Chapter Fifty-Two

For a second, I thought I was turning to stone. I swore I felt it happening. My body went numb and cold. My mind went blank. But then I wasn't numb, suddenly. My entire body was filled with searing, burning pain and thoughts, images, conversations, people, memories rushed through my mind all at once. It was like they all played right in front of my eyes. I suddenly remembered who I was and where I'd come from. I remembered why I was here, how I'd gotten here. I remembered meeting Yugi for the first time. Joey, Tea, Tristan, Serenity, Duke. I remembered Kaiba. I remember dating him and falling for him. I remembered feeling like my heart had been torn to pieces by him. I remembered who Marik was and why he was in my head. I remembered who Bakura was and I felt the fear and the heart ache that seemed to accompany my thoughts of him. I remembered everything, including everything that had happened since I had been trapped in Noah's virtual world.

I felt nauseous and like I might faint. I closed my eyes and sunk to my knees, wrapping my arms around myself.

"Are you okay?" asked Marik, inside of my head.

I didn't answer.

"Olive!" Yami was on his knees beside me. "You… you aren't stone. Olive! What's the matter? Are you okay?"

"What?" Noah gasped, both shocked and angry when he realized I wasn't a statue.

"Olive, thank the gods," said Yami. "Please tell me you're okay."

I took a deep breath and I looked at him. It was a strange sensation because two parts of my mind were fighting with each other. For some reason, there was a part of my mind that looked at Yami and tried to insist that he was a stranger. But the part of my mind that knew, the memories I'd gotten back, overpowered that. Still, it was strange.

"Did you forget again?" asked Yami, a sort of defeat in his voice.

I shook my head. "No," I said. "I remembered."

"What?" he asked.

"I remember everything," I said. "I don't know why I had no memories, but I remember everything now. I remember everyone."

Yami looked shocked and then he grinned and he threw his arms around me. "Oh, thank the gods!" he said again. "I can't believe you're back! I'm so glad you're back, Olive. I missed you! I need you here with me!"

I smiled and hugged him back.

"Why did I lose my memories?" I thought.

"I have a guess," Marik answered.

"And what's that?" I shot back. It was weird to have him in my head. I had gotten used to it when I'd had no memories and I was still used to it in a way. I knew I should be used to it, but it felt strange and invasive.

"You have lived a lot of lifetimes, Olive," said Marik. "When our minds were uploaded to this virtual world, I don't think the computer could handle all of the knowledge you have and all of the lifetimes you lived. So it wiped your memory."

"How do I have my memories back?" I thought.

"I have no idea. Somehow the lightning strike triggered them?" Marik answered.

Yami stood and this time he pulled me to my feet.

"I still have a duel to win," he said. "And I won't stop until you're defeated, Noah," said Yami. He drew a card. "Now, I play card of sanctity. We both have to draw from our decks until each of us have six cards in our hand." Yami drew his cards and took my hand again before he looked down at them.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw all of my friends frozen in stone. I felt guilt and I felt horror, but I swallowed them both and put on a brave voice. "The hearts of our friends are in those cards," I told him.

"I feel sorry for you," Yami told Noah. "Thanks to my friends, I'm about to defeat you and that's something you'll never understand. I play monster reborn! It can revive any monster you sent to the graveyard, including Kaiba's blue eyes white dragon."

"It can't be!" Noah gasped.

"Oh, yes it can. Remember, this duel began as you against Kaiba and you destroyed his blue eyes so I can bring it back," said Yami. "Now I activate this card! Polymerization! This allows me to fuse my blue eyes white dragon with the other two other blue eyes cards in my hand. Now, behold the power of my blue eyes ultimate dragon!"

I almost wanted to take a step back. The dragon looked and sounded so real. But then again, we were in a virtual world so here, it was as real as I was. I had never been quite this close to a duel and it was intimidating. There was a real life monster in front of me, close enough to touch.

"I'm afraid there's more," said Yami. "Next I'll activate my quick attack magic card. This will let my dragon attack right now. Your monster is finished."

"It's not over yet!" Noah shouted.

"You're wrong!" said Yami. "Thanks to the next magic card in my hand. De-fusion. It separates my beast back into three separate dragons."

