Duke was laying on the floor of the squad car, Gabrielle kneeling over him as she tried to shoot the gun off into his neck. Two bullets had gone off already. If her gun was completely loaded, there were at least four more. He growled angrily to himself, wondering if he would last that long. But he wasn't going to die easily. He kneed her viciously in the chest, hoping to drive her back. Why wasn't anyone coming? he demanded in his mind. Surely someone would have heard the noise by now!
Gabrielle hissed in irritation, falling back just slightly. But her grip on the gun was just as tight as before. She raised her hand, striking Duke on the side of his head with the handle of the revolver before he could stop it from happening.
Duke winced in pain, growing dizzy from the attack. But he refused to let himself give in to the stars appearing at the corners of his vision. He flicked a die at the policewoman, catching her right in the eye. She shouted in frustration, clapping a hand over the affected one. Duke took the opportunity to shove her away from him and to leap out of the car. He would run into the police station and tell them what had happened, but would they believe him? Or would Gabrielle recover and tell them what she had fabricated, leading to Duke's arrest?
Well, there was no time to decide now. Gabrielle was getting out of the car as well, aiming to kill. At this point, blinded by fury, she didn't care if someone saw her outright shooting Duke. She would once again tell her lies and she would be believed. She was the police, after all, supposed to uphold justice. And there wouldn't be any reason for anyone to believe she wasn't doing that. Again she fired, missing Duke by millimeters as he jumped away. All she succeeded in doing was grazing him on the arm.
Duke cursed his luck, wondering how he was ever going to get out of this one. Finally he made up his mind and ran through a sidedoor into the police station, ignoring his bleeding arm for the moment. Unless Gabrielle had completely taken leave of all sense, she wouldn't try to shoot him in there. And he wasn't sure she had seen him dart around the side. The snow was falling so heavily now that it was hard to see anything in any direction. Domino was definitely going to have a White Christmas.
He ran to the first officer he saw. "One of your officers tried to kidnap and kill me!" the teen burst out, pointing a forefinger in emphasis at the window. His wounded arm cried in protest.
The lieutenant, instead of dismissing Duke away as a criminal trying to fool the law, instead frowned deeply. "I was just coming to see what the commotion was," he said, glancing back toward the direction he had came from. "I swear, something strange is going on through the whole station! No one heard the shots but me. And now they're all ignoring me, no matter what I say to them." His eyes narrowed in irritation. "It's like everyone but me has gone simply batty!" His gaze fell upon Duke's arm. "Are you badly hurt?" he asked.
Duke shook his head. "No, but Officer Valesquez is probably going to come in any minute and try to convince you that I'm a criminal." He was confused wondering why she hadn't. Surely it wouldn't have taken her that long to figure out that Duke had gone into the station. And if she had come in, she could've at least tried to convince everyone that Duke was a fugitive. It was almost as if she had wanted him to come inside. He turned to glance out the nearby window, wondering if that was possible. But that wouldn't make sense either.
The lieutenant rubbed his eyes. "Not her again," he muttered. "She's been acting weird for the last several days." He walked past Duke, determined to go outside and get to the bottom of what was happening. What had gone wrong with her? Or better yet, what had gone wrong with the entire police force and why was he the only one unaffected? He was the only one who had even seemed to notice Gabrielle's behavior was out of the ordinary. And now no one else was even bothering to come see what was going on, insisting that they didn't hear anything and defying authority.
They both heard the next shot. Stunned, Duke ran after the departing officer and they arrived outside—only to find Gabrielle laying in the snow, bleeding!
With a deep frown the lieutenant knelt next to the body and probed for life. He could see the bullet wound in Gabrielle's chest and the spreading, crimson blood. But none of this made sense! Had she shot herself? Had someone else done it? What would be the purpose in any of it? And what had been the explanation for her extremely odd and disturbing behavior over the past couple of days? All of these questions ran through his mind as he found a faint pulse.
"Call nine-one-one," he ordered Duke, who was even more confused. Quickly the boy obeyed.
Yugi and the others, meanwhile, were all in the living room above the game shop, talking and puzzling over what to do next. Evening had fallen now, bringing with it even more snow. Joey was turning the strange tin over and over in his hands, stopping to glare at the "Domino City Cemetery" embossed on the top. Serenity was sitting next to him, worry obvious in her eyes. Everyone else was sitting about (some were standing) and idly listening to the soft Christmas music in the background.
"I think the only lead we've got right now is the cemetery," Yugi said finally. "We planned that we should go there today, so that's probably what we should do." He looked up at his Yami, who was sitting on the arm of the couch, for agreement.
