A/N: Go Update Monkey! Umm, got to go now… It's Thursday and I have to get another chapter written by tomorrow morning. See, I thought we were coming back from camping on Sunday and we're actually coming back on Monday… (Sweatdrop)

Disclaimer: Duuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh

10: Not the Wizard of Oz

Lira was still smiling bitterly at the other end of the dome.

"You didn't answer her question!" Seto barked, ignoring Azreal pulling on his arm in an attempt to restrain him. "What are you doing here!"

"Oh, touchy." The other boy smirked. "Still sore? Oh, and I work here."

"You're losing your powers." Azreal said, folding her arms. "Aren't you? How else could this lot all hear you before? When you were in your Muse form?"

"Well, so have you." Lira spat back. "And a lot quicker then I have. Admit it, you're half dead! How long do you have left, Azreal! How much longer can you go on!"

"Shut up!" Azreal yelled. "Just shut up! You say you work here! Why don't you get on with your job!"

"I couldn't!" Lira began walking towards them. "I had everything." He said bitterly. "And then you stuck your nose in. I was the best muse they had! I had the best girlfriend who would surely become the President of the company, and then you ruined everything!"

"You were speed inspiring! It was illegal! And you could've hurt innocent people!"

"I don't give a damn about innocent people!" He snorted. "Everything was going great for me, and then you turned up and got me banished!"

"You deserved it." Azreal said, venom dripping from every word.

"So did you." Lira replied, giving a twisted smile. Azreal looked at him, and stared him out. He turned to Jenna instead.

"And then you…" He said. "You took away the only joy I have! And you took away my dignity!"

"You were trying to kill me!" Jenna screamed back "I don't have to justify myself to you! What are you going on about anyway! I don't care what your little vendetta with Anna is all about but-"

"Jenna…" Ryou whispered, the only one who could stop her.

"Who are you working for, Lira?" Seto asked icily. "What's going on here?"

"I can't tell you that." Lira said, smiling. "And if you want to get on in this maze, you have to get past me."

"You're way outnumbered." Mokuba pointed out. "Give it up." He laughed.

"No, no." He chuckled. "Kids today are so violent… No…" His eyes glinted. "If you would care to look down, you'd know we were going to settle this the old fashioned way…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

One of the world's best kept secrets is that of another one. Another Realm, not populated by humans, but by Muses. A long time ago, when things were simpler, The Muses and Humans had a bountiful relationship in which the Muses would help humans achieve their greatest joy- creating- and then the Muses pretty much breathed in what was released into the atmosphere. Although there were many theories as to what it actually was, it was just generally termed as Creativity- or at least on of it's by products. The interesting thing was that when this stuff- invisible to humans but as essential as food and water to the Muses- was given back to people. It had no effect.

And so it seemed balance had been achieved. Once a Muse and a Human found each other, they were together for life. A partnership to keep each other going. Although Muses had a council, somewhat, it was a life tailored to the individual- if you wanted to survive, you found a human and stuck with them. The humans didn't have a problem with this- the two sentiments on the Planet were making it a more beautiful, dream-like place. There was an unspoken agreement between the two races.

And like any agreement, it was quickly to become tainted.

No-one really knows who started it or exactly what happened- it was like an unspoken thing. Suddenly humans wanted to be independent, and a lot of Muses were sick of their job. The Human-Muse alliance just one day fell to pieces. On day they were friends, but as the new day dawned they were fighting for the right to the Earth; and the Muses were fighting another war- how to survive without humans.

The War did not last long, though nobody knows the exact date or details of everything else. That particular chapter of history has been so mixed with folklore that it is impossible to decipher one from the other.

One thing that is known is that the Muses were losing. Despite their number advantage, not to mention abilities such as turning invisible to the Human eye, they could not win, simply because the Humans were desperate to.

Stories tell that Books and Papers and works of Art and Materials and Musical Instruments were all destroyed by the Human's fanatical leader, though his name changes from tale to tale. In every case, he (Or she in some versions) stopped all the Creativity, in an attempt to starve the Muses out.