"Wait! There must be something I can do!" Noah said, looking through his cards in desperation.

"What's the matter, Noah?" I asked, smirking a little.

"You've been exposed as the frightened child you truly are," said Yami. "For Kaiba and Mokuba, and for all of my other friends, blue eyes white dragons, attack! Wipe him out!" The three dragons attacked with a blinding white light and I had to shield my eyes. "This madness is finally over," I heard Yami say.

Noah screamed.

"That's impossible!" he cried. "I can't lose!"

"I'm afraid you just did. My friends are now free!" Yami said.

I looked behind us and watched the stone cracked and fall off. Joey, Serenity, Tristan, who was a monkey, and Duke were now back. I was so happy they were okay. They seemed like new people. In a strange way, it felt like I was meeting old friends, but also meeting these people for the first time, as my mind battled with itself.

"I'm back!" Tristan cheered. "Well. Almost."

Joey turned immediately and cried, "Serenity!"

"Joey!" she yelled. She raced forward into his arms.

"You're alright!" he said, relieved. He hugged her.

I watched Kaiba and Mokuba turn back to normal too. Mokuba raced forward into his brother's arms. "Seto!" Mokuba cried. "Is it over?"

"It looks to me like everything's back to normal around here," said Duke. "That must mean Yugi won the duel."

"What? What duel?" asked Kaiba.

"Your duel," said Tea. "Yugi took over when you and Mokuba were turned to stone. He combined your deck with his deck and he beat Noah."

"He dueled using my cards?" Kaiba demanded.

"You've been defeated Noah," said Yami. "Not just by me, but by all of us. It was only with the support of my friends that I was able to win this duel." The floating rocks we were standing on began to sink down the ground and I grabbed Yami's arm. "The more you tried to destroy that friendship, the stronger it grew."

The stones hit the ground and Noah fell to his knees with a little sigh of defeat. He hung his head.

"This isn't how it was supposed to happen at all," he said, quietly.

Yami stepped off of our stone and walked forward to Noah. I stayed where I was and just watched.

"Listen to me, Noah. You've been all alone in this virtual world for six years and its distorted your mind," said Yami.

"My life was stolen," I heard Noah whisper. "It's not fair!" he suddenly cried out. Yami was standing right in front of him and Noah looked up at him. "I deserve to be the president of Kaiba Corp! And I would be if Seto hadn't robbed me of my life! I want it back and I'll start by escaping to the real world in your body!" He ran forward and grabbed Yami. There was a strange feeling in my stomach. I was suddenly right beside Yami. I tried to push him out of the way, but not before Noah had grabbed hold of him with one hand and me with the other.

Noah looked shocked.

"What's this?" he demanded, staring at us both in shock. "What are you? Who are you? Answer me! Your minds … they are filled with secrets."

All of Noah's thoughts and secrets ran through my mind as well. I wondered if Yami saw them too.

"What have you done?" Yami demanded.

"Let me in!" Noah cried out.

I stepped in front of Yami without thinking about it and shoved Noah's hand off of him. I felt a bubble of power suddenly force itself out from under my skin and force Noah backwards.

"What are you?" he demanded. "Both of you? You aren't like the others."

"Yugi!" I heard Tea yell from behind us. "Are you okay?"

"Try and touch me!" Joey threatened.

"Stop it, Joey!" said Serenity. "Violence isn't going to get us out of here."

"You've failed, Noah," said Yami, stepping up beside me again. "It's time to set us all free."

"And give me my body back," Tristan added.

"So, you want your body back?" asked Noah, in a very calm voice. He began to laugh. "Your real body is exactly where it's been since you arrived."

"What does that mean?" asked Duke.

"Enough with the games, Noah," said Tea.

"Don't you get it? There are no real bodies in my world. Everything here is virtual. That includes you too," said Noah. "Why do you think Olive has been so fucked up since she got here?"

"I don't get it," said Joey.

"I do," said Duke. "We're not just trapped in a virtual world. We're all a part of it too."

"Exactly," said Noah. "Your real bodies are strapped in cyber pods that are hardwired to my virtual simulator. Everything you've experienced here has only happened in your minds."

