a better chance of winning with Yugi's help than without it, but he still hated relying on the midget with spiky black, red, and yellow hair, who had only grown three centimeters since he was sixteen.
"If you screw this up, I'll have Kisara blast you with white lightning," Seto growled.
The duel disks activated and 4000 life points showed up on a holographic display for each player. "I'm afraid that Yugi will never experience the sweet bliss of death. When this is over, both of you are going straight to the shadow realm!" Bakura taunted.
"No way! Yugi's gonna kick your corporate butts!" Joey shouted.
The other members of the crowd shouted words of support, and one clever individual came up with a chant which spread through all one hundred thousand protesters: "Bakura must lose this game! No more murder in our name! Bakura must lose this game! No more murder in our name!"
The duel disks randomly selected Pegasus to go first. The CEO in the outrageous pink suit drew his cards and eyed his hand with his one good eye. His empty eye socket lay hidden under his smooth white hair. "Kaiba-boy, I'm surprised that you of all people would turn against your own class in favor of these peons. I set one card face-down and end my turn. Your turn, Yugi-boy!"
Yugi drew his cards and examined them. Although the pharaoh was no longer with him, his purple eyes glowed with the fire of a true duelist. "Pegasus! Your days of deceit are about to come to an end. I play Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts in attack mode and set one card face-down. That's all for now." A great holographic beast with sharp claws and a horn on its head appeared on the field. The crowd cheered.
Bakura laughed and said, "Nice try Yugi, but you can't depose your government that easily. I summon Petit Dragon in attack mode!" The crowd roared laugher when a tiny green monster with wings and a ridiculous grin and only 600 attack points materialized on the field. "Wait, that's not all! I play Axe of Despair, boosting my monster's attack power by 1000!" Petit dragon expanded in size, and its attack power grew to 1600. The crowd fell silent as Bakura ordered his monster to attack Yugi's beast.
Gazelle the King of Mythical beast disappeared in a shower of sparks, and Yugi's life pints dropped to 3900. First blood had been drawn, and it belonged to the King of Games. As Yugi's life points feel, he lost a few centimeters in height. "Bakura! Explain yourself"
"Did you forget that this is a shadow game? Every time you lose life points, you shrink! And, once you have lost all your life points, you will no longer have a physical body, nor a holographic one for that matter since Kaiba's holograms are based off your physical form."
Yugi gasped. "How is this possible? Ishizu and I hid the millennium ring in Egypt!"
Bakura held up his hand to reveal a platinum ring in the shape of a globe. "I kept a piece of my spirit hidden in this. When I inherited it from my uncle on my eighteenth birthday, I had to re-learn my shadow powers, but now they are back at full strength."
"Enough chit-chat!" Kaiba interrupted. Blue fire flashed through his eyes. "I don't care how you accomplished your cheap little magic trick! Your intimidation tactics won't work on me, Bakura! It's my turn now. I summon Battle Ox and use him to destroy your Petit Dragon!" An ugly creature with red and gold armor was projected onto the field. With its 1700 attack points, it swung its axe at Bakura's odd green creature and vanquished it. Bakura's life points fell to 3900, and he shrunk just like Yugi had. "Now, I place one card face-down and end my turn."
It was Pegasus's move. "I activate Toon Table of Contents, which allows me to add any toon monster to my hand. I choose Toon Gemini Elf and summon her to the field. It's a pity she can't attack yet. Otherwise, your Battle Ox would be toast Kaiba-boy!" The twin elves appeared on the field with 1900 attack points, and the crowd gasped at the sight of her. They watched in silent anticipation as Pegasus ended his turn and Yugi took his.
"I activate Change of Heart on Toon Gemini Elf and sacrifice her to bring forth Archfiend of Gilfer! Then, I attack your face-down, Pegasus!" A giant dark creature with wings appeared on Yugi's side of the field and stuck Pegasus's face-down monster card, slashing it in two and revealing Mystic Tomato.
