Chapter Ten
Valon looked at Rocky suspiciously as he continued to lay sprawled on the floor while Raphael dangled the mace in front of him. The Australian knew from past experience that Rocky would not accept defeat so easily, and he was on guard for whatever trick the gang leader might try. Swallowing hard, he stepped a bit closer, though he had to admit that he felt uneasy seeing Raphael holding the weapon. The memories of him and Alister being attacked by the blonde were still fresh in his mind. He wanted to ask about it, but he knew that now was not the time.
Now Rocky sneered. "You think you're really smart, don't you?" he hissed at Raphael. "You've got my main weapon, so you figure your victory is in the bag." His amber eye flashed, reflecting his eagerness at the thought of battle.
Raphael looked at him with displeasure. "What have you got in mind?" he demanded, tightening his grip on the mace's handle. He knew that someone such as Rocky could not be trusted, but he was unsure of what sort of attack the other man might try. I'll have to be prepared for anything, he determined. There was even the possibility that Rocky had henchmen hiding out somewhere in the house, ready to spring, but he did not want to concentrate on that thought.
Rocky remained completely still instead of answering, his one eyed-gaze darting around the room as if he was looking for something. Narrowing his eyes, Raphael glared at him while Alister looked around in the hopes of finding what it was that Rocky was seeking. Instead the gang leader abruptly struck out, catching Raphael in the leg with a tiny, hidden knife that he threw before Raphael could react. The man grunted in pain, momentarily startled, and then Rocky had the moment he needed to leap up and grab for his mace.
After being briefly stunned himself, Valon then narrowed his eyes in outrage. "Why you!" he cried indignantly, lunging forward to grab Rocky before he could get his hands on his weapon. Alister, shocked as well, moved to help Raphael. For the next several minutes, everything was a confused melee as furniture, weapons, and bodies crashed about the room. Liu, terrified by it all, had long ago ran under the couch. She hissed during a point when Rocky fell down near her hiding place, flattening her ears and backing further into the shelter. Rocky paid no attention to her and instead vilely cursed, attempting to rise before being pinned down by both Valon and Alister.
"Oh no you don't!" Valon cried, slamming his palms hard against Rocky's shoulder blades and forcing him back to the floor. Alister then proceeded, against his will, to arm-wrestle with the gang leader in order to get control of another mini-knife that he had gotten into his hand.
"There's just one more thing," Raphael said flatly, abruptly appearing and leaning over the grappling crew. Rocky glanced up at him, but then immediately returned to his wrestling match with Alister, which Valon was trying to enter as well. Raphael growled, afraid that someone was going to be hurt. He struck out, catching Rocky right in the face with his fist. The blow managed to daze him sufficiently that Alister was then able to pry the knife away and press on the back of Rocky's neck, rendering him unconscious.
Valon sighed, but allowed himself to relax as he climbed off of Rocky's back. "So much for gettin' him to talk," he muttered. "Anyone got anything to tie him up with?"
Alister grunted, but handed Valon a long piece of the curtain drawstring, which had somehow been torn free during the battle. He then excused himself to find the first aid kit in order to tend to Raphael's stab wound.
Raphael sank down into a chair, examining the wound in his leg. He had already removed the knife, and the injury did not appear to be extremely serious. Of course, there was always the possibility that the weapon had been poisoned, Raphael thought in a sarcastically pleasant tone. With their luck, it did not seem to be much of a stretch, either. "We'll have to call the police," he announced then.
Valon glowered. "They'll probably take me away, too," he muttered. "I was in the gang, after all." He finished tying Rocky up with the drawstring and then leaned back, wondering if the material would even hold the gang leader down. If he regained consciousness, he might be able to break it. Valon decided that the next order of business was to find some strong rope.
"You told me before that you didn't actually help the gang with their crimes," Raphael grunted when Valon returned from the garage a moment later, clutching a piece of rope in his hands. Raphael was cleaning his wound himself, even though Alister had offered to help him. He had determined that the knife had not been poisoned, for he was certain that if he had been, he would be feeling the effects by now.
"Yeah, well . . . I was still in it," Valon retorted, sitting on Rocky's back while applying the rope.
Raphael frowned, hearing an edge to Valon's voice. Whether it was from his concern over going to jail or over the memory of Alister that the boy had recalled earlier, Raphael could not determine. But he decided that it was most likely the latter, now that things had calmed down. "Are you still upset about earlier?" he asked finally.