"What does that have to do with Olive?" asked Joey.

"So that's why… it seems so real here," said Tea, at the same time. "Our minds are being tricked into feeling things that aren't really there."

"Of course," said Kaiba. "When the floor opened up we didn't fall into a virtual vortex. We were knocked unconscious and locked in your cyber simulation pods."

The sky suddenly turned a deep shade of purple.

"Now what?" asked Joey.

"You have failed me for the last time, Noah!" a voice echoed through the air.

"That voice," said Kaiba, the slightest bit of panic in his voice. "It can't be."

"Father, no!" Noah cried, looking up. We all looked up with him. "Give me another chance!"

"Too late for that!" said the voice.

"What's going on?" asked Yami.

One cloud in particular seemed thicker. It seemed to twist and a face appeared in the cloud.

"Gozaboro!" Mokuba cried out.

"Wait! Not yet! Father, I need time," said Noah.

"More time? You've had more than enough time to prove yourself. It's time for me to finish things off now. That's why I digitized my own mind when Seto disgraced me by taking over my company. I wanted revenge. Now the time has come," said Gozaboro.

"So, you've been behind this the whole time," Kaiba sneered. He sounded less than pleased to see his step-father.

"Yes he has," said Noah, with admiration in his voice. "And you're going to give Kaiba Corp to me, right father?"

"You had your chance, Noah," said Gozaboro. "You failed, son."

"Look you had your chance too!" Kaiba said. "And guess what? You also failed. You lost Kaiba Corp to someone more fit for the job."

"You?" Gozaboro sneered. "I taught you everything you know, you fool. You thought you could outsmart me? It's about time you learned the truth about why I adopted you. After you beat me at chess, I thought you'd be the perfect person to motivate my real son, who was quite a slacker."

"So you just used him?" Tea cried out, disgusted. "That's fucked up!"

"How mean," said Serenity, sounding heartbroken.

"Noah needed to work more on his studies. I thought Seto could give him the push he needed to someday take over Kaiba Corp. But then Noah had his accident and his body was rendered useless," Gozaboro said. "I tried to preserve his mind in cyber space, but I soon realized that he was still the same spoiled brat he'd always been. He wasn't worthy of inheriting my company. That's when I turned my attention to you, Seto. I thought maybe you could be the heir to my fortune so I pushed you to your limits."

"You gave up on your own son!" Noah cried out, sounding heart broken. "You trapped me all alone here in cyber space."

"Poor guy," I heard Mokuba whisper and I looked at him. He was watching Noah with pity in his eyes.

"Not at first. Initially I thought I could still use Seto to help you," said Gozaboro.

"Use me?" Kaiba demanded. "And what was it you planned to do with me, Gozaboro? Force me to play chess against your virtual son to increase his intellect?"

"No, not quite, Seto" said Gozaboro.

"Then what?" asked Kaiba.

"I had something much more interesting planned," he said.

"Enough! Will you just say what you want to say already?" asked Kaiba.

"Very well. Even if Noah could learn how to run a multi billion dollar corporation, he'd still lack one major thing - a body," said Gozaboro. "That's where you came in, Seto."

"That's sick!" Tea exclaimed. "You were going to transfer Noah's mind to Kaiba?"

"Relax. That plan only lasted a short time. Noah's mind? Ha. Why would I give you Noah's mind when yours was perfectly fine?" asked Gozaboro. "So I focused on training you so you could inherit my empire. Then you stole it. So using the same technology I used on Noah, I retreated to cyber space to plot my revenge. I planned to take over your body myself."

"So you used me to trap them here?" asked Noah.

"That's the only thing you did right," Gozaboro sneered. "But I'll take it from here. The fun and games are over."

"You snake," said Kaiba.

"I can't believe that you have the nerve to call me a snake," said Gozaboro. "I was the most powerful human being on the entire planet before you came along and stole that away from me, Seto. Don't you realize that I treated you even better than I treated my own son?"

"Thanks," said Kaiba. "For nothing. And I'll make sure you never regain your power."

"You're too late," said Gozaboro. A picture appeared in the sky.