"Thank You, Yugi-boy! You've activated Mystic Tomato's special ability, Now, I can summon Dark Rabbit to my side of the field." A ridiculous-looking rabbit with 1100 attack points materialized before Pegasus.
"Your rabbit won't protect you for long, Pegasus! I place one card face-down and end my turn," Yugi concluded.
Bakura studied his cards carefully. They were pretty good, but not quite what he wanted. If he could only stall a little for time, he might be able to pull off the perfect victory. "I place one monster face-down and end my turn," Bakura stated.
"What's the matter, you pig-headed parasite? Are you afraid to face my Battle Ox head-on? Don't worry, he won't be on the field much longer. I activate Soul Exchange, allowing me to use your monster as a sacrifice!" Seto Kaiba's card activated and revealed Bakura's Earthbound Spirit, which was promptly sacrificed. "Now, I sacrifice Battle Ox to summon my Blue Eyes White Dragon!" A holographic image of Kisara's dragon form with 3000 attack points materialized in front of Kaiba.
"Look!" Someone from the crowd shouted, "It's the same dragon that saved us from the airplane!"
The crowd cheered, but Bakura's voice boomed louder than all of them. "Fools! Due to the effects of Soul Exchange, Kaiba's dragon is useless! It can't attack yet."
"Don't worry. You'll get what's coming to you eventually," Kaiba replied with a smirk.
In the background, the smoke billowing out of Global Communications started to abate. The fire had reached its maximum extent, and was now being quelled by the sprinklers inside the building.
"I summon Rogue Doll in attack mode and equip it with Shine Palace, bringing its attack to 2300! Rogue Doll, attack Archfiend of Gilfer!" Pegasus commanded.
"Not so fast, Pegasus! I activate Guidance Armor, re-directing your attack to my Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba replied.
The purple doll shot its dark magical beam at Kaiba's white dragon, but the dragon retaliated, blasting Pegasus's Rogue Doll to shreds. Pegasus suffered 700 points of damage. His life points dropped to 3300, and Pegasus shrunk accordingly. The CEOs standing behind them cringed when they saw this, but nevertheless tried to maintain as dignified a stance as possible. Pegasus switched his Dark Rabbit into defense mode and ended his turn. The crowd chanted Kaiba's name while Yugi took his turn.
"Thank you, Kaiba. I am in your debt," Yugi said solemnly.
"Shut up and go. The sooner we beat these creeps, the better!" Kaiba replied.
"Fine. I activate fissure, destroying Pegasus's Dark Rabbit and leaving both of our opponents defenseless. Now, I attack Pegasus directly with Archfiend of Gilfer!" Yugi's monster shaved 2200 points off the CEO's life points, reducing him to one third of his previous stature. The pink-clad CEO was now about the size of a bathroom wastebasket. "Now maybe you can get some perspective on all the 'little people' you stepped on while you were making your way to the top. I place another card face-down and end my turn."
"Pegasus, you fool!" Bakura scolded, "It looks like I'll be winning this one on my own. I summon Maha Vailo and equip him with Black Pendant and Mage Power. Ordinarily, that would only boost his power by 1500. However, he gains an extra 500 attack points for each card equipped to him, bringing his attack power to 4050. Maha Vailo, destroy Blue Eyes White Dragon!"
"Oh no you don't!" Yugi interrupted, "I activate Magic Cylinder, which cancels your attack and causes damage to your life pints equal to your monster's attack points. Since your monster has 4050 attack pints and you only have 3900 life points, you lose, Bakura!"
"Nooooooo!" The CEO with shaggy white hair wailed as his life points fell to zero along with his height. As he shrunk, his voice increased in pitch and diminished in volume until the sound of the cheering crowd overwhelmed it.
"Kaiba, finish off Pegasus!" Yugi shouted over the noise of the crowd.
"With pleasure! Blue Eyes, WHITE LIGHTING!"