Valon looked over, glaring at the blonde. "Yes and no," he shot back. "I don't get what's up with you blokes! You attacked me too! You attacked me and Alister, and I didn't see that funny symbol on your forehead when you did!"
Raphael's expression darkened, while Alister raised an eyebrow. Then the redhead realized what Valon must be referring to—the time when Raphael had attacked them after being poisoned by a hypnotic drug that Doctor Portman had created. When he looked at Raphael, he saw that the older man had already come to that conclusion.
"Valon," he said slowly, as he bandaged his wound, "I didn't want to attack you . . . or Alister." He was about to say more when Valon cut him off.
"Yeah, I know," the brunette snapped. "You're gonna tell me that you were under some kinda curse too!" He stood up, glaring at them both. "Well, I'm sick of your hocus-pocus excuses!" Valon was so extremely confused by now, and he still wanted the chance to go off by himself and sort everything out. It was all happening too fast. In order to accept that these two relative strangers were telling him the truth, he knew that he would need to accept that they both had been possessed in some way in the past, and at this point he did not know if he was willing to or could. It was hard for him to think of trusting them both, especially if Rocky had been putting on some sort of deception. How did he know who he could trust?
Raphael glared down at the floor. Alister half-turned away. Valon could see that they both looked hurt. He frowned, again recalling the events of his dream. These two had been laying so still on the ground, and Valon had been trying to wake them, without any success. And even now, as he did not know what to make of it all, a new thought occurred to him—what if they both had ended up dead then, during the battle with Rocky? How would he have felt? Something told him that he would not have been pleased at all. He knew that he had not wanted Rocky to hurt them. If they had been killed, Valon would have felt terrible. He did not want to say anything now that would be hurtful to them, despite his swirling perplexities.
"If that's the way you feel," Raphael spoke up now, his voice quiet and emotionless, "feel free to leave." He clenched his fists, frustrated. Was this it, then? It looked as though Valon was going to reject them in the end, even though Raphael could understand why he would. Why should Valon trust them, especially with the memories that were coming to light? Raphael assumed that Valon believed that they were part of a conspiracy that had less than legal motives. Perhaps Valon believed them to be hired assassins, with the memories the poor boy was being forced to remember.
"If we wanted to kill you," Alister added quietly, "we could have done it long ago. There wouldn't have been a reason for us to keep you alive. I could have simply killed you when I found you last night."
Valon muttered under his breath, knowing that they were right. He half-turned, glancing back as Rocky started to stir, and then clenched his own fist before turning back to face Raphael and Alister. If he was not supposed to be with them, then why did he feel as though it was so right? He had never felt a sense of belonging with Rocky's gang, but here he had known he was welcome. There was a connection that existed between the three of them, and even though Valon had so many questions, he could not deny their bond.
"Hey," he said finally, feeling somewhat humbled in comparison to the moment before, "I . . . I'm sorry, fellas."
Both Raphael and Alister looked at him with surprise. That sounded like the Valon they knew and remembered. Maybe there was still hope.
Tristan felt as though he was going out of his mind. Duke had left him and Ms. Kawai locked in the same room with several Orichalcos stones. The blasted things seemed to be whispering constantly, saying that if the humans would simply accept them, a way out could be found. As the hours dragged on with no sign of escape, Tristan felt tempted more than once to pick one up, but he knew that would only lead to disaster.
Ms. Kawai was completely bewildered, and more than a little disturbed. Tristan had tried to explain the basics of the Doom organization and the Orichalcos to her during their imprisonment, but she had not wanted to believe him. Though, really, Tristan could not blame her. He did not want to believe it, either, but he had been forced to accept the truth of the matter long ago. Now it was hard for him to remember when he actually had not believed in the supernatural.
"And my daughter has been mixed up with all of this?" Ms. Kawai cried, narrowing her eyes irately. It sounded to her as though the past separation from Joey had been for Serenity's own good, if Joey was mixed up in such things on a regular basis.
Tristan swallowed and waved his hands, anxious to correct this. "Oh no, Ms. Kawai!" he exclaimed, most likely trying to look too innocent. "We try to make sure that she doesn't get involved." And as he spoke, images from Battle Ship, Noa's virtual fortress, and Alcatraz Tower swirled through his mind. Poor Serenity had definitely been along on her share of the bizarre adventures, but she had seemed to accept it well and to press forward steadfastly to help Joey and the others.
