Hello all. This chapter was actually finished earlier, but I decided to wait a while, for reasons that I have no desire to share with you guys. Anyway, sadly, this isn't at all what I had originally planned, so I had to divide my initial plan into two parts, hence the small revision to the title. Anyway, this chapter will, for many of you, be a review of the Egyptian Arc. However, I have made a few minor detail changes for the sake of flow, and have also added details about Bakura to further explain things that were no explained in the anime. As such, I encourage all to read it. That's all I have to say, so let us begin.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Rising Shadows; Blazing Light-Part One
"Kai, I bet that you think that you've done rather well. You've taken me to a bare minimum of Life Points, and we're even as far as the Darkness Game is concerned. But you must understand, everything I've done up until now was simple fortification."
"What do you mean?"
"Very simple. My every play up until now has been setting up for my real strategy. Now the stage is set. Prepare yourself to face a power that you've never even considered before." At this, Kai raised an eyebrow of intrigue. Bakura, however, didn't notice as he selected the monster he had added to his hand earlier. "Prepare to face the power of the grave itself. And the general who shall lead my legion of the damned is this, my faithful servant for three thousand years!" With renewed strength he slapped the card onto his Duel Disk, and Kai could have sworn the air temperature dropped several degrees.
The monster was about ten feet in length total, with pale grey skin. The upper body was like that of a man-a very well built man- with rippling muscles and sturdy arms. The face was sharp, like a predators, with two thick triangular horns reaching out of the sides like ears, while a third, much thinner horn extended from his forehead, and another small one from his chin. A pair of small white wings extended out of his back as well. However, in place of legs, his torso thinned down to become a long snake body, with the vipers head at the end. It was a truly marvelous and at the same time frightening creature.
"Diabound Carnal (1800/1600)!"
Kai beheld the creature, a dark aura emanating from it. It was powerful...And cold. Despite the fact that it only had eighteen hundred attack points against Kai's Time Mage (2400/2500) and Chronos-Archmage of Destiny (2200/1600), Bakura looked on, full of confidence in his new monster. And between the words Bakua had spoken, and the power he felt radiating off of Diabound, Kai had no doubt that the dark duelists confidence was well founded.
Kai-3400/Bakura-500
"Diabound?" Kai wondered. "It's a high level monster, hence why you used your Ouiju Diviner to lower it's level, but it has so few attack points. What else does it do?"
"Do you really want to know?" Bakura chuckled. "Diabound Carnal is the incarnation of my Ka in the days of old. I assume you know what a Ka is." he jeered at the historian. Kai nodded. He had read some old text translations about Egyptian myths. Ka were the shadow of a person that persisted even after death. It was a shadow of a person, an aspect of their soul that can leave the body while you sleep and exists after your death. It was almost like a personal guardian angel.
Bakura muttered something under his breath, and suddenly the black walls all around them became bright and blue, like the sky. In fact, it was the sky! Kai looked around and realized he and Bakura were standing in the air above a small village surrounded by sand and dunes. The people of the village seemed rather peaceful, calm and simple. Kai turned back to Bakura, who was looking down on the settlement, no discernable emotion seen on his face.
"Three thousand years ago, I lived in a small village called Kuruelna. At this time, Egypt was under siege by a foreign army seeking the Millennium Spellbook, a tome left by the gods by which a mortal could unlock great powers. The brother to the Pharaoh, a Akunadin, had managed to translate the text, and found the secret to making seven mystical items which would give the users the power to halt any force, even that of a demon or a god, in its path. However, something Akunadin did not tell his brother was that forging these items would be costly." As Bakura completed this part of his story, Kai noticed that the sky had turned to night and that there was a cloud of dust rising on the horizon, aimed at Kuruelna Village.
"Akunadin rounded up his soldiers and priests and charged Kuruelna, saying we were a village of thieves and that the gods had declared justice. My people were rounded up like sheep and led into an underground cavern." he continued as Kai watched the cloud become a battalion of soldiers with spears. They surrounded the village and moved in, cutting the people off and forcing them into submission, unable to fight back. There were only a few people, no more than one hundred, Kai guessed. The people were then led to a stairway that went underground, being forced at spear point to descend the staircase.
