Chapter 16: Decisions, Decisions

Téa, Joey, Tristan, Marik, and Odion were still running around Kaiba Corp. They had lost the shadow creatures for the moment, and didn't know where they were. So they just kept on running. Tristan was running with a limp. The one after him had tackled him to the ground once. It bit him on his arms and his foot. He was a bit mad that now his shoe was ruined! That and to keep running were the only things lingering in his mind at the moment. He just couldn't believe that its teeth went through his shoe. He made that clear before he got up and started running again too. The others had rolled their eyes at him.

They were almost to the main doors when the creatures jumped out of nowhere at them. They circled around them, giving them nowhere to run.

"What do we do now?" asked Joey.

"I have no idea," answered Téa.

"I say we try and fight 'em for destroying a perfectly good shoe!" cried Tristan.

Everyone looked at him.

"What? They did!"

"Shut up, Tristan!" cried Téa.

"No, maybe Tristan's right!" exclaimed Joey.

"About what?" asked Marik.

"We could try and fight."

"Are you nuts? Did you see what they did to Tristan's arms? He's still bleeding a little and that was from using their teeth. Just think what they could do with their claws!" cried Téa.

"We might just have to take that risk, Téa."

"I'm not so sure how well that would work," said Marik.

"What other options do you have for us?" asked Joey.

"None..."

"Okay then."

Joey didn't wait any longer. After he was done talking, he jumped at one of the creatures, pinning it to the floor. It hissed at him, showing Joey its sharp and jagged teeth. Before Joey knew it, another one tackled him to the floor and was biting his arm! Then, another one came and started to bite his other arm! Tristan was the next to gather up his courage. He was able to shove one shadow creature off his buddy before the others started to pile on top of him! Next, Téa, Odion, and Marik started their advance on the creatures. They didn't do much before they were thrown backwards, landing on top of one another.

"That...didn't work..." said Téa from the bottom of the pile.

"We need a new tactic if we expect to help Tristan and Joey and get them back in one piece!" exclaimed Marik, crawling off Odion and Téa, allowing them to get up.

"Well, there is a shadow creature for each person," noted Odion.

"Oh no. You're not expecting us each to take one on!" cried Téa.

"We have to try something," said Odion.

"Téa has a point. You saw Tristan and Joey. They both just went for just one creature, and then they all ganged up on them. I'm not so sure the creatures would fight with just one of us at a time," said Marik.

"That doesn't matter. Each of us needs to charge at one. That way they'll be too preoccupied with us instead of going to help another one of its kind to defeat us," explained Odion.

"Well, I guess it's worth a shot," nodded Marik. "Are you in too, Téa?"

"I guess," she shrugged.

"All right then, let's go!" cried Odion.

The three friends ran and tackled three different creatures. They started to hit and punch them, but it didn't work very well. Then, the creatures would start to scratch and bite them! All of them struggled against the creatures until finally the creatures disappeared. The five of them knew they weren't gone for good. They'd done it before and they had made the mistake of celebrating too soon. Then, they appeared again, taking them by surprise. But the five of them took this opportunity to try and escape. When they opened the main doors, they were shocked at how many people were standing outside the building. Looking around, there was no way to get through the crowd.

"Please, you have to help us!" cried someone from the crowd.

"She's keeping us prisoner here! We can't even leave!" someone else yelled.

"She has evil powers like a witch!"

"I'm afraid that we're stuck here too," Marik called out to the crowd. "I'm sorry that we can't be of any help, but Natalie practically has us imprisoned here."

Murmurs went through the crowd at his words.

"Now what are we gonna do?" asked Joey, holding his hand over the giant gash in his arm.

"Yeah, those things are probably going to pop up at any second and finish us all," said Tristan.

"We can't do anything," said Odion. "That's the problem. She has us right where she wants us and, and we can't do anything to protect ourselves."

"Odion's right," agreed Marik. "All we can do is either keep running around this place or just wait here."

"I say we should at least move away from all these people," suggested Téa. "They're suffering enough and maybe if we're still here when the shadow creatures come back, they would attack them too!"

"Téa has a point," said Joey.

"Yeah, so let's move out," agreed Tristan.

Marik and Odion agreed and they all helped each other to walk back inside. They sat down in the lobby and used the time they had to relax a little.

"What are we going to do when they come back?" asked Tristan.

"We still have to fight 'em," answered Joey.

"Are you crazy? We just tried that plan and we barely made it out of it!" cried Tristan.

"We still don't have any other options!"

"I don't care!"

"Guys, stop arguing! We can still fight them, but we may just need to approach it from a different angle," said Marik.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Odion.

"I...you...why..." Mokuba couldn't think of anything to say to her. He was still horrified about the news he'd just received.

