A Note From the Authors: To everyone!! Weevil is not dead!! You will see this in this next chapter! And he's not even out of the story - but we won't spoil anything for later. Also, we don't intend to kill Kaiba. In fact, we don't intend to kill ANYONE (well...except maybe bad guys...).

One more thing. Please stop asking us about not saying the card names all the time in our duels. We do this because, unlike in the show, we don't have pretty pictures to show you what's going on. This is just an easy way of keeping track of everything that's going on in the duels (which are sometimes very long and complicated).

And about the "Blood Issue", we're afraid you'll have to prepare yourselves for more. There will probably BE more. Jetsu is unlike the other Yu-Gi-Oh villains. He's truly evil, and to demonstrate this, things will have to be a little violent. But we remind you: no good guys will die. Keep that in mind. ^_^

Chapter 24

"Aftermath: Hope"

Later that afternoon, the whole troupe was gathered at what had become their favorite café in Al Karnak, sipping iced-tea. Each duelist had their chains of items laid out on the table, and even in the shade, the mini-items sparkled.

"Well…" Yugi said, "We really did it. We all qualified."

"Now all that's left is the finals," Joey said.

Bakura sighed, and hooked his chain back around his neck, where it settled, clinking against the Millennium Ring.

"Hey…" Yugi said, sensing his friend's anxiety, "Cheer up, Bakura. You'll do fine in the finals. We all will."

"You bet we will," Mai said, stirring around the ice in her glass with her straw, "I expect a good fight from all of you, ya hear? None of this holding back, agreed?"

"Definitely," Joey nodded, as he and Mai exchanged a look that no one noticed.

"And now that you're all qualified, we have the rest of the day to just hang out!" Tea said.

"I dunno…" Tristan said, "I was thinkin' I might try to see if I could qualify in the next few hours…"

Joey nearly spit out his drink. "BAH!! You've gotta be kindin'!! You couldn't duel yer way out of a wet paper bag!"

Tristan proceeded to tackle Joey, and the two exchanged some rather choice words about each other's intelligence, their questionable ancestry, and what they believed would really be appropriate names for each other.

The red-yellow-and-black-haired boy sighed. Those two could never just let well enough alone, could they? At that moment, a voice interrupted his thoughts, "Yugi?"

He looked up and saw Bakura sitting alone across from him. The girls had gone to stop the boys from their brawl, and the quite, British teen was holding up his Ring, "My Ring's been acting very odd recently…"

"Really? How so? I mean, besides the usual, heh heh..."

"Well, it's been pointing at that pyramid for a while now, but now its also pointing eastward, as if something else is coming towards us…"

"Huh?" Yugi said, and sure enough, Bakura's Ring was pointing directly at the Pyramid, and another spoke was pointed off down the street. He glanced eastward, and a chill ran down his spine. Who could it be…? he thought, Surly Jetsu isn't sending anyone else… But he couldn't see anyone suspicious in the crowd. "I wonder what it means," he said.

"I suppose we'll have to wait and see…" Bakura said, tucking the Ring away again, "But it's always the waiting that kills me."

* * *

Out in the bazaar, a woman wrapped in a pure white, hooded cloak was walking the streets, a bag over one shoulder, and a suitcase in the opposite hand. Strands of raven black hair blew out from under the hood, and her ice blue eyes were hidden by dark sunglasses. She had traveled from her home country of Greece, so full of greenery, to this desolate wasteland in pursuit of her enemy. She was sure Jetsu was here, she could sense him.

Suddenly, she felt a huge surge of energy and heard a deafening explosion. As the crowd went into a slight panic, the woman looked up, and had to shield her eyes from a bright orange light emitting from the top of the tallest pyramid. "Amazing…" she said, "Such power I have not felt in a long time…"

Then she spotted something being flung from the orange light. It started as a small black dot against the red evening sky, but as it grew closer, the form began to take shape. She realized at the last instant that it was a human figure!

Dropping her suitcase and bag, she leapt up, caught the figure a good fifty feet in the air, then hit the dusty ground in a crouched position, rolling back up to her feet, the small figure held tightly against her chest.

She took a second to catch her breath and then looked down at the figure. It was a small boy, no older than fourteen. He had blue hair and broken glasses, and was bleeding substantially from many parts of his body. She clenched her teeth, and cursed in Greek. This was Jetsu's work. No one else would dare do this to a child. Gravely, she bent down, picked up her suitcase and bag. She began walking off, in search of the nearest infirmary.

* * *

"What the hell was that?!" Tristan yelled, looking up from his spot on the ground, where he and Joey had still been fighting.

"Where'd that explosion come from?" Joey asked, pulling his face out of the dirt.

"The Tournament Pyramid!" Yugi cried, "The top's completely blown off!!"

"How on earth–?!?" Mai exclaimed.

"And look at that!" Bakura yelled suddenly, pointing up in the sky, and they all watched a figure jump fifty feet in the air to catch another figure that had been falling from the top of the pyramid. Bakura let out a soft whistle, very impressed.

"Hey!" Joey called, scrambling to his feet and running over to the person, with the other's following quickly, "Hey, mister! How'd ya do that?"

The figure, who had been walking off, turned back to look at them.

"Ahh! It's a girl!" Tristan cried, skidding to a stop behind Joey.

"Please," the woman said, "I have to get this boy to a medical facility. Do you know where one is?"

"Hold on!" Yugi cried, pushing between the older boys, "That's WEEVIL!!"

"What?!" said Joey, "Hey, you're right!"

