Dreams of power

Chapter 15:

The position of the sun had signaled that it was no longer noon but later. Around three o' clock Marik and Kaiba were asleep in the hotel room. They were exhausted from the night before. Kaiba tried to get Marik to be serious and Marik tried to eat. Neither had gotten what they wanted.

A little ray of sunshine shone through the blinds and hit Kaiba's eyelids. As he mumbled 'Marik stop it,' he sat up and looked around. Marik was lying halfway on the bed and halfway on the floor, snoring.

Kaiba looked at the clock on the bedside table, "Marik! Oh Ra! Marik, wake up! We're going to be late!"

"Huh?" he moved a little and lifted his head, "Kaiba?"

"Yes! Wake up, come on, we're going to be late for the debate!"

"Oh yeah..." he stood up woozily and headed for the door, "Let's go then..."

"Marik!"

"What?"

"You're in your underwear, dunce." Kaiba pointed out.

"Well, so are you but I'm not being rude about it."

"..."

---------------------------------------------

In about an hour (when both Marik and Kaiba were dressed) they arrived at a large dome. It looked like it was fifty stories high and fifty stories wide. Black with a silver lining of chrome everywhere, it resembled a gigantic bubble of darkness. Marik thought it looked like the outside of a shadow duel.

They were quickly surrounded by 'men in black' copies, and were then escorted to the front of the building. Two of the men opened the large chrome doors and motioned for them to go inside.

On the inside there was a silver lobby, with tall ceilings and plants lining the walls. Not many people were in there, only a few more guards and two or three reporters that were let in before the event.

One of the bodyguards came up next to Marik, "Mr. Ishtar, your running mate is waiting for you in the third lobby."

"Third? How many ya got?"

Kaiba rolled his eyes and dragged Marik through some more metallic doors. When they reached the third room with the word 'Lobby' over it they went inside and saw Malik and Sanders sitting down.

"Hey, Marik!" Malik got up quickly and ran over to his yami, "I was waiting for you."

He smiled, "Having fun?

"This place is huge Marik! I had to go the bathroom a little while ago and I got lost. I ended up peeing on a potted palm."

"I know, it's kinda scary... But in a good way."

"I'm sort of nervous, Marik. I've never done a debate before..."

"You won't have anyone to debate, Malik." Kaiba said, "We already have John Edwards on lockdown."

"Hey, that's right." Malik smiled, suddenly feeling much better.

While Marik and Malik were talking and catching up, Sanders took Kaiba over to the side of the room to talk in private, "So, is Marik ready?"

"... Well, there could be two answers to that question."

"What?!"

"He thinks he's ready. And in most cases, he probably would be. But isn't John Kerry supposed to be a really good debater?"

"One of the best."

"Marik's got a lot of potential. He's just going to have to do the best he can."

"How good is his best?"

"Don't worry. He knows this is a very important day. Marik can be serious when he really wants to."

"Hey Kaiba! Sanders!" they heard Malik yell from behind the coffee machine. "Look!"

Marik had his head under the nozzle and had all the 'Nutmeg' flavored coffee running into his mouth. He hadn't spilled a drop and was swallowing it as it poured into him.

Malik giggled, "He's going for the world record! He's going to drink the whole machine! Go, Marik!"

Three guards poked their heads in the door and looked at all four of them with questioning looks on their faces, "..."

Kaiba and Sanders were embarrassed beyond belief. "Oh god..."

"And you think he's ready to go against Kerry?" Sanders asked.

"I said he had potential. I didn't say he was smart."

Soon the machine emptied of all the coffee and Marik jumped up and down, "I did it! I did it! I did it..." he stopped jumping and ran out the door, "Out of the way, I gotta go to the bathroom!"

Malik laughed while watching his yami run frantically down the hallway. Once he was out of sight Malik turned around to Kaiba and Sanders.

"Why aren't ya laughing?"

"We're not laughing," Sanders cleared his throat, "Because you both are supposed to be serious today. Marik has to be especially focused."

"That's right," Kaiba added, "If not, we're going to be in... Oh my Ra..."

"What?" Malik and Sanders looked at him.

Seto pointed towards the door, "Look."

When they did they saw a couple of guards walking down the hallway, but behind them was John Kerry, followed by John Edwards... dressed in the same dark blue polyester business suit as Kerry, his hair combed over to the side and his nose had been fixed since that night in the cabin. He sneered at Malik and Kaiba then looked forward and kept walking forward with his partner.

Malik rushed over to the door just as they were out of sight and gazed down the hallway. Edwards turned around to mouth the words, 'You're going down.'

He ran back into the room too say something to Kaiba and Sanders but just as he opened his mouth Marik came into the room, "Hey! Did you guys just see-"

"Yeah," Malik nodded, "What happened?"

"You tell me! You and Sanders were the last to be with him last night!"

"We dropped him off at the hotel last night and locked him up in the closet with Yami and Yugi..."

"Uh-oh."

"What?"

"That means... that means that Yami and Yugi must be free as well!"

"Marik, what are we gonna do!?"

Kaiba and Sanders were frantic as well, not so much about Yami and Yugi being free but about Edwards being able to debate Malik.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Sanders yelped, acting more like a teenage girl with concert tickets, "What are we going to do Kaiba?! I shrugged off most of Malik's training because I thought he wouldn't have to say anything! This is terrible, awful even!"

"Alright, alright, shut-up! Let me think..." Kaiba scratched his head, "The way I see it, we have no choice. Malik's going to have to go up there. He'll just have to wing it and hope for the best."

"Uh..." Malik slid down to the ground, "I think I'm going to be sick..."

Marik was about to say something comforting but didn't get a chance to before a guy in a suit walked into the room , "Mr. Ishtar, Mr. Ishtar, we're ready for you."

Marik and Malik looked at him, "Okay..." they said sheepishly.

All four of them followed the man down four hallways to a dark dungeon-type hallway with two doorways. One large one with five security men surrounding it, and another plain looking one with stairs that led upward. Kaiba and Sanders started for the plain one.

"Come on, Marik. We have to go to our seats." Kaiba said.

"Seats?"

"Yes. The vice presidential candidate debate is first. We have to watch."

Malik looked at them in disbelief, "You mean he can't even be up there with me?!"

Marik looked regretfully at Malik then started walking upstairs behind Sanders and Kaiba, "Good-luck, Malik."

Two of the guards opened the metal double doors for Malik, he turned around and took a deep breath as he entered the bright light.