"Don't worry, Mokuba, he'll wake up again. He'll just be in a world of pain because of you," she smirked.

Mokuba looked to his older brother again. How could he let her do this? This was all her fault. She was the one who brought out the worst in him. What was he going to do?

"Now your big brother can't protect you from me," said Natalie.

Mokuba gasped, "Is that why you made me do this?"

"Yes, and to see it torture you."

"Wh-what are you going to do to me?" asked Mokuba.

"Don't worry about that. It'll come soon enough."

Natalie reached down and grabbed Mokuba's arm, holding him tightly. He struggled to get her off him. She seemed to get satisfaction from watching him squirm. She smirked and yanked him off the floor. Then, she used her free hand to pick him up by his throat! After a few moments of him struggling to breathe, she threw him across the room. Then, she made her way back over to him.

"Don't worry, there's more to come," she said to him.

He didn't say anything. His eyes were clenched tightly shut due to the pain he was experiencing. Natalie looked at the nails on her right hand, smirked, and watched as they grew into long sharp claws. Then, she took her hand and slashed Mokuba's left arm. He cried in pain as she started to randomly scratch him all over his body. She smirked again at the blood-stained sections of his clothes. Then, her nails returned to their normal size. Next, she got up and kicked him in the ribs. She was about to kick him again when he disappeared. She looked around until she remembered. She snapped her fingers to return to where she had been previously fighting.

"I wasn't finished with him," snapped Natalie. "You can have him when he's a mutilated corpse!"

"You won't get that far," Yami said to her, holding onto Mokuba.

Natalie was infuriated that Yami had interrupted her. She couldn't think of something that would be appropriate for his punishment. Then again, it probably wouldn't work. He had powers too, and whatever she did he could block it with his force field. She was out of options. But what she did know was that she needed to catch him off-guard again. But how was she going to do that? Then, she got an idea.

She smirked at him, then used her special ability of speed to grab Mokuba from Yami's hands. In no time, she stood across the room again, but this time she had Mokuba in her grip. Yami was about to snap his fingers to get Mokuba back when Natalie raised her hand as if telling him to stop. Instantly, red energy glowed all around him like an outline and he was frozen. She lowered her hand and walked over to him, dragging Mokuba behind her.

"I don't think you'll stop me from doing anything to him now," she said to him. "You'll only watch helplessly as I torture him slowly until he dies."

Then, she threw Mokuba to the floor again. He made no sounds this time. He only looked at her with fear in his eyes. What was going to happen now? Both Seto and Yami couldn't help him! Noah was unconscious and the others weren't there. Mokuba thought that this was the end. She was finally going to succeed in killing him. She was about to do something to him when she suddenly turned around and blocked a chair that would have hit her. Mokuba looked over and saw that Noah was standing there!

"You know the bad thing about your little cage?" Noah asked his sister. "You shouldn't have given me one with a door if you were going to throw me through a wall. It was open when I woke up."

"You won't be awake much longer, little brother."

"You can't kill me. I'm already dead."

"Fine. I'll send you to the Shadow Realm where you belong."

"You don't scare me."

"You don't fool me. I can see through your little ploy. You always tried to act tough when in reality you are nothing but a frightened little two-year-old," she said, her eyes suddenly narrowing as she sensed something. "Drop him!" Natalie flung around to look at Seto and Mokuba. Seto held on to Mokuba tightly. "I see what you were doing," Natalie said to Noah. "You were trying to distract me while Seto grabbed Mokuba and took him away. I just can't allow that. I need Mokuba."

"For what?" asked Seto.

"It'll be hard to kill him without him being here."

"Is that all you talk about?" asked Noah. "That's the main thing you say."

"It's my top priority, and I like to get things done."

"I don't think you'll be getting anything done," said Marik from the doorway.

Natalie whipped around to face him, "Why is that?"

"Because I control your precious pets," he answered.

"No one else can control my shadow creatures."

"My Millennium Rod lets me take control of their minds."

"I'll re-gain my control of them by destroying your Millennium Item."

"I'd like to see you try."

She pointed her finger towards the Millennium Rod and a red laser shot out. But before it could reach its target, one of the shadow creatures stood in the way and cancelled out her attack.

"What!" she gasped.

"Your powers were created from the same dark force that these creatures are made of. They'll absorb any of your attacks."

"How dare you use my creatures against me!" she shouted at him.

"Anything goes in this fight."

Natalie didn't know what to do. She couldn't get her creatures back under her control! Then again, she didn't need to attack Marik. It was Mokuba that she was after. What a perfect way for the young boy's life to end. He'll die in Seto's arms. Marik couldn't stop her from doing that.

She turned her attention back to her two step-brothers. She watched as Seto comforted Mokuba. It made her sick. Then, she pointed her finger at Mokuba and shot out another laser.