"I, however, had been on my way to my home when I heard the attack, and hid myself." Bakura explained, a touch of venom in his voice. "I followed the soldiers into the cavern, which turned out to be an overrun occult temple. I sat and watched as Akunadin forced my people to pay the price for the creation of his items-with their lives!"
Kai's eyes widened in horror as he watched the people be bound and lowered into a smoldering pot, being smelted with whatever else was in the cauldron. Kai had seen several horrid thing throughout the Darkness Game with Bakura, but this was just inhumane, and he fell to his knees, allowing the vomit and bile to expel itself. Shaking, he raised himself to his feet again as the pot was tipped over and the liquid dropped into a small cavity in the floor. Akunadin completed a chant he had started when the first person was lowered into the basin. There was a rumbling as the ground around the pit began to crack until the cavity was much lager, about seven feet long and three to four feet wide. Then out rose a stone object which fit into the hole perfectly, appearing to be shaped like a sarcophagus. However, printed all over the lithograph were both hieroglyphs and large impressions of varying shapes. Within each of the impressions were seven glimmering golden objects. Kai gasped again as he realized what they were...
"The Millennium Item..." he muttered softly, reaching to his back and pulling out his own Millennium Rod, staring at it with a new look of shock and horror. "They were forged of human flesh and bone and not gold?" Kai asked of the shaft in his hand.
"Yes." Bakura snapped. "And with this dark alchemy came a dark secret that Akunadin had overlooked. But creating these items through such evil means, he had awaken a great evil, known as Zork Necrophidius. However, Zork was instantly sealed away within the Millennium Ring, and Akunadin returned to the palace. With the seven items, Akunadin, the Pharaoh Akunumkanon, and five priests decimated the attacking army." Kai watched as the image of a palace came into his view. A large army was charging, seven figures all that stood in its way. However, each raised an object, shimmering like gold under the sun, and instantly an army of monsters emerged, stopping the attackers in their tracks and annihilating them.
"But I was alone, left to die as a child, taken by the sun and the sand who denied me water and who beat upon my flesh. I sat alone in the now silent streets of Kuruelna, reliving the image of those ninety-nine people who were butchered for such a dark ritual. I had little provisions to survive on. Our people had been preparing to dig a new well because the current one was almost dry. Fortunately, in my young age, I used little, and so what there was lasted me for several months. I ate the snakes of the desert, their flesh the only suitable source of nourishment I had. Akunadin had raided the village food stores and taken the grain back to the capital. The snakes became my source of life, and as I hunted them, I became expert at approaching them in silence and at slaying with brutality." Kai watched as a young boy with copper skin and white hair crept up on a patch of grash, his feet on making a sound in the shifting sand. With a quick lunge he reached into the weed and pulled forth a black and bronze scaled serpent, which he twisted in his hands until there was a sick crack, followed by a pop, and the snake went limp, its neck broken and stomach torn open. The boy wasted no time in devouring the flesh right there and then discarding the waste. He turned back to the village a few hundred yards in the distance, and began the trek back, his hands still red with blood, but he didn't seem to notice, or care for that matter.
"I had learned brutality from the priests of Egypt and the Pharaoh who had commissioned them. My hatred grew strong and my desire for revenge was unparalleled. But I lacked the power to do anything to quell my fury. At least, I thought I lacked that power." Upon making that last note, Bakura's lips twisted up into a cruel smile of anticipation and sick pleasure.
"When the water was depleted, I could do nothing more. I resigned myself to die, and so I ventured into that cavern where I had seen my people massacred, but somehow took a wrong turn and found myself in an empty room. The only thing I could see aside from the walls, floor and ceiling was a massive rectangular stone against the fall wall. Too weak to go back, I approached the tablet and fell to the ground." Kai saw this scene play itself out as well, the young boy wandering into an empty room and collapsing a few feet before a stone tablet
"I don't know how long I was unconscious, but when I next opened my eyes, they widened with surprise. Surrounding me were dozens of ghosts! They did not speak, but they still conveyed their thoughts and desires to me. They were the sacrificed ninety-nine who had been my family. I could feel their lust for revenge, and combined it rivaled my own. But I could not stand. I didn't have the power to take revenge, and I wanted to just die there with my people, but they wouldn't let me. I watched and listened as they circled me, and my mind was filled with their thoughts. 'Kill, pillage, destroy, VENGEANCE!' they said." Kai saw as a multitude of apparitions began to swirl around the fallen boy, the force of their spinning lifting him to his feet. He looked at them, a forlorn look in his eyes. "My heart stopped. Life drained from me, and then, looming beyond the spirits, I saw something; something dark, and powerful. And when my eyes locked with the red flames within his skull, I felt it. A sense of power. A sense of inspiration! I raised to my feet, and I released my anger." Just beyond the wall of white vapor, Kai could make out a dark shape, transparent in form, except for two burning red eyes which glimmered with power.
