Chapter 6--The Beginning of a Journey
Matt knew, in the back of his mind, that he was going to rescue Vice. All along, he knew. It just took a while for him to realize that he knew. That was all right; the point was that he was going. Matt gathered his weapons, his Pokemon, and all other equipment necessary for a dangerous journey like this. He smiled grimly to himself. Chaos would be in for a little surprise....
"But how can you be so sure? We didn't see what happened. If you're wrong, this could mean trouble for all of us. Why would you know, and the rest of us wouldn't? It doesn't make any sense."
Yuugi's yami appeared next to him, visible only those with Spirit- Sight in his current, translucent form. "I know that it doesn't make sense. I can't explain how I know, but I'm sure that he's in trouble! Matt made it out of that fortress. Vice didn't. He needs our help!"
Yuugi sighed in frustration. Once, he would have believed his yami without question, but now... "Would Matt leave a friend behind? He must have escaped. Why wouldn't he?"
"If Vice and Matt got into trouble, wouldn't Vice tell Matt to run? Maybe they had no other choice," the yami argued, knowing both that he was right and that it would be extremely difficult to convince anyone else of this.
Yuugi hesitated. His yami sounded very confident...but... "But how can you be sure? We need to know for certain before we do anything!"
"You just have to trust me," the yami said simply, trying not to sound too desperate. "Please. Just this once. Vice needs our help! Benjamin doesn't know what happened. Matt isn't going to risk endangering his World. We're the only rescue that would come. We have to do this."
"But..."
"Do you trust me?" the spirit asked, not really sure he wanted to know the answer.
Yuugi paused for a moment. Everyone deserves a second chance...I can trust him...I just know I can, he thought to himself, standing up. "Let's go call the others."Twenty minutes later, Yuugi and his friends were ready to go. Their destination? The Chaos fortress.-o-o-o-o-o-Far away, imprisoned deep within the stronghold of the Overlord, Vice sighed. It would be a long night, or day, perhaps. Hard to tell what time it was, so deep underground. The Chaos magic always confused his innate ability to sense things like the time of day. The Overlord was furious at the prisoners' escape, and he would be sure not to make the same mistakes twice. It wasn't really him that the Overlord wanted captured, although they were overjoyed to have caged him at last, and defeated a rescue effort. It was Yuugi they were after; he was just one of any number of traps Chaos would set up to lure its prey in, and once that prey was in range, they would snap it up with jaws of steel. If they came to rescue him, they would be finished.
Unless...there was only one way that any of them would make it out of the Overlord's fortress, his only tenuous clutch at the reality most Multiverse beings existed in, and it was a slim chance at that. It all depended on the murky waters of the past, and if that past were any indicator of the future, it was hopeless. But if that faint glimmer of hope existed, if old loyalties proved stronger than new alignment...they might just survive. Vice listened to the ring of heavy footsteps as the Lieutenant marched down the corridor.
Not a chance, he thought.-o-o-o-o-o-Yuugi and his friends raced down the narrow corridor, having used the coordinates still stored in Yuugi's Gater from the first time they went to the Chaos Fortress to get back in; evidently the Overlord had still not installed new Gate shields. They were hopelessly lost, but they didn't care--the important thing was to rescue Vice. As the turned a corner, they ran straight into Matt! All but Matt collapsed in a heap. Slowly picking themselves up, they stared at him.
"Matt! What are you doing here?" Yuugi asked, surprised.
Matt grinned. "I could ask you the same question."
"Obviously, we're here ta rescue Vice," Joey said.
Matt nodded. He saw that they were standing at a junction; two other corridors branched off from their current path. "Well, which way do we go?" he said, and immediately, an argument broke out.
"I say we keep goin' dis way!"
"You don't even know where we're going!"
"I do too! I rememba the way from the room we were locked ta dat hall place!"
"We don't even know where we are, you idiot! That won't help!"
Matt stepped forward. Drawing his enormous battle sword, he thrust it up to the hilt into the metal flooring. "Now. Did any of you want to say something?" he said calmly. Kaiba and Joey shook their heads in stunned silence. Matt smiled. "So. Which way do we go?"
They all looked at each other. Finally, Yuugi said, "Left."
Matt sheathed his sword. "Okay, we listen to the short kid. Come on."
"Hey!"