Man, he thought to himself, how are we going to get out of here? And where did Duke—or whoever that guy is—run off to? I hope he's not stealing souls. . . . But somehow Tristan had the very bad feeling that he was. Maybe Yugi and the others will run into him! Darn it! If we could just get free, I could go warn them.
Now Ms. Kawai was frowning at him. It was apparent that she did not entirely believe him when he said that they had tried to make sure that Serenity did not get involved, but she let the matter drop for the moment because of the more pressing matters they had to deal with. "We need to find a way to escape before that boy comes back," she said with a frown, not able to help but hear as the Orichalcos stones began whispering again. She felt as if she would scream.
"I know, I know!" Tristan shot back. Hey, wait. . . . Maybe the Orichalcos stones are sitting over the exit! Then, once we accepted them, we really would find the way out! With this thought in mind, he walked in determination over to where the stones were sitting and abruptly shoved all of them to the floor. Ha, just as I thought! he said triumphantly to himself as he found a trapdoor. He reached to pry it up and then gave a frustrated cry as it was found to be quite stuck.
Ms. Kawai came over, examining it. "We don't have anything we can use to lift it," she remarked in exasperation. "Maybe we'll have to use those stones."
Tristan growled. "We can't!" he retorted, struggling harder with the door and then finally kicking it harshly with his foot. In the next instant he yelped in surprise as he plunged a hole into the old wood and almost fell over. Glaring down at what was left of the trapdoor, he pulled his foot out of the hole and then set to work ripping away the planks. "Come on!" he said when he was done, leaping into the hole.
Ms. Kawai frowned, staring down into it suspiciously. At last she relented and climbed in slowly, hoping that she would not regret this.
Siegfried found Leonhard curled up in a chair in a vacant conference room. The child was crying softly, obviously still heart-sick over what had happened earlier, and Siegfried's heart went out to him. He knew how horrible he would feel if things had been the other way around and he had been hurting Leonhard.
Gently he reached out, laying a hand on Leonhard's shoulder. He did not speak at first, but instead waited for Leonhard to speak instead.
The boy started violently before looking up at him, his freckled face streaked with tears. "Elder brother," he choked out, in emotional pain, "how . . . how can you stay so calm about this? I . . . I hurt you. . . . I was going to kill you!"
Siegfried sat down in the chair next to him and looked into his eyes. "I knew you did not want to kill me," he replied, though he still did wonder if some of Leonhard's words under the Orichalcos's control were representative of how he truly felt, if only subconsciously. And though outwardly he was appearing calm about the incident, inwardly his emotions were twisting. What the child had said was true—Leonhard had been having trouble of late with being able to enter tournaments, and the company still had not regained as much of its reputation as Siegfried would have liked.
He knew he had not been a good brother, either. He had not spent much time with Leonhard for years, ever since his father had started training him to take over the company and rival KaibaCorp, when he had been thirteen. Three years later he had assumed control of the Von Schraider business and he and Leonhard had only drifted further apart. His increasing hatred toward Seto Kaiba and KaibaCorp had not helped.
He still felt somewhat guilty when he remembered how he had made Leonhard help him during the Grand Prix. He had had no right to do that to his brother, he knew. He had been so caught up in his anger and pain then, and he had not realized how strongly Leonhard felt about his moral values, but he did not consider those good excuses for his own behavior. He had told Leonhard that his brother needed to help him for the honor of their family, and to some extent he supposed that had truly been how he had felt. But more so, he knew, he had simply been angry at Seto and KaibaCorp and he had wanted his revenge. Why would Leonhard not be upset with him for all of that? It seemed so incredible, and impossible even, that the child could be so forgiving.
Leonhard looked sadly up into Siegfried's green eyes. "I . . . I don't," he agreed, his voice shaking, "but it was so strange, what was happening to me. . . . I felt like . . . like my heart was an open book, and this all-seeing thing was taking some of my feelings and . . . and twisting them. . . ." He hated admitting at all that anything he had said under the Orichalcos's control to Siegfried was true, but he knew that some of it had been, at least to some degree.