"I released my rage and my hatred in to its fullest, and I could feel the power growing within me. Life returned to me. I shouted with my unbridled fury. And then my servant appeared." kai observed, eyes wide as the boy screamed into the air and raised his arm, palm open and facing to the ceiling. The swirling spirits sped to his hand and formed a sphere of mist that was bigger than the boy. Turning around, he smashed the ball into the stone tablet, and it shattered, washing over the entire slab.
When the white coat had vanished from the surface, there was now inscribed on the stone an image of a figure with a mans torso, only with horns and small wings on his back and with a snakes body in place of the legs, the serpents head making the tip of this tail. And all around the border of the pictograph was a lithograph of skulls.
"Diabound," Kai realized. "Is born of your hatred."
"Yes." Bakura laugh with a sense of triumph in his voice. "And just like the snakes of the desert, Diabound became my source of life, and through Diabound, I grew strong. Fifteen years later there would be a new Pharaoh. He was young, but he was powerful. At his fingertips was the power of the three gods of Egypt. But I didn't care. My lust for vengeance would overcome anything! So powerful was my rage, in fact, that Diabound defeated all three of the Pharaoh's gods, and each of his priests. I even killed one of them and took his Millennium Ring, the item I was most intrigued in, for it was the item which held my god!" Bakura was growing erratic with a dark glee as
Kai watched Diabound battle with monsters, ripping through them. He saw a stone bridge with a man walking on it, approaching Bakura's still figure at the other end. This seemed like insanity to Kai, who could see a number of massive pendulum blades swinging back and forth, but the man didn't seem to care. His hand was raised and his fingers were pressed against his forehead. One of the blades finally met its mark, and the golden totem around his neck was sent into the air as the pieces of his body fell off of either side of the narrow bridge into the chasm bellow. Bakura caught the ring, and laughed, until the image of a magician appeared, aimed its staff at Diabound, and fired. Diabound appeared at the last instant to protect its master, but in the instant before the attack hit, Kai noticed something.
"Diabound...It's different!"
Indeed, it had changed. Diabound was now larger, his wings now the size that would be appropriate to actually lift him into the air. The ends of its arms no longer resembled hands, but had become reaping claws. Its skin had changed to a different tone of gray and there were a number of markings over him, and it's face had become more feral.
"Yes. My vengeance was no longer pure. Now I wanted power." Bakura explained as another image flew by, and this time Diabound was an acid green and bigger still. His claws had grown as had his fangs. And his wings no longer had that almost angelic appearance, but were now very demonic. Bakura had turned his back on revenge rather quick, it seemed, and his Ka was reflecting that as he gained more power and grew more and more corrupt.
Kai then saw a battle in the dark temple beneath Kuruelna, in the room where the people had been smelted. Bakura himself stood atop the lithograph of the sarcophagus as the Pharaoh and his priests fought back against Diabound, whose power kept growing, and who was protected, Kai realized, but a shield formed of the souls of the massacred villagers. But then Kai also noticed something surprising. The Pharaoh approached Bakura as he laughed with triumph, boldly declaring that he would accept responsibility for his fathers crimes. As the ghosts attacked the noble leader, a light appeared, and Kai could see the image of the previous Pharaoh, his spirit awakened by his sons nobility, and he alone paid the price for his gross crime. With a final command from the young king of Egypt, the same magician who had attacked Diabound at the death of the one priest struck Diabound again, this time destroying him.
"I was nearly destroyed, but with Diabound's help, I had gathered the Seven Items. They could do nothing but watch as I played the flesh of my people back where they came from. By placing them in the lithograph, I had completed my true ambition. I had released Zork Necrophidius!"
The temple began to collapse on its itself, and all present were forced to flee as the ancient Bakura and the sarcophagus rose through a hole in the ceiling. Then the lithograph and the man standing upon it became lost in a sphere of black light, which grew and grew until it's true form was revealed. It was the same figure that Bakura had seen when he created Diabound, only much larger and in corporeal form!