And it worked. The Muses were dying, on the battlefield and off it. The Population was declining rapidly.

The Humans did not fair much better- they did not die off, but some would rather be. With no way to create- even if they were suspected of having an idea they were reprimanded- The Humans were miserable, soulless creatures.

It was a pointless war. A War with no start and seemingly no end. They were fighting for the sake of fighting; one side was rapidly dying off, the other trying to fight without making any plans, trying to improvise their way to victory, wherever victory was.

There was a General of the Musing Army at that point. He was the People's Hero, their strength in the dark times; he had won more battles, saved more lives then anyone else. He was a rising Star in the Military, but he was the only one who saw. He eventually gave out the order that if Muses and Humans could not live together, the Muses would live separately, secretly. And the Populace followed him- He had a lot more sense then the fanatics that ordered them to stay and keep fighting. There was only one flaw in the General's Plan- Where would they go?

Then a Woman got up. No-one knew who she was, or where she had come from. But she calmly announced that she had built a floating city where they could all live in peace, along with the facilities for them to funnel Creativity up to the city and to visit the Humans in Secret. After the first batch of evacuees left, she was never seen again. There are even rumours that she was a Human, the General's old partner before the War happened.

But Historians said that that was tosh: As soon as the War came along, Humans and Muses never, and would never get along.

Whatever, it was on that day that the buzzing metropolis that became the Largest City of Wherever. The Muses left Earth, leaving no traces or memories of them behind, and built it up and up. Then they gradually spread out into more great cities: Wherever, Somewhere, Nowhere, Elsewhere and Anywhere; at the four corners of the Muses' Realm surrounding Wherever, the capital, in the centre. The General was elected as their leader, and the Muses reached their second Golden era.

From that day on, the leader of the Government has always been a man, though of course nowadays it is filled with Males and Females, Muses and those NIPs who have weaker powers and therefore chose to do other work as opposed to acquiring Creativity; usually the descendants of those who had been sick of Musing Work and the ones that had been in charge of the building projects in Wherever's development. Whatever the case, they have all been chosen for their skills in making decisions for the good of the People.

The President of the Musing business, however, has always been female. Young hopefuls, one that show talent at an early age, attend separate schools to the ones NIPs go to. There they are trained in all aspects of Musing- from understanding their powers to convincing cynical humans that they are real to mind wipes and, naturally, gathering Creativity itself. When they reach a suitable skill level, they are given a job as a professional Muse, making trips down to Earth where they come back with 'food' for the Population, usually respected and heroes.

And, until Azreal stuck her nose in, Lira Klio was one of the best.

He was on the fast track to promotion, riding the Gravy Train. He was the brightest, and best, in the Company's eyes. As he frequently claimed, he 'got jobs done twice as well and twice as fast as anyone else!'. And he was more then that, idolised by the general population, loved by his employers, and going steady with the current President's Daughter, Ruby. He had been seen as a caring, Public, all-round good, amazing guy.

What they did not know, however, was that he Speed Inspiring illegally, taking ideas from the past and planting them in his charges head. While the process was undoubtedly quicker then the more traditional way, it was illegal for a good reason, seeing as the Creativity given out was tainted, poisoning the Muses and turning humans to forgers and frauds. It was inevitable, sentient creatures being the way they are, that a little crooked creativity would get into the Atmosphere, but it was too little to harm anyone. Unless, of course, it was helped along by a Muse too lazy to work for his status…

What they also did not know was that the loving relationship he supposedly had with Ruby Kiyoko was incredibly falsified. Ruby was the favourite to take over the company next, and Lira was the perfect consort. He was going to wait till just before she got promoted, and propose then. If one of the other two thirds of Ruby's triplet set, Emerald or Opal, had been in Ruby's position, he would have been going to them instead. He would be in one of the best positions for men in the Musing community- married to the President would bring him instant respect. It was the Muse equivalent of being married to the Pope- in the power stakes, of course, seeing as the Pope would never marry due to his beliefs. And the fact that they were usually pretty old. Everything was going perfectly. No-one suspected a thing.