"No offense or anything," Matt said placatingly, grinning. The rescue had begun.-o-o-o-o-o-A few minutes later, they had reached Vice's cell. He smiled wearily. "What brings you here, Matt?"
"Hey, I'm your friend. We're here to rescue you." Matt drew his gigantic sword again, and prepared to slash the cell bars, not heading the words of his imprisoned friend.
"That won't work...it's sealed by powerful Chaotic magic."
As Matt felt the shock from the heavy clash of metal-on-metal, he muttered, "Now you tell me..." as he got up, having been thrown to the floor by the recoil.
Vice shook his head. "You didn't listen. This door cannot be broken down or unlocked by any means. It is hopeless to try."
"Well, what do we do then?" Matt asked, always ready for action.
Vice hesitated. He did not want to drag all of his friends into a dangerous conflict with the Overlord. On the other hand, they were already involved whether they liked it or not because of their friendship with Yuugi. But what could they do? Suddenly, it hit him. "Well...if you really want to help...you can find the Key of Aramas."
Matt grinned. "Okay, so where is it?"
Vice frowned. "The Key of Aramas is not easy to find. There are two halves, and they are hidden far from each other."
Matt groaned and whacked himself in the head; he should have known this wasn't going to be easy. Ignoring this, Vice continued his explanation. "One half is hidden in the Mountain League Cloud Citadel in your own World. You could ask the League elite to give you the key, but above all, your World must not know of the battle with the Overlord. If they somehow find out, the Overlord will strike, and he will not stop until all your people are dead and your World laid in ruin. That means that you have to go through the entire League to get the key. The other half is hidden...elsewhere. Here, give me your Gating Device."
Taking Yuugi's Gater, Vice tapped in some coordinates. Looking at Kaiba, Joey, Tea, and Tristan, he said, "You four must retrieve this half. You have never truly seen war and death before, but if you go, you will. The choice is yours."
They looked nervously at each other. War and death? But we have to go, Tea thought, Vice is our friend! She looked up. "I'll go. I'm not afraid," she added, although inside she was shaking like a leaf.
"I'm comin' too!" Joey said bravely, not really knowing what was going to happen but always ready to help out.
"Count me in!" Tristan added; there was no way he would let his friends go into danger without him.
There was a pause as they all looked at Kaiba. He glared back at them, while holding an internal debate. He hated anything that smacked of "team work," but he hated owing debts even more...Yuugi had helped him out more than once in the past, and as much as he hated to admit it, all of them were starting to grow on him. "I'll come as well," he finally said.
Vice smiled sadly, feeling the familiar sensation of worry for someone else...it had been so long since he had had any friends. "Thank you...here. Take this Gater. The coordinates will take you where you must go."
Tea shook her head. "Oh, that's Yuugi's Gater."
Vice looked at her curiously. "Yes, I know. You don't have one of your own, so you'll have to borrow this one," he said mildly.
"Wait a second," Yuugi said, "I'm not going with them?"
Vice sighed. "I'm afraid not, Yuugi. You will be needed elsewhere." Looking at all of them, his face softened slightly; they had only discovered the Multiverse a few months ago--how could he expect them to be ready for this? "This is war, but it is still your choice. None of you has to do this."
All four paused. Finally, Joey took the Gater. "Maybe I don' want ta do dis, but it's important. I'll go."
"And we'll all go with you," Tea quickly volunteered.
Kaiba sighed. "How did I get dragged into this..."
The four of them Gated out. Vice turned to Matt and Yuugi. "You must retrieve the other half of the key. Find Benjamin; he will help you. Go well."
Yuugi looked uncertainly at Matt. "But I'm not a Pokemon trainer. Matt could do it by himself...I don't know anything about his World! I would only get in the way."
Vice smiled. "Luminaras will come with you. He'll do what you ask; it's only me he doesn't listen to."
The Pokeball still in Matt's pocket opened, and in a burst of red light, a slim, black fox about as high as Matt's knee with long legs and a cat-like face popped out. Shaking its long ears, which, like its legs and tail, had bands of yellow color on them, it nuzzled Vice's hand happily, red eyes glittering. "Bre umbre!"
"I thought I told you to stay in your Pokeball! Yuugi, you'll be fine. Matt will fail without you."
"Well...all right, I'll try. Let's go!" Matt and Yuugi Gated out. The quest for the key of Aramas had begun.
