Yu-Gi-Oh!
Dawn of Fate

CHAPTER TWO – THE DARK MARK

Draco grit his teeth as his opponent ended his turn. This creepy, aqua-green haired duelist had jumped him almost immediately after Seto's opening speech finished broadcasting all over Domino City. The guy was just plain weird; apparently he had seen him hanging out with Yugi before, and felt that it was necessary to challenge and defeat him in order to get to his friend. Right, whatever; like Draco was really going to be beaten by a low class duelist that used nothing but insects in his deck.

As he drew a card and looked down at his hand, however, he was debating whether or not that might be possible. He had no monsters on his side of the field, and only one in his hand that he knew would not be able to stand up to his opponent's huge (and considerably gross) Great Moth. Draco looked through the magic and trap cards that he had; he could always use Card Hand Kill to get some better mon—

He cut that line of thought off as he saw the trap card next to it. Smirking to himself, he took two cards from his hand.

"I set one card on the field," Draco shouted, sliding the trap card into the proper slot, "and I summon Magnet Warrior Beta, sign of attack! End of turn!"

His opponent – he never did catch his name, but he was supposed to be some kind of Japanese junior champion or something – just laughed a high pitched, annoying laugh as the small and yellow Magnet Warrior appeared on his side of the field.

"You dare to approach my Great Moth with such a pitiful monster?" the insect boy laughed. "Great Moth! Attack! Destroy that thing!"

Draco smirked. "You bloody moron…" he said in English.

"Nani?" his opponent asked as the Great Moth reared up to attack. Apparently, this kid did not understand a word of English. More fun for him.

"Uncover card!" Draco shouted, switching back to his broken Japanese. The card he had set on the field earlier flipped up to reveal… "Magic Cylinder!"

His opponent released an outraged scream as two cylinders appeared on Draco's side of the field. One of them absorbed Great Moth's attack, while the other sent the attack back at his opponent's Life Points, bringing him to near defeat. His opponent pointed an accusing finger at him.

"You…! You…!"

"Yeah, me, me," Draco replied dully, crossing his arms. "You going to do something?"

"End turn…" he opponent growled out.

Draco shrugged before drawing a card. Summoned Demon! It looked like he had this duel in the bag. He held onto the Demon, and took one of the many magic cards in his hand.

"Activate magic card!" he shouted. "Cross Sacrifice!"

The strange, strangled sound and the look of utter horror on his opponent's face as the Cross Sacrifice card appeared on his side of the field were so funny; it took everything for Draco not to loose his composure.

"I offer your precious Great Moth as sacrifice to call forth Summoned Demon!"

Draco almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost. His battle phase came, and the combined attack of Magnet Warrior Beta and Summoned Demon were easily enough to send his opponent's life points to zero, and to knock the boy off of his feet. He went up to him as soon as the simulated dust disappeared, amidst the cheers from the crowd that had sprung up while they were dueling. He crossed his arms as he looked down at the boy sprawled out on the ground.

"C'mon, you know what happens now," he said. "Hand over your Puzzle Card and your rarest card."

His opponent looked up at him miserably. "P-

please… show some mercy…"

"Mercy?" Draco asked. "Would you have shown me mercy if I had lost?"

The boy groaned.

"Didn't think so. Now, hand 'em over!"

Draco ended up walking away about a minute later, one Puzzle Card and one Great Moth richer. He looked at the Great Moth card in slight disgust; true, it was a powerful card, but what a hassle to get it out on the field. It was not worth it in his opinion, and would probably end up in the little box that held all the other cards he would eventually trade for cards that he did want.

"Oy! Draco-kun!"

Draco turned to see Jonouchi running toward him, waving his arm energetically. He waited for the older boy to catch up with him, a grin on his face.

"Hey, I saw you were dueling Insector Haga on the display board in the square," he explained once he caught up to him.

"Oh, was that that guy's name?" Draco asked, making a face. "Fits."

"Well, how'd it go?" Jonouchi asked. The English boy winked, holding up his two new cards as he let out a little evil laugh. He just chuckled. "Oh, man, you took his Great Moth? Geeze, even I didn't have the heart to do that."

"You've faced him before?" Draco asked, putting the cards in the card holster he had borrowed from Yugi.

"Yeah, in the first Battle City," Jonouchi explained. "I ended up taking his Insect Queen. That one's actually a good card, for an insect card."