Except for one person. Azreal Kiyoko, Millierie's fourth daughter, a dirty half-human. She had never liked him, was always suspicious… and when 'someone' started to steal ideas from Shakespeare, she was even more so. She had been accusing him of Speed Inspiring for years, but could never prove it. No-one would listen to her anyway, seeing as she was not only half-human, but clumsy as well. The fact was, the Population at large loved Lira, and hated Azreal. Especially when he pretended to be all sympathetic, not holding a grudge against her and blaming it on her human blood.

However, he couldn't have her hanging around forever, just in case she somehow managed to prove it. So he calculated very carefully, and, at a party when he and Azreal came to be alone in a room together, he came onto her as he had onto so many other girls over the time he had been with Ruby, intending to sweeten her into silence. She wasn't having any of it, and was just starting to push him off when Ruby entered.

To his credit, Lira reacted quickly, blaming the entire affair on Azreal, and Ruby believed it- After all, they were sure Azreal's mind was a little unbalanced from the mixture of Human and Muse in her blood. Once again, Lira pretended to by sympathetic, but Azreal gained another black mark as she got another scandal to her name, and she was sent on her last-chance assignment.

That was where it all went wrong, Lira decided. Azreal hung around on Earth for too long without contact to Wherever, and went and got herself sick- losing control of her powers; the first step towards losing them completely. And she left a pretty mess behind her. Many extra mind wipes, a practical joke blown out of all proportion, giving her father his memories back…

And guess who they sent in to clear up.

That was a rather uneventful trip. Apart from Kaiba and him constantly winding each other up- particularly when lira discovered Seto's unbidden feelings for Azreal- the job was pretty much in and out. He barely had to do anything.

In fact, he didn't have to do anything. By the time he had got there, Wheeler's Comic was back on track.

However, after that Fiasco, daughter of the President or not, Azreal lost her job, not to mention her home. Lira couldn't help watching in satisfaction as Azreal was exiled to Earth. He had got rid of her after all.

His triumph was short-lived. Shortly after Azreal left for Earth, Ruby announced she had caught him with one of his many girlfriends and that it was over between them. And not a minute later, Millierie Kiyoko herself turned up, announcing his sacking due to Speed Inspiring. Azreal had been right after all.

This had been too big a thing to be dealt with by the Musing Courts alone. He had to go to the Government controlled courts, where after a great public scandal, he to was exiled, only a few months after Azreal herself had gone.

What really irritated him, what really got under his skin, was that she seemed to be enjoying her exile. The Musing population believed she had died in hospital, she had moved in with her Dad's family, her friends regained their memories and did not have them removed again, she went to school and generally had a better life. This was proved just under a year later, when she had made a brief return to Wherever, saving the City and being welcomed with open arms as a hero; but deciding instead to return to Earth.

Lira had not played a part in the near-destruction of the Capital of the Musing World, but he wished he had. At first all he had thought was revenge, but now, almost four years after his exile, survival was more important. As Azreal had noticed, he had been in the Human World too long now. His powers were fading. Soon he would be a muse pretty much trapped as a human. But, he had no time to concentrate on that- staying alive takes up a lot of time when you're stuck.

For one thing, although he could get enough Creativity to survive, he had to have money to pay for food and other luxuries. He had had to get a job, and it wasn't a very dignified one. He used to be respected, be the best, and now he was just a nameless lackey hired to get answers out of younger girls.

Which is why it really irked him when they refused to answer.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They looked down, seeing that they were standing on some roughly drawn chalk lines. They stretched right across the dome, to where Lira was standing, forming a rectangle. There were two smaller rectangles at each end and another line across the middle.

"A Pokémon stadium…?" Yugi wondered.

"Close." Lira spat. "Duel Monsters, idiot. And I want to duel…" His finger hovered on Azreal for a moment before moving on. "You!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Dun Dun Duuuuuun! Bet you guys can't wait till tomorrow now!