"Protect them!" cried Marik to one of the shadow creatures, but it was too late. The attack hit Mokuba in the back.

Mokuba yelped then immediately went limp in his brother's arms. Everyone had horrified expressions on their faces, especially Seto. He laid Mokuba on the floor and tried to wake him, but nothing worked. Seto had tears in his eyes. Suddenly, Noah fell to his knees.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Joey?

"I'm here because I was connected with Mokuba's life force. I stay here as long as he stays alive. Right now he's on the brink of death and once he dies I turn to dust," explained Noah.

"You won't be able to defeat me in time to save his precious little life. I should just let you go to the hospital now because I know you wouldn't make it in time. Enjoy your last moments with Mokuba, Seto," Natalie laughed.

Everyone was appalled by this. How could anyone be that heartless? How could she take the life of an innocent child and feel no regrets? Kaiba didn't know what to do. He knew he couldn't hurt her, but he couldn't just let her get away with murder! The only thing he did was pick up his little brother and hold him tightly.

"We gotta do somethin'!" Joey cried at Marik.

"Yeah, we can't let her get away with that!" agreed Tristan.

Marik nodded, "Shadow creatures, attack Natalie!"

"What!" Natalie whipped around.

The shadow creatures sprang forward on top of her, pinning her to the ground. One stood on her hands and another stood on her feet. They all bit her and clawed her, making her scream in pain. Blood was seen oozing onto the floor. Occasionally, she'd try to throw her former pets off her, but they kept coming back and attacking her more viciously. The creature on her hands finally decided to break her fingers. This way she couldn't use her magic. Then, they finally stopped their attack and stood back. Natalie laid on the ground, completely motionless.

"Is she dead?" asked Joey.

"I doubt it," answered Marik. "If she were gone, all the magic spells she has in effect now would be gone. Yami is still under her spell."

"She looks dead," noted Tristan.

"Yeah, that doesn't mean she is yet," said Marik.

Just as he finished his sentence she stirred a bit. She was weak due to blood loss and in a great deal of pain. She could barely move. Not that there was really anything she could do anyways.

"Looks like...you didn't...fulfill...your little...plans..." panted Noah.

"I...accomplished one thing...I...got rid...of...Mokuba..." Natalie answered weakly.

Then, Natalie turned to black smoke and was absorbed by the Book of Shadows that now lay where she had previously been. Then, Yami became unfrozen.

"I'm guessing that she's gone this time," said Joey.

"Mmhmm," Marik nodded.

Next, Noah disappeared.

"Oh no!" cried Joey. "Mokuba..."

"He's...he's still breathing," said Kaiba. "Just barely, but he's still breathing."

"Then why'd Noah disappear?" asked Téa.

"He probably became too weak to maintain a link between Mokuba and himself," answered Yami.

"What are we goin' to do about Mokuba?" asked Joey.

"I can save him," said Yami. "Kaiba, will you please lay him on his back?"

Kaiba instantly put him on the floor. Then, Yami knelt down beside him, placed both hands on Mokuba's heart, and a white light shown throughout the room. After a minute, Yami sat back and Mokuba opened his eyes. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as he sat up and looked around the room.

"Seto!" he cried happily, jumping into his big brother's arms.

Everyone smiled warmly that the Kaiba brothers were back together again. This was the happiest Mokuba had been since his brother's death. After a while, Yami walked over and picked up the Book of Shadows.

"What are we going to do with it?" asked Marik.

"We have to destroy it," Yami said simply. "Then, we'll have to destroy the Book of Light."

"Well, what would happen to Kaiba if you do that?" asked Joey.

Mokuba looked over at Joey, "What?"

"Your brother is still dead, Mokuba," explained Yami. "With the book still here, he'll stay in this world for three days then return back to the dead. If we destroy the book now, he'll disappear right now."

"You can't do that!" cried Mokuba.

Seto hugged him tightly.

"I won't destroy the Book of Light just yet. I'll let you spend some time with your older brother, but no one else can see him. He can't go outside your home."

"How does that sound, kid?" asked Seto.

Mokuba buried his face into his brother's chest.

"I guess I'll stay here," said Seto.

Yami nodded. Then, he snapped his fingers and sent everyone back to their homes except for Seto.

"Why didn't you send me anywhere?" asked Kaiba.

"I wanted to tell you something. Because of the spell you can stay here for three extra days, but I have a way for you to stay here with your brother," said Yami. "The Book of Light enables me to bring people back from the dead. I can bring you back to life if you want me to."

Kaiba wasn't sure of what to say.

"You'll have until the third day at five to decide."

With that, Yami snapped his fingers and sent Kaiba back to his home.