He did not truly blame Siegfried for his actions during the Grand Prix, but it was only human that over time he wondered why his brother had been driven to such illegal measures. And of course he had felt lonely when Siegfried had not been around much, though he understood how busy the man was. In the past, dueling in tournaments had occupied much of the boy's free time, but it truly had become difficult for him to even enter any tournaments these days. Many people were wary, wondering if Siegfried had a grudge against them and had sent Leonhard to spy. But nowadays, Siegfried had let Leonhard take a more active part in helping him, which the child was grateful for. He loved his brother and did not believe that Siegfried had been a terrible sibling.
Siegfried reached out with his left arm, pulling the boy close. "It's alright," he said quietly. "There was no real harm done."
"But you got hurt," Leonhard protested, "and I could've killed you. . . ." He wanted to be able to relax and to hug his brother, but he did not feel worthy.
"You wouldn't have killed me," Siegfried answered firmly. "That was not what you wanted to do. And I would have stopped you before things went that far." He kept his arm around Leonhard, wishing that his other arm was not in the sling.
Tentatively Leonhard snuggled a bit closer, blinking away the tears that had formed in his eyes. "Elder brother . . . do you believe what they were saying . . . about the Orichalcos?" he asked finally. In one way, he supposed, he wished that it were true—so that he would know what had tried to get control of him. But in another way, it all sounded so disturbing that he did not want it to be true. He thought that such magical properties only existed in fairy tales. But then, he had thought that real monsters did as well, and it appeared that he had been wrong about that.
Siegfried was silent for several moments, pondering on his reply. "It all sounds rather absurd," he said at last. "Don't you think so?"
Leonhard swallowed hard. "Yeah . . . it does," he sighed, "but I don't know how else to explain what happened to me. . . . Even though I didn't have one of those cards or stones, maybe it found a way to affect me anyway. Maybe . . . maybe just the light alone can. . . ." He knew that sounded all the more strange, if that was possible, but he remembered how he had seemed to blank out after gazing at the green light in the sky. If this Paradius corporation had returned, maybe they had found a way to enhance the Orichalcos's power.
Siegfried sighed too. "Well . . . I do believe that there are many unexplainable things in this world," he replied then. "And I have heard of this Paradius in the past. They were notorious for somehow holding a bit of stock in every major company in the world. Everyone was attempting to find out who they actually were, without luck." He, too, had searched and failed on a quest for information about the mysterious financial company after discovering that Paradius even held stock in his own business. There had been much suspicion throughout the businessworld on what Paradius desired, and on if the corporation was legitimate, but the CEO had never been seen and the questions concerning the business had remained unanswered. Now Siegfried had received some answers, but they were not anything like what he had imagined.
"What are we going to do, elder brother?" Leonhard asked timidly.
"We will figure out what is happening," Siegfried said firmly. "This is a problem that can not be ignored, especially now." He was determined to find out if Paradius had indeed been responsible for the strange light that had controlled Leonhard. If he found out that it had been, there would not be anywhere on earth that would hide the company from his wrath.
At last Leonhard hugged him, still not entirely feeling worthy but so thankful for his brother's trust in him. Some people, he was certain, might have thought that he actually had wanted to harm Siegfried. But Siegfried believed what Leonhard had said about the light controlling him. That meant so much to the boy.
Watching from the doorway, Pegasus turned away, shaking his head in amusement. "It's really amazing, how much different Siegfried is around his brother," he remarked to Seto, who was looking bored. "Usually he's so arrogant and pompous."
Seto grunted in annoyance. "Like you," he shot back.
Pegasus smirked. "My, my, someone has a short fuse today."
"You don't seem as upset about all of this as I thought you might be," Seto snapped then. "Your company is taking a lot of heat, especially since you have that business partnership with Von Schraider." He had to wonder if Pegasus had his own secret agenda again, the way he had always seemed to in the past. It was always next to impossible to know what the man was thinking.
"Well, it just wouldn't do much good to get upset, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus replied with a wave of his hand. "Maybe if you would settle down too, you'd be able to figure out what should be done." He started walked back down the hallway. "Anyway, let's go back to the conference room, shall we? I'm sure that Siegfried will come back shortly."
Seto followed after him, thinking of how much he was already despising this meeting.
The sight of a beam of Orichalcos light was never a welcome thing for people to see, and especially not if they were aware of what it meant. When Joey caught sight of one such beam somewhere in Domino City, he was extremely displeased and confused. He and the others had been searching for Tristan and Ms. Kawai for hours