Yami Yugi nodded. "I'm sensing something," he said gravely. "Seth isn't going to wait any longer or attempt any more trivialities. He's going to reveal his plan very soon, perhaps tonight. And we have to be there when he does." He glanced at the tin, then out the window at the falling snow.
Téa swallowed hard. "Do you really think Seth's going to show up in the cemetery?" she asked. "Maybe there really are two different plots going on here and they're not connected, for once." But she knew that was unlikely. Everything really sounded like a repeat of what Seth had done the last time he had been in Domino. The remaining drug lords had probably fallen in with Seth or were otherwise connected. And even though nothing made sense now, hopefully everything would before Christmas.
"I am afraid he may," Ishizu replied quietly. She looked up, her deep blue eyes conveying emotions of urgency. "The hour is growing late. If we are to investigate the cemetery, we should leave now." The storm would only get worse as the hours went on. The later everyone went, the more likely it would be that they would run into a lot of delays and be stranded out in the snow for hours.
"She's right, Joey," Serenity remarked, gazing up with worried eyes. The blonde boy looked back at her and then nodded, speaking softly of his agreement. He wished Serenity would stay behind, especially after everything that had happened at Cooperstown, but he knew he wouldn't be able to keep her from coming.
And so, one by one our friends gathered up their warm winter coats and jackets and headed out to brave the cemetery and whatever they might meet there.
The Domino City Memorial Cemetery was dark and looked abandoned on this snowy December night. A white dusting covered all the tombstones and the lights were out in the caretaker's home. Everything had an eerie atmosphere about it, as if it were the calm before the real storm. They didn't realize it, but Seth was there already, watching them from high up in a tree.
Joey looked at their surroundings uneasily. "Uh, would anyone care to remind me what we're doin' in Domino Memorial Cemetery?" he said sarcastically, tensing as a wind blew through. Now that they were here, and there was such an unease in the air, he was wishing desperately all the more that they hadn't come—or at least, that Serenity hadn't.
"Are you scared?" Tristan grinned knowingly. He felt the unease as well, but he wasn't about to admit to it.
"WHAT!" Joey yelled. "Of course I'm not scared!" He crossed his arms defiantly and glared ahead. "Man, I used to camp out in cemeteries just for the heck of it!" What he didn't mention was that it was really on a dare and he only lasted for a few hours before the place completely spooked him away.
"Hmph," Mai grunted, flipping her hair. "Well, in answer to your question, we're here because obviously this is where the clues led us." She knew Joey had only been sarcastic with his question, but she couldn't resist taking a bit of a barb at him.
"I know that," Joey shot back.
Serenity giggled softly, seeing her brother's frustration, but then she quickly sobered, also worried by the stillness. The only sounds other than their talking was the sound of an occasional wind as the snow would grow more fierce. She was certain that they were all being watched, though she couldn't see any sign of anyone around.
Marik took a few steps ahead, almost instantly encountering a broken headstone laying in the snow. The boy frowned. He could see the cut was jagged and rough. And very deliberate. "Vandals," he uttered low, bending down to pick up the stone. It irritated him when people seemed to have no respect for the dead. But more than that, this finding meant that perhaps they weren't alone. When he looked at Ishizu, he could see that she sensed what Serenity did, that there were eyes upon them all.
"Let's just get outta here," Joey growled. Clues or no clues, he didn't want to be in here! Not with Serenity.
"Oh, I don't think that's an option, young man," an eerie voice purred. A bony hand came to rest on Joey's shoulder.
Instantly Joey froze, several shades of horror flitting across his face.
"Joey, what's wrong?" Téa asked, turning to face her friend in confusion.
"SOMETHIN'S GRABBIN' ME!" Joey yelled, whirling around. Nothing was there.
"I don't see it," Tristan frowned. "Maybe you're just imagining, Joey."
"I'm not imagining!" Joey retorted hotly. "I'm tellin' ya, somethin' grabbed me!" He looked around, hoping to find something, anything, to back up his claims. An eerie laugh echoing throughout the cemetery was his only evidence. But it was enough. Serenity grabbed Joey's arm in alarm.
"I believe you, Joey," Yami Yugi declared, narrowing his eyes. "It's very dangerous for us to be in here. But we cannot leave."
It was at that moment when dark shadows began to emerge from all directions, attempting to surround the group. Marik tensed as he felt cold breath on the back of his neck and he whirled to face a muscular man with blank eyes. The others discovered that their opponents all had the same blank look, though their physiques and genders varied.
"It's the Halloween Hit Parade," Mai frowned. "Either that or they're all stoned." She kicked out as one grabbed for her.
"More likely they're Seth's minions," Yami Yugi remarked.