Draco made a face. "I'll take your word on that."

Jonouchi chuckled. "Hey, there's a place in the city where some team duels are going on. You wanna go?"

A thoughtful look crossed Draco's face. He had never been in a team duel before…

"Sure!"

-.oOOo.-

Yugi looked about as he walked down the street, sort of disappointed. It had always been difficult to find opponents during these tournaments – except, of course, the first Battle City, but there was a reason then why so many people were after him. Now that word had more or less spread that he always won every duel he was involved in, people were outright avoiding him, literally crossing the street to get away from him. It was sort of depressing for him.

Don't worry so much, koibito, Yami Yugi murmured in his head. I'm sure you'll find someone crazy enough to go against you.

That got a smile out of Yugi. I hope you're right. My luck, I won't end up in the final because I didn't have enough Puzzle Cards.

He watched sadly as another person with a duel disk on their arm took one look at him and ran off in the opposite direction.

Hum… maybe you should try taking the initiative…

Or wearing a hat, Yugi replied sourly. Yami Yugi just chuckled. Maybe I should hunt down Insector Haga or Dinosaur Ryuusaki. They'd try to take me down in a blink.

Sounds like a better plan than the hat, the pharaoh responded, amused.

Oh, hush, you, Yugi said, before taking off down the street.

-.oOOo.-

Seto had one hand in his pocket, and the other was occupied with holding onto his ever-present briefcase as he made his way down the street. Once he was sure that Battle City was well and underway, he headed out into the battlefield, ready to collect the Puzzle Cards he needed to go to the final. Not many people were challenging him, however. That was the hard part about being recognized world wide as a Duel Monsters champion: casual duelists were too afraid to challenge you, and more experienced duelists were not stupid enough to.

Still, though, Seto would never give up on this game. This was his game, something that he enjoyed immensely. He would never stop playing it because other people would not challenge him.

Now that's what I like to hear, a certain voice in his head murmured. Seto mentally chuckled.

Of course you like to hear that, he returned. You're just about the same as me.

Not exactly the same, Yami Seto replied, a humored note in his voice. I'm not nearly as much of a hard ass as you are.

Urusai…

Yami Seto started howling in laughter, as Seto rolled his eyes. His other self was certainly more fun loving than he ever was. Of course, if he had spent five thousand years imprisoned in an item, he did not doubt he would be the same way.

Suddenly, the tiny communicator built into the collar of his trench coat went off. He brought the Kaiba Corporation logo near his mouth, so he could speak into it.

"Hai, Kaiba here."

"Onii-sama," Mokuba's voice came over the communicator, "there's something wrong."

"What is it, Mokuba?" Seto asked, sitting down on a bench, setting his briefcase on the ground next to him. He glanced briefly at the brick wall behind him, before focusing on what Mokuba was saying.

"We've got unregistered Duel Disks being activated all through the city," his little brother replied, the sound of typing easily heard in the background.

Seto frowned. "Could it be what's left of GHOULS?"

"Doubtful," Mokuba answered. "We would at least be able to get a reading on the cards they're using, but right now we can't get – Whoa!"

Seto stood up. "What is it, Mokuba?"

"There's a strong energy signature coming from the same quadrant as one of these unknown duelists," he announced, the typing in the background increasing in intensity. "E quadrant, directly north of you."

Seto looked… and his mouth fell open in shock. A massive skull rose up over the buildings of the city, comprised of what looking like brilliant emerald stars, with a serpent writhing from its mouth like a tongue. It rose higher and higher into the sky, blazing in a haze of green and black smoke.

By Ra… Yami Seto muttered. What the hell is that…?

Whatever it is, it can't be good, Seto returned, before speaking into the communicator, "Mokuba, I want you to stay at the command center. Don't leave unless it's an emergency."

"All right, onii-sama," Mokuba answered, concerned. "What about you?"

"I'll be trying to find out what –"

Before he could even finish, the wall behind Seto exploded, sending him flying. He landed on the sidewalk across the street at a painful angle, and he heard something in his arm snap. He got back to his feet as quickly as his body would allow, holding his injured arm as he did so, the ringing in his ears preventing him from hearing Mokuba's frantic shouts.

Hikari… daijoubu! his other self asked, his frantic voice garbled by the ring.

Hai, hai, Seto replied, wincing against the sound.