Bakura laughed as Kai watched the massive beast march towards the capital city, crushing their every effort to stop it. Armies of both men and Kas were launched against him, and he crushed each one. Even the three god monsters, Obelisk, Osiris and Ra were defeated by Zork, whose power had grown due to the solar eclipse he had enacted. Finally, with no option left, the Pharaoh shouted a single word into the air: Atem.
Instantly the three corpses of the god monsters sprung to life, and then became bolts of light in the sky, colliding with each other! When the three lights vanished, Kai saw only a sphere of light, a figure hidden within it, but he couldn't make any details out. Zork turned to it, and merely laughed. He taunted the Pharaoh for having such a pathetic Ka, and reached for the light with a single claw, only to have it burn away! The light then began to spread, melting Zork's body away until all that remained was Bakura's body. The Pharaoh approached and removed the Millennium Ring from Bakura's neck, chanting as he did, and Kai noticed a white vapor leave Bakura and enter into the Ring.
"Then, one century ago, I returned." the Bakura to Kai's side explained. "And I nearly succeeded in unleashing Zork, but that bastard Yugi Muto and his friends, along with the reincarnated Pharaoh, fought back and destroyed Zork."
"And that's why you want my Guardian powers." Kai gasped in realization. "You intend to recreate Zork!"
"Exactly!" Bakura chimed. "You see, in reviving Zork, I became part of him. As long as I live, it is possible for Zork to return!"
Kai clenched his fists, realizing that this was much more than he had ever originally considered. This man was Hell-bent on unleashing a god of pure darkness upon the land. Hadn't the world had been ravaged enough? Hadn't there been enough destruction and sacrifice? Enough pain?
"I can't let you do that!" he declared, staring Bakura directly in the eye. "I can't just stand back as innocent people are hurt. I would rather die than see this planet suffer any more. I don't want to see people suffer for the sake of making someone else stronger! It isn't right!"
"Right or wrong isn't real, Kai." Bakura smirked. "If right and wrong did exist, then Kuruelna wouldn't have been sacrificed. No, all that there is in this world is power. Absolute and unconditional power. Power that I will attain after I sacrifice you and take your Millennium Rod, your Guardian powers, your soul, and the energy that keeps you heart beating."
"You can try." Kai said as once again the aura of blue light surrounded him. "However, I refuse to give in."
"After three thousand years of dealing with people like you, I've come to expect such words and futile attempts." Bakura shrugged. "Don't you get it? A god of pure light couldn't destroy me, so what makes you think you can."
It was true. Bakura had proven that even after several crushing defeats and several thousand years, he still had just as much determination as he had when he started on his little crusade. Kai, on the other hand, only had Tenken's word that there was something coming and that he would be critical in those events. So what else did he have to back up his claims?
"Now, back to the duel." Bakura decided, the area around them returning to the black fog and the monsters returning to the field. "Since I now have Diabound at the ready, I need to prepare for his assault. To do that, I play my face down card called Hand Corruption to force us both to discard our hands and t hen draw new hands of the same number from the bottoms of our decks." Both players did so, Kai drawing two cards and Bakura drawing five. "And now the stage is set."
"What for?" Kai asked, looking up from his two new cards.
"For the beginning of my assault." Bakura said with a small shrug, choosing a card from his hand. "First, I play Afterimage of Ghost, equipping this card to Diabound to make a Dark Soul Token that will adopt Diabound's stats, as well as his effect." he laughed as a third monster appeared on his field, identical in every way to Diabound Carnal (1800/1600). "And now it is time to show you Diabound's power." he grinned. "Dark Soul Token, posses Chronos! Diabound Carnal posses Time Mage!" The two demons leapt into the air, directly at Kai's monsters. The bi-eyed duelist watched, curious of what was happening, partially to learn what Diabound did, but mostly because he didn't have any method of stopping it.
The monsters both became wisps of vapor at the last second, passing through Kai's monsters. No, no through them; into them! Kai watched, puzzled by this move. Then he glanced at his Duel Disk, the Life Points reader having taken a second to display his monsters attack strengths, and to his horror both monsters had lost nearly all of their attack points! (Time Mage-600) (Chronos-400)
"I see, so Diabound Carnal equips to my monsters and then lowers their attack points by his attack total." Kai observed, impressed by the power of the card.