Seto's dragon blasted the rest of Pegasus's life points away, and the crowd went wild. As soon as Pegasus disappeared, they charged up the steps of Global Communications and grabbed the remaining CEOs. With belts, scarves, and whatever, else they happened to be carrying, they bound the CEOs and tossed them in the back of the military trucks where Domino's Mayor lay. The CEOS struggled helplessly against the people as all their money and political power slipped through their fingers.
Amidst all the commotion, Joan de-activated her hologram briefly to retrieve something from the basement of Our Lady of Faith. She returned with a piece of paper in her hand and gave it to Penguin. Penguin and the other three members of Noel's publicity team gathered around the microphone and warmed up their voices to get the crowd's attention. Then, the familiar Noelite theme song began.
Maybe we're not so dangerous
Why don't you listen to us?
Hear us out
We've got something to talk about
Remember back when
The Empire State got hit
Then, two sky scrapers bit
The dust with much less warning
Now there's mourning
From a deception, Demolition
Buildings don't fall when airplanes hit them
All that's left is molten steel
The story's too unreal
As soon as the Noelites sang the first two words of the second chorus, the crowd joined them in song.
Maybe we're not so dangerous
Why don't you listen to us?
Hear us out
We've got something to talk about
The crowd stopped singing while Penguin and her team sang the second verse.
Maybe the real danger lies
Where the truth of physics dies
Better keep straight all the facts
Or find yourself under attack
With the third and final chorus, not a single member of the crowd remained silent. Even Seto Kaiba, who typically refused to sing along with the masses, joined in the chorus. Even though he sang slightly off-key, nobody noticed because the overall decibel level generated by Kisara's speakers plus a hundred thousand voices was way too loud.
Maybe we're not so dangerous
Why don't you listen to us?
Hear us out
We've got something to talk about
When the song was over, someone from the crowd yelled, "I nominate Yugi Moto as our new Prime Minister!"
"I second that nomination!" ten thousand other voices yelled in unison.
"All in favor?" Penguin asked over the microphone.
"Aye!" a hundred thousand voices thundered.
"All opposed?" Penguin asked.
Silence.
"Wait! I don't want to rule the whole world. It wouldn't be right! I was just sitting in Egypt researching the ancient past while Bakura reigned." Yugi objected.
"Then who should run the world?" Penguin asked as the crowd murmured.
"You, the Noelites! Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Joan A.K.A. Kari Rakitan." Yugi grabbed Joan's hand and dragged her up the steps of Global Communications so that the crowd could get a better look at her. "She is the one who orchestrated this revolution, and without her, all of you would still be beholden to Bakura and his band of corporate thugs!" Yugi held Joan's hand and lifted it high into the air while the crowd chanted both of her names.
With only a slight blush, Joan graciously accepted her new post as Prime Minister. She then proceeded to thank all the members of Noel who contributed to freeing the world. She also thanked Rebecca, Father John, Yugi, Ishizu, Kisara, and Kaiba for their special roles in making the revolution work. Then, she sent out a "heartfelt" message to her "boyfriend" Mokuba for being supportive of their efforts and for watching the Kaiba children while his brother risked everything to set the world free. Even though the world had changed forever over the past few hours, Joan knew that the masses were not quite ready to shed their monogamous culture. The Kaibas and the Noelites had almost lost Rebecca's support over their unconventional behavior, and there was no telling how the crowd would react if she publicly proclaimed her love for Seto, a married man. Instead, she simply stood by his side with Yugi as the masses cheered.
Closing Note: I finally met David Rovics in person and asked him if he could sing "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" for me. However, he said he did not know it! He just recorded the song and then promptly forgot it! So, I guess I know it better than he does now. Unfortunately, I had a cold and didn't want to get him sick, so nothing too exciting happened. However, it was still an awesome experience.
Biskittins: I have some vague plans for a sequel, but so far I am still mulling over possibilities in my mind. Oh, and there will be two more chapters in this story just to tie off a few things. However, dinner with Agatha is something that I am saving for a sequel.
The first chapter of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" is up!