The dust settled slowly, and as he squinted through the haze, he could vaguely make out the shapes of darkly robbed figures on the other side of what had been the wall. The only part of the robbed people he could make out clearly was their faces; each one concealed by the whiteness of a death's head.

Are… are these those GHOULS guys Marik-kun used to command? Yami Seto asked.

Iie… these are something else…

-.oOOo.-

People went screaming past Marik in the street as the serpent tongued skull rose high into the air. He stared at the thing in shock, hardly believing what he was seeing. His girlfriend, Hermione, had told him about that mark a few times before. It was the Dark Mark, the symbol of Lord Voldemort… but what was it doing here in Japan?

"Oy! Grabekeeber!"

Marik turned around in surprise, to see Yami Bakura running toward him. The tomb robber stopped once he reached him, bending over to hold onto his knees as he fought to regain his breath.

"Who woulb 'a doughd dat colds could be do diring…" he gasped, before straightening himself and pointing toward the Mark. "Is dat what I dink it is?"

"Hai, the Dark Mark," Marik answered.

"So whab the hell are da Death Eaters doin' in dis country?" Yami Bakura asked. Marik just smirked.

"There's only one way to find out," he said, before sprinting off toward the Mark. The tomb robber rolled his eyes, putting a hand to his forehead.

"Oy, oy, and youb accuse me 'a bein' reckless…" he muttered, before heading off after him.

The Gravekeeper and the tomb robber ran side by side through the streets of the city, the only ones crazy enough to be going toward the Dark Mark. When they finally did reach the spot directly under the snake-tongued skull, however, they were in for a surprise. The entire block had been blown to bits, leaving behind a crater large enough to fit a folded up football field. The two of them stood at the edge of the crater, looking down into the destroyed area.

"Oh… doy…" Yami Bakura muttered. Marik gave him a look.

"Maybe you should go home," he suggested. "You know, curl up under the covers with a gigantic mug of green tea."

The tomb robber glared.

"Or not…"

"Hey!" a voice came from behind a pile of debris, nearly scaring the two of them out of their wits. They turned to see an elderly man coming toward them. "It's dangerous here! Go back to your homes where it's safe!"

"Oy, Ojii-san, I woulb say da same ding to youb," Yami Bakura returned with a smirk.

"But –"

"Don't worry, Ojii-san," Marik interrupted. "We can handle this."

With that said, the two of them took off into the crater, sliding down to the ground below. The old man ran to the lip of the hole, looking down at the boys as they made their way. He sighed tiredly, frustrated.

"Damn muggles…"

-.oOOo.-

Draco held a hand over Jonouchi's big mouth as a troupe of Death Eaters marched down the street. He gazed out slightly from the alley they were hiding in, making sure he could not be seen as he observed the followers of Lord Voldemort. The last follower passed by them without noticing him, and he let out a sigh of relief as he let go of Jonouchi.

"What's the big idea!" the older boy growled, before Draco shushed him.

"Not so loud!" he hissed. "Those people are dangerous."

"Who are they?" Jonouchi asked, whispering this time.

"Death Eaters," Draco replied, "dark wizards."

"Basically not nice guys."

"In a nutshell."

Draco looked back out from the alley again. He did not see anyone, and was about to suggest that they try to find the others, when he was roughly grabbed by the collar of his shirt and lifted off of his feet. The young wizard kicked with all his might, connecting with his captor's lower region. His captor let out a pain-filled moan before letting go. He landed on the ground with a thud, the bag he had been carrying around falling off of his shoulder and almost spilling its contents onto the street.

Draco got back to his feet as another man appeared behind his attacker, the frown on his face apparent even under the death's head mask.

"The Malfoy boy?" the Death Eater asked. "You should be dead and buried by now. What are you doing still walking around?"

Draco took a step back, almost tumbling over his bag as he did so. "That's for me to know and for you to find out," he snapped in return. "Preferably the hard way."

The Death Eater who grabbed him finally regained himself, and was pointing his wand at the young wizard.

"How about I just kill you right here?" he snarled, raising his wand. "Avada—"

Before Draco could even react, the man was suddenly sprawled out on the ground, his wand skittering away from him. Jonouchi stood over the Death Eater, cracking the knuckles on the hand he had used to knock the man down.

"Jonouchi…!" Draco moaned weakly, wondering if the Japanese boy knew what would have happened if he had moved a few seconds too slow.

