Okay, well this story is really rolling now. I am glad that I have managed to keep the story interesting through so many chapters. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing. Enjoy this chapter.
^ - ^
"Are you going to tell us what is going on runt? I have things to do." Bakura paced the room, muttering under his breath.
"Well, I guess I can tell you guys this much, but don't ask me too many questions, I don't know any of the answers. Celt contacted me almost an hour ago and said to meet him here. He found Ryou and Major Carter."
"What! Why, for Ra's sake, didn't you tell us sooner?! Where were they, why haven't I heard from Ryou, or better yet, what the hell happened?!"
"I don't know! He wouldn't tell me. He said that it was going to be a bit complicated and to bring you guys here, but not too many. You know everything I do, they should be here soon." Yugi shouted back, not dropping his gaze from Bakura. O'Neill had wanted to say something but he knew he would find out soon. They had been waiting for most of the hour and all Yugi had said up till now was that they would be arriving in the hour. Everyone except Bakura had accepted this and settled in.
Siris was watching the entrance, while everyone else was watching the shouting match. So she was the only one who saw the party that wandered in. He stopped at the entrance and they shuffled in, unsure of how to begin. She stifled the sudden urge to laugh, when she saw exactly who was with him.
/Celt wasn't kidding when he said things were going to be interesting. Well, I might as well get the ball rolling./ Standing she strolled past everyone, causing them to turn and finally notice who was waiting at the entrance. Nodding to Celt, she stopped in front of Sapphire.
"You know, I am not completely surprised that it was you who came with Celt. I was kind of expecting either Mokuba or Kaiba, but then, they're here too." Sapphire smiled at Siris, and gave a small curtsy.
"I must say that I am not as hard to surprise. You were the last one I thought to find here Siris. I thought for sure that you would be wandering lands far and wide by now."
"Ah, but Sapphire, I have already wandered far and wide. What I need to do now is find a place to settle down."
"Um, excuse me, but could we have the reunion later, we need to solve some things first." Celt mentioned, moving into the center of the room, where he laid Kaiba down on a blanket that Ryou had retrieved as the others had been talking. Carter found a second blanket and rolled it into a pillow and handed it to Celt to give to Kaiba.
"Yes we do. And the first one is where have you been and why didn't you tell me you were coming back? We don't have a link for nothing Ryou." Bakura glared, at which Ryou only smiled.
"You will have to ask Sapphire, I tried to contact you."
"Yes, I did not want anything being told before I was ready, so I blocked the link from his end. It is open now." Sapphire smiled, strolling over to sit near Kaiba, where Celt had also situated himself, next to Mokuba. Following their lead, soon everyone was sitting on the floor, waiting for someone to begin. O'Neill, Yami and Yugi, were sitting together not far from Bakura, Ryou and Carter.
"All right, before we get the ball rolling, I'd like to know who you are miss, don't want any unpleasant surprises." O'Neill said, breaking the ice.
"Of course. I am Sapphire, the middle of the three Blue Eyes in master Kaiba's deck."
"So, you work for the guy we are trying to stop. What were you thinking bringing her Celt?"
"I made the decision I thought was best, besides, the person who we have all been calling Kaiba may not even be Kaiba."
"Yes, and it is because of that that I assisted your companions in coming here. Now, I have a question for Dark, I was wondering if you could tell me if this is really my master, or just an imposter made to trick all of us."
"I should be able to, give me a moment." At a word, his staff appeared and he carefully placed the end so that it was resting on Kaiba's forehead. Closing his eyes he murmured some words, a faint glow emanated from the staff, but other than that, there was nothing. When the glow faded, so did the staff, Dark opened his eyes and looked straight at Sapphire.
"I believe you should get Blue and Azul, he is Kaiba, the real one."
"How sure can you be Dark?" Yami asked.
"There is a certain connection between duel monsters and their masters. The shadow realm may be able to fake the appearance of Kaiba, but they can never truly fake the connection."
"Then how come the fools don't realize they are working for fake master?" Bakura stated with a sneer.
"Because of the drain that the shadow realm is placing on the real one, that and the spell of concealment. The shadow realm is using the real Kaiba to give the false one a sense of realism. The reason why Dark can tell this is the real one is the connection that Kaiba has to his duel monsters, that can't be taken away, or covered up." Siris said from where she leaned against the wall.
"I can't leave him now that I know that I've been tricked, especially in the condition he is in."
"Saph, don't worry, we will take good care of him. We'll put him in one of the spare rooms with Mokuba." Celt stated, placing a hand gently on her shoulder.
"Absolutely, no harm will come to him." Siris added, smiling faintly. Sapphire nodded, standing up, and preparing to depart.
"Before I go, I would like to ask a question."
"Of course, ask what you will Sapphire." Dark responded.
"When you go up against this imposter, allow me and my brothers to assist you. And will you allow me to advise you in the devising of plans?"