"What is that?" Yami asked.

"Just look. It's part of my new and even better plan. This is one of the many satellites Kaiba Corp put into orbit when I was still in charge," said Gozaboro.

"And what are you gonna do with that?" asked Joey.

Gozaboro laughed. "These satellites can beam signals to every computer on earth and connect them back to my underwater super computer. No one on earth can escape me. I will have access to every home no the planet."

"Please," said Noah, rolling his eyes. "That has to be the most ridiculous plan I've ever heard."

"I'm surprised you feel that way, Noah. After all, that idea came from you," said Gozaboro. Don't you remember?"

"No," said Noah.

"And so, Seto, as you can see I'm no longer interested in stealing your body and taking over Kaiba Corp. I've set my sights on bigger things," he said.

"Lunatic," Kaiba muttered.

"You can believe whatever you want to believe about me, Seto," said Gozaboro. "Once my plan works, I'll be the most powerful man on the planet, once again, and no one on earth will be able to stop me this time. Seto, Noah, this is about so much more than acquiring one company. Once this works, everyone on earth will become virtual. I am going to digitize the entire world and I will reign as the cyber ruler of a new planet earth." He laughed.

His face disappeared and the purple clouds in the sky retreated.

"Get back here!" Kaiba yelled.

But he was gone.

"My father's gone for now," said Noah. "But you have to escape quickly and I know the way out, so follow me."

"Why should we trust you?" asked Joey.

"We don't exactly have a choice," Tea pointed out.

So when Noah started walking, we followed. He moved a rock that appeared solid and we began to walk through a tunnel that went straight into the mountain. We walked mostly in silence until we came to what looked like a huge computer.

"There is it!" said Noah. He ran forward. "A possible exit!" He reached it and sighed. "Never mind," he said. "This is one of several remote networks set up by my father. It can give us access to all the programs and emergency exits, but it seems that my father has locked them and closed off every exit to stop us from escaping. When he showed up after six years, he promised to help me. But I guess he was lying. My father was using me."

"Noah, are you okay?" asked Mokuba.

"Are you sure there are no other exits around here?" asked Joey.

"Yea, maybe there's a way out you're not thinking of," Tea suggested.

"I've had enough of this! I want to wake up in my own body," said Tristan.

"We've got to stop Gozaboro from digitizing the world," said Joey.

"We can't do that from in here," said Tea.

Noah laughed a little. "Very perceptive," he said.

I frowned. Something didn't feel right.

"Every virtual reality program has more than one emergency exit system," said Kaiba. "So why don't you try thinking harder, Noah?"

"What's wrong, Seto?" asked Noah. "Don't you wanna stay away? We won't be alone in this virtual world for very much longer." Noah laughed and turned to face us. "My father said he's bringing the whole world in here. That means I'll never have to be alone again. We'll be one big happy family."

"You're demented," said Yami.

"Noah, stop!" said Mokuba, running forward and shaking Noah's shoulders. "We have to stop this. You're in danger too."

"You're right, Moki," said Noah, a see through image of a young Seto appearing in front of Noah's face.

Mokuba gasped and let go of him. He shook his head.

"Calm down, Mokuba. It's me," said Noah.

"I can see that, Noah," said Mokuba, turning away.

"Wait a second," said Noah. "Something has just occurred to me. There is one more escape route here."

"Where is it?" asked Joey.

"Tell me," Kaiba demanded.

"It's a doorway that I created and it leads directly to the real world. I'm quite sure my father has no idea it exists. You can escape and warn the world of his plan," said Noah.

"Then what are we waiting around here for?" asked Joey. "Let's go."

"Very well," said Noah, walking through all of us and back down the tunnel. "Follow me."

"Yami," I said, quietly, grabbing his arm. "Are you sure we should be trusting this kid? He did just try to turn us all to stone."

"I don't think we really have a choice," said Yami. "Why? You don't think we should."

I shook my head. "No," I said. "Something just doesn't feel right."

"Are you sure it's not some weird after effect from losing your memory?" asked Yami.

I shrugged. "It's possible, but I don't think so," I said.

"Well, keep an eye out," said Yami.

I nodded and we followed Noah.