"Yes, exactly." Bakura confirmed. "Now, Darkred Enchanter, attack!" Raising a clawed hand, the demonic magician began to charge energy, pointing at both of Kai's monsters. "And my Darkred Enchanter can attack all enemy monsters on the field each turn."
"I can't allow that." Kai said, pressing a button on his Duel Disk. "Go trap card, Test of Time! Since it has been on the field for two turns, it has two Time Counters placed on it. I may then sacrifice Time Counters from it on the activated turn, and for every two I remove I can destroy one of your cards." Kai explained as his trap flipped face up. Seconds later, Bakura's monster exploded and Kai's card had faced away.
"Very well, a minor set back." Bakura admitted, selecting two cards in his hand. "I set two cards face down and end my turn."
"Then I'll draw and play my Magical Interest card to discard my hand and draw twice the number of cards I discarded, but can only be activated if I have four or fewer cards in my hand." Kai declared, drawing four cards. "And now, between my Magicians Era card and play my Magical Interest card, Time Mage has enough magic counters to destroy one of your set cards." Raising his staff, the weakened mage began to prepare his attack, aiming for Bakura's left set card.
"I activate that card." Bakura declared as the card flipped up. "Bloodlust causes two monster with demon monster equipped to them to go mad with the darkness and they'll attack each other, but no battle damage will be dealt!"
To Kai's dissapointment, his two monsters turned their attention on each other and aimed their staves at one another and both fired their own magical attack at the same time, destroying one another.
"You've wasted your card, Bakura." Kai said as a card pushed itself from his deck. "When Chronos is destroyed, he summon Tempus-Archmage of Fate (2200/1600) in attack mode. Your monsters are gone, and I have a new monster at full power, set to go." Kai smiled with relief. With his next direct attack, he'd drop Bakura to zero Life Points and destroy another Kioku, leaving only one to go.
"Think so?" Bakura laughed, and to Kai's shock, both Diabound and the Dark Soul Token had returned to Bakura's field, set for battle. "When the monster that Diabound is equipped to is destroyed, he returns to my field."
"Be as that may, I'll still wipe them out. Tempus, attack and destroy Diabound Carnal, and with it will go the Afterimage of Ghost equipment card!"
"Foolish Kai." Bakura reprimanded as his other card flipped up. "Ghost Shield allows me to remove one demon or undead monster from my graveyard to negate an attack." Bakura said, reaching to his graveyard and picking the ejected card. Instantly a translucent field appeared between Kai's attack and Bakura's monster, halting the magical wave effectively. As Kai watched, all that he could think about was how much it looked like the vision he had been shown and how the spirits of Kuruelna Village had protected Diabound. To further Kai's despair, he noticed that the image for the Ghost Shield trap card had the insignia for being a permanent trap card, meaning it would persist. And with the number of cards Bakura had discarded, it would be a while. Looking at his last few cards, he made a simple move.
"I set one monster in defense mode and one magic or trap card face down. End turn."
"Then I shall have the Dark Soul Token posses Tempus-Archmage of Fate and attack with Diabound Carnal!" Bakura commanded as the copy of his prized card became transparent and lunged into Kai's monster, lowering its attack points. (Tempus-400) Diabound himself then held his hands close to his chest, palms facing each other but the width of his chest apart. Instantly light swirled into the space between his hands, becoming a ball of what looked like golden flames, but not flames the way a person would normally see them, as if a combination of fire and some other type of energy. "Death Spiral!" Extending his arms, Diabound unleashed the attack which became a spinning stream of the light. Kai's monster was instantly incinerated, his ashes falling to the ground before him.
"Go face down card!" Kai shouted as his quick-play magic card activated. "Eternal Witness has two effects, and when activated like this, it makes the battle damage I take this turn zero." Sighing in relief, Kai glanced at his lone defending monster while Bakura growled in frustration.
Kai-3400/Bakura-500
"I set one card face down, and end my turn." Bakura growled, passing his turn.
Drawing a fourth card, Kai stared in annoyance at the fact that it wasn't a very effective card for his situation, but still he set it down, and hoped for the best. With a nod, he passed control back to the Tomb Robber.