The other Death Eater glared at them, and then down to his companion on the ground.

"We don't have time for this," he stated. "We have more important matters to deal with."

"Hey!" Jonouchi shouted, holding up his Duel Disk III in challenge. "You're not going anywhere without getting through us first!"

Draco was about to tell him off; to point out that this was not the time for games, when he noticed something particularly odd. Both Death Eaters had duel disks on their arms, though they were not the same as normal disks. Instead of white with blue and red panels, these duel disks were jet black and accented with green and silver panels. He grit his teeth as the Death Eater that was still standing sneered and nodded in consent to Jonouchi's challenge.

Since when did Death Eaters solve their problems with Duel Monsters!

Draco picked up his bag again as the two opposing forces backed away from each other, providing themselves with enough space to duel.

"Jonouchi-kun," he whispered softly once he was sure the Death Eaters were out of earshot, "this duel… I may have to make it a Yami-no-Game."

Jonouchi looked down at him, surprised. Yami-no-Games meant the Shadow Realm, a place he was not overly fond of, given his experience with it.

"Whatever for?"

"Because, Death Eaters don't like to loose," Draco replied. "If we win – and I don't doubt we will – they will try something. I know it; these people are underhanded bastards. Thing is, would you be okay with that?"

Jonouchi glanced at him for a moment as they readied their duel disks.

"Yeah, no problem."

-.oOOo.-

Yugi had been nearly trampled several times as he fought to find a place where he would be safe from the panicked crowds. Finally managing to make it to a park, he heaved a grateful sigh of relief, before gazing up at the Dark Mark hovering above the city. This was really bad; he had heard many tales about Voldemort and his Death Eaters from the other kids at school, but he never thought he would see anything like that in Japan.

"Yugi-san!"

The shout, coming from halfway across the park, broke him from his thoughts. He looked up to see a familiar brown haired young girl clad in shorts and a pink and yellow top running toward him.

"Shizuka-chan!" he exclaimed once she caught up to him. "What are you doing here?"

Shizuka Jonouchi paused a moment to catch her breath before answering. "I wanted to surprise my onii-chan," she explained, "but then that horrible thing appeared, and people started shouting. Some people in strange black robes started chasing me too. They kept saying that all muggles must die. I was so scared, Yugi-san!"

Yugi smiled comfortingly. "It's okay now, Shizuka-chan," he said. "We'll find Jonouchi, and hopefully avoid any kind of conflict."

She returned his smile, though she did not seem convinced about the last part. "Do you know where onii-chan is right now?"

He was about to reply, when a loud beeping tune started going off in his pocket. He jumped, surprised; he had gotten a cell phone after the first Battle City, just in case anything like that ever happened again he would be able to let his grandfather know if he was all right or not. Other than his grandfather, not many people had the number.

Yugi took the small phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.

"Mushi mushi?"

"Yugi-kun? Daijoubu desu ka?"

Yugi paused a moment, frowning. "Mokuba-kun!" he exclaimed. He knew he did not give either Kaiba his cell phone number. Then again, this was the Kaibas; Mokuba probably looked it up directly through the company his phone was registered to. "Hai, I'm fine. What's wrong… other than the obvious."

"Onii-sama is in trouble," Mokuba's voice came back over the phone, sounding highly distressed. "I was talking to him, when there was a loud explosion. He hasn't responded since, and I'm picking up activity of the people with unregistered duel disks where he is."

Yugi frowned. Unregistered duel disks…?

"Where is he?" he asked.

"Near the corner of East Twenty-Second and Crossing Street," the younger Kaiba answered. "Careful, Yugi-kun. In some places where these people are at, I'm picking up very high energy signatures. I don't know what they are, but they're not your average duelists."

Yugi fought the urge to roll his eyes. No kidding…

"All right, Mokuba-kun, I'll be right there," he said, before hanging up and flipping the phone closed. He turned to Shizuka, who had been waiting patiently for him to finish.

"Seto-kun's in trouble, and he's probably hurt, too," he explained. "Do you want to come with me, or do you want to try to find some shelter?"

Shizuka bit her lip, apprehensively. "I want to come with you, Yugi-san. If we run into my brother along the way, I want to see him and make sure he's all right."

Yugi smiled, understanding. "Okay, then! Let's go!"