"Of course, we'd appreciate your help." Yugi stated, walking up and extending his hand for her to shake. She accepted the gesture and said she would return soon. After she was gone the group moved to one of the spare rooms, where they made the Kaiba brothers comfortable. Afterwards they gathered the rest in a meeting to explain the news.
~~~~~**~~~~~
"He'll wake up, won't he?" Mokuba asked Dark, who was currently trying to discover exactly what was being done to him.
"If we succeed, he will definitely wake."
"What if we don't?" Dark couldn't meet Mokuba's gaze, and he could not voice the answer to that question. In the end he didn't have to, his very hesitation told Mokuba what he needed to know.
"Then we just have to succeed. I know we will, especially with Yugi, he's helped us before." Dark smiled and affectionately ruffled Mokuba's spiky black hair.
"Course we will! The cavalry has arrived!" The two turned as and watched as a young boy, roughly Yugi's height, with very short spiky blue hair, pale skin and a floor-length sky blue trench coat burst into the room and stood bouncing on his feet next to them.
"Azul, how many times do we have to tell you not to run on ahead." They heard Sapphire call out just before she entered the room as well. Blue stood with her, his expression serious.
"Come on Sis, I was just letting 'em know we arrived, I wasn't causing any trouble." Azul declared, giving a small pout.
"Unlike usual." Celt muttered as he walked past them into the room and up to Dark. He whispered something and waited as the mage considered it.
"So, you are my big brother's three blue eyes?" Mokuba asked, looking to Sapphire for confirmation, it was Blue who gave it.
"Yes, that we are young master. Please accept out apologies, had we known that our real master was in trouble, we would......"
"Hey, don't worry about it. You were tricked just like everyone else, what matters now is that you are going to help save him. Right?"
"Exactly, we will do everything we can. Azul, don't you dare." Sapphire said, scolding Azul just as he was about to tie Celts boots together. He jumped up and looked at his sister with the most innocent and sincere look he could muster, Celt took a few steps away watching the smallest blue eyes suspiciously. Dark seemed to finish what he was thinking and grabbed the groups' attention.
"It would seem that immediate action is required, whoever is pretending to be Kaiba has found one of the other bases. Luckily it was one of the ones that was used for a distraction, but he is getting close, we have to make our move soon. We are meeting with O'Neill now, would you care to join us?"
"Of course, we need to get to the bottom of this as much as you. Azul, Sapphire, let us go." They filed out of the room, Celt going first since the three blue eyes didn't know the way. Dark went last, motioning for Mokuba to follow who hesitated a moment before rushing up and taking the duel monsters hand.
~~~~~**~~~~~
"This is foolish. No, it's worse than that, its suicide!"
"Bakura! Give it a rest. If you don't like this so much then leave, but stop interrupting." Yami declared with a huff. For the last three hours Bakura had made it his mission to complain about every possible aspect of the plan as he could. Blue and Sapphire helped immensely in the information department. Azul had soon become restless and dragged Mokuba and Celt out of the meeting, stopping first to check on Kaiba, whose condition had not changed.
Overall they were going with a surprise assault, with the hope that the blue eyes would help make the difference. Blue had decided that only he and Sapphire would go, Azul would stay behind and insure that nothing would happen to Kaiba. Mag had offered to stay behind as well, but that was immediately shot down and it had taken some time to prevent Azul from attacking her while he ranted something about blue kuribohs. The group they eventually decided would go was Yugi, Yami, SG1, Dark, Sapphire, Blue, Mag, Red, Sol, Magenta and Siris. The rest would stay behind and guard the base.
They had no delusions believing that this would be the end of the fight. They had to see exactly how strong the imposter was, especially since he had lost the three strongest monsters on his side. They were leaving plenty of exits, thinking of this as giving him a warning as to what was coming.
As the final preparations were made the base was filled with a tense silence. They were being cautious, and had made sure that everyone would know if they were aborting the mission at anytime, but the thought still hung in the air. What if the imposter knows?
Everyone wished those going luck and they headed off. They traveled quickly, making it to the castle in record time. Without a word O'Neill stepped up to those at the gate, much like he had those days before when sneaking Siris inside. This time he didn't smile, he simply demanded that the imposter Kaiba come down to meet them.
"Master Kaiba has more important things to do then meet with some commoner like yourself." One of the guards declared. O'Neill simply shook his head, a grin gracing his face as he spoke the next words slowly.
"Not even a commoner who has won the allegiance of the Blue Eyes White Dragon?" He said as Blue took the cue and entered the scene, in all his dragon glory. The guards went white as sheets and one managed to run inside, most likely to inform the imposter of this new development. O'Neill just stood there as Blue made a show of sweeping his gaze on each of the guards remaining in turn. Everyone else remained hidden, waiting for the right moment to act.
In a very short time a new figure approached them. He walked out of the castle with a slow, deliberate gate, and the look on his face was pure aggravation. The imposter stopped mere feet from O'Neill and Blue, glaring daggers from his cold blue eyes. He skipped over O'Neill, looking straight at Blue, and with barely controlled anger, managed one sentence.