"How fortunate, Kai, that Diabound cannot affect face down monsters." Bakura noted as he drew his card and glared at Kai's monster. "But who is it fortunate for? On the one hand, I can't weaken your monster. On the other, I get to attack twice this turn. Go Diabound and Dark Soul Token, attack his set monster; Death Spiral!" Both monsters raised their palms, Kai unsure as to which was which, and blew apart his face down Chronos Alchemist, and then a second stream struck him in the chest. Unlike the Dead Credit Mage, this flame was very scolding, burning away more of his shirts and rendering some the shin on his chest red and raw. Gasping in pain, Kai watched his Life Point counter.
Kai-1600/Bakura-500
"Do you see it now, Kai? Now that Diabound is on my field, I am untouchable. Behold the powers of my dark heart and soul." he laughed, and all Kai could do was stare in horror at the monster that had time and time again tried to destroy humanity. He then hung his head, realizing how hopeless an effort it was.
To Be Continued...
And there it is. To those for whom this was just a repeat of the Egyptian Arc, I apologize, but I felt it was necessary for both the readers who haven't seen/read that arc in order to understand, but also for the characters as well. However, I feel that my exploration of Bakura was good, so it all balances out in the end. And I promise, next chapter will more than make up for it, with 37.5 turns of dueling, followed by the conclusion of this Darkness Game.
Next Time- Kai, now aware of what he is facing, must battle both his memories and a three thousand year old force in order to prevent the resurrection of the darkest force mankind has ever faced. But when his opponent is one who can act so mercilessly, and with his two most guarded memories at his minds door, can Kai hope to overcome it all?
Next Time- Raising Shadows; Blazing Light Part Two
Original Cards-
Kai- Time Mage, Chronos-Archmage of Destiny, Tempus-Archmage of Fate, Eternal Witness
Bakura-Darkred Enchanter (Effect Version), Hand Corruption, Bloodlust
Review Responses-
MatrixFighter- To see that match, you'll just have to wait.
Blue-Eyes White Knight- Kai's been giving it his all, but with all this new power that he's never experienced before, it'll still be a tough fight, that it will.
DragonMaster- You, my ill-cultured and uncivilized friend, need to get an education and to learn to bridle your passions. Personally, I don't mind if you have a vendetta against Kai, or against me, really. However, what you have said is uncouth and ill-founded. Allow me to outline what I mean: A) Kai is a significantly superior duelist to Kevin. It was even mentioned earlier that if Kai had wanted to, he could have wiped Kevin out in their first duel, but he held back. So to say that Kai is a poor excuse for a duelist is to say that my baby sisters could crush Kevin. B) Kai's power is such now that there are very few duelists that could hope to match him. C) What you said is purely biased because of the fact that I had Kevin lose. I don't care how much of a hatred you have for me or how much you love dragons, you cannot insult Kai's abilities. D) You haven't even written anything yourself, and therefore cannot judge my work. In fact, I can't think of anyone aside from you who would say that BEWK's story is better than mine either. Overall, what I'm saying is that you need to shut the hell up until you can come up with a simple, logical and realistic proof to back yourself up when you insult my work. I may not like another persons character, but I don't go so cut-throat about it. Just ask Seeker of the Soul. I had a serious grudge against his main character, but I never all out attacked said character. If you would like to further debate this, I suggest you give me your email and/or screen name and come face me about it there.
G.O.T.Nick- What's wrong with Diabound? He's perhaps my favorite demon monster out there. And wait until you see what I have planned for him. If you think Bakura's deck thus far has been cool, just wait and see. (Devilish laughter)
John- Yeah...You keep thinking that.
The White Mage- You'll see what I have in store for Diabound. I only regret that my ideas for a pure, all-out Diabound deck didn't come till I had already scripted the 41 turn section that makes up this chapter and the next, and I just don't want to go back and have to rescript it, as I'm quite proud of what I have planned, and never want to repeat that nightmare. But fear not, extra Diabound support is underway.
The Helldragon- If you want a Kudo, you have to do something as awesome as what those who have thus far earned kudo's have done.
WolfGeneral- Indeed, the Dark Realm cards kinda jumped out at me as I was desperately searching for demon monsters.
Seeker of the Soul- Spiffy compliments are always appreciated. For that, feel free to use my cards.
SulliMike23- Indeed, I do hold all the answers! For that, I think I'll give myself a kudo. (Further devilish laughter)
See ya.