"Yeah? Well, I wish they'd go somewhere else," Tristan growled, exchanging blows with a strong, almost Frankensteinish man.
The eerie laugh again echoed around the cemetery's solemn gates, bouncing off the headstones and trees and carrying on the wind. "That's right, boy," Seth's voice came. "I, or rather, Nuru, commands these poor souls. And I can't have you interfering with my ultimate plan. You could say I'm 'beta-testing' it tonight. Aren't you lucky? You get to be the first to witness my brilliance." He was still standing in the tree above them, and though they couldn't see him, his voice's direction was apparent.
Yami Yugi gritted his teeth, the third eye starting to glow on his forehead as an extensive flash of memory came to him. He stared in shock as scenes from ancient Egypt played out in front of his eyes. As the vision ended, he knew what was really going on and who was truly in control of Seth's body. And he was both outraged and stunned at what he now remembered. "This has gone on quite long enough, Akunadin!" he screamed, saying the name of the former Priest of the Millennium Eye. "Release Priest Seto from your evil clutches!"
Everyone turned to stare at the Pharaoh, stunned chock and disbelief obvious on their faces and in their eyes. "Akunadin!" Joey cried. "Who the heck is that!" Yami Yugi didn't offer the answer.
And Seth didn't seem impressed. He directed Nuru to have the army attack and then finally replied as Nuru called the command. "Why, Pharaoh Atemu," he cackled, "you do remember me!"
Yami Yugi snarled. "I remember enough," he retorted. But before he could elaborate or explain anything, all of the apparently controlled beings lunged for the assault.
The resulting battle spread out all over the entire cemetery, with four or five attackers for every one person. And it seemed that every time one of the zombie-like creatures was knocked down or defeated, they would instantly be back up again. What's more, they were almost impossible to knock down in the first place. With their strength, they first sent Yami Bakura flailing down a hill, where he sprawled over a gravestone, and then they threw Rishid into the door of the mausoleum. When Marik ran to help his elder brother, he was hit over the head with a broken tombstone and went falling down the same hill.
Joey, who was filling with pride after actually causing a whole row of the people to fall over, suddenly looked down and saw the snow cleared away to reveal a window through which he could see a dead person looking up at him blankly. With a cry of alarm he backed away, his eyes widening, and was about to run off when a heavy weight fell across him and knocked him into the snow. Immediately he panicked, babbling at the top of his lungs. "I'm sorry! I didn't wanna disturb your eternal rest!" In his current surprised state, he was entertaining the thought that the person he had just seen had came out of the grave and attacked him.
But a low moan answered him and then a familiar voice retorted, "It's only me, Joey!"
Joey blinked, freezing in place. "Marik!" he cried, turning pink with embarrassment.
Marik groaned, pushing himself up and rubbing his head. "Ow," he muttered, sitting down hard in the snow as dizziness washed over him. He glanced over at the window in the ground and blinked in surprise. "First you think I'm a werewolf and now you've decided I'm a zombie," he remarked dryly. He had never quite forgotten how Joey had once been convinced that a rabid wolf was really Marik, due to the fact that someone had put Marik's earrings on the creature.
Joey blushed even more and then glared at the other boy. "You didn't havta come flying through the air at me!" he snapped.
Marik took his fingers away from the sore spot, relieved to see that there was no blood. "I couldn't help it," he said, slightly irritated.
It was amidst this chaos that Seto drove up in his limo, having received word from Noa that some of Del Vinci's men would be in the cemetery. Seto was so determined to catch Del Vinci and anyone connected to him that he was even willing to believe Noa. Slowly the businessman got out, narrowing his eyes at the fighting going on around him, and tried to figure out who the strange people were.
"It won't do you any good," Khu growled, appearing next to Seto. "None of these people work for Del Vinci."
Seto turned to stare at the man in disbelief. "How do you know what I'm thinking?" he demanded angrily. "And how do you know none of these people work for him?"
Khu ignored the first question. "These people are all dead," he said flatly. "Seth's testing out the plan to bring all the famous and infamous conquerors and dictators back to create his army. Right now he's just seeing what would happen if everyone in the cemetery were raised up to cause destruction. And I would imagine he's hoping to eliminate those pesky teenage friends of yours," he added. It wasn't even close to midnight yet. What was really worrying Khu now was, Why had Seth decided to do this earlier than he had originally planned?
Seto didn't look happy at the news he was given. He was just about to make a retort when Seth leaped out of the tree and walked over to him. "Hello again, Seto Kaiba," he greeted with a sneer, and Seto's eyes widened in horror as the priest approached. Tightly held in Seth's arms was a limp Mokuba!