Tea clapped a hand over her mouth in shock, and Tsuki hid her face in the folds of Mai's cloak.

"What happened to him?" Bakura said.

The woman frowned, "Jetsu," she said.

"How do you know…?" Yugi started.

"C'mon, Yug," Joey cut him off, "There'll be plenty of time for questions after we get Weevil to a hospital."

"Right," Yugi said.

"There's a hospital not far from here," Tea said, "Let's hurry."

And they all began the trek to the Hospital. As they walked, Yugi kept glancing up at Weevil, unconscious and bleeding in the woman's arms. And suddenly, he was afraid. Weevil must have been in that explosion at the top of the pyramid. But what exactly had caused it? He felt Yami's presence at his arm and felt much better.

The walk didn't take long, and soon they were all inside the Hospital. Yugi vouched for Weevil's ID and they all watched as the boy was wheeled off on a gurney.

"Do you think we should stick around?" Tea asked, as the group stood awkwardly in the lobby.

"Maybe someone should go and find Rex Raptor," Tristan suggested, "Those two are always together. He'd probably want to know what's happened."

"Good idea," Joey said, "We can go do it, Tristan."

"Huh? Oh, ok, I guess," Tristan nodded, "We'll be back guys."

"Don't worry about us," Yugi said, "We're not going anywhere."

So the two teens left and the others all sat down to wait. Bakura found himself next to the mysterious woman in the cloak, and found that he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. After a moment, she turned, lowered her hood and removed her sunglasses, meeting his gaze with a piercing one of her own. "Is there something I can do for you?" she asked him.

Startled, Bakura quickly looked away, blushing, "No, sorry…I didn't mean to stare."

"But yet…there's something on your mind, isn't there?" she guessed.

"Well, I was just wondering," Bakura said, "How did you make that catch…? It was amazing."

"Thank you," she said, smiling. Bakura couldn't help but notice what a nice smile she had. "I've been trained in the martial arts since I was a little girl," she went on to say, "So a leap like that was simple."

"That's very impressive, Miss…uh…" Bakura's voice trailed off.

"Icaria," she said, "But you can call me Athena. And what can I call you?"

"Bakura," he said quickly, "It's nice to meet you, even though it was under such strange circumstances."

"My life is nothing but strange circumstances," Athena said, "I find it keeps me interested."

"Oh," he said, "By the way…how do you know Jetsu?"

"That's what I was going to ask before," Yugi said, and all eyes suddenly turned towards Athena.

Her pretty features turned cold as she frowned, "I have been chasing Jetsu for nearly two years. He is a longtime enemy of my family, and the task of dealing with him has just recently come to me."

"That's a huge responsibility…" Tea said, "How old are you, anyway?"

"Twenty," Athena said simply.

"So that means you've been chasing Jetsu since you were 18," Yugi said.

"That's right," she said, "But how is it that you know of him…?"

"Well…" Yugi sighed and briefly explained how Jetsu had revealed himself to them through his letters and eliminators. In conclusion he added, "He knows about the Spirit of my Millennium Puzzle, but we're not sure –"

He was suddenly cut off as the dark haired girl fell to her knees in front of him, clutching the Puzzle in both hands. "I can't believe it…" she breathed, "The power of the Pharaoh right here…I should have known you and he would be here…"

Surprised, Yugi felt himself go slightly red, "Umm… It's really alright, you don't have to do that…" he could feel the eyes of his friends boring into him, and others were starting to stare as well. It was times like this that made Yugi wish he was the invisible one…

Athena glanced around, and blushed as well. "Forgive me," she mumbled, standing up and dusting herself off, "This is the first time I've ever encountered another Millennium Item holder besides Jetsu."

"I'm not the only one here," Yugi said. He motioned to Tsuki and she pulled the Scale out of her backpack. Athena put a hand on her heart, astonished.

Then Bakura pulled his Ring out from under his shirt and it strangely began to point in many different directions, including right at her! "Athena? Do you…?"

"Possess a Millennium Item?" she finished his sentence, "Yes, I do."

* * *

Rex Raptor glanced at his watch for the hundredth time that afternoon. Weevil hadn't said where he'd been going, but he'd been gone for hours! Rex was beginning to get worried. Weevil's departure was kind of fuzzy in Rex's mind, but he remembered that something about his best friend hadn't been quite right. He leaned against the back of the couch, his head throbbing. Being hung-over and trying to think at the same time was never an easy thing.

Suddenly, there was a tremendous noise (in actuality, it was just someone knocking at the door, but everything seemed so loud right now…) and the dino duelist groaned as he sat up again. Stumbling over to the door, the fixed his winter hat on his head and opened up the door, "Whada ya wa-" Rex cut off in mid sentence and stared at the two teens in his doorway, mildly surprised.

"Rex!" Joey said, panting, "You gotta come with us – quick!"

"What??" Rex said, cocking an eyebrow, "I'm not goin' anywhere with you, Wheeler."

Joey growled and lunged for the younger boy, but Tristan held him back, telling Rex, "It's Underwood, Raptor! He's hurt bad! You gotta come back to the hospital with us!"

Rex ignored Joey, now completely focused on Tristan, "What? How?" Clenching his fists together, he snarled angrily at them, "What'd you do?"

"It wasn't us!!" Joey cried, "He got blasted outta the top of the Tournament Pyramid!! If you'll just come with us, you'll see."

Rex hesitated, unsure. Then his eyes locked with Joey's, and a thought struck him, He's serious… "Alright," he said, grabbing the keys to the room, "Let's go."

Then all three boys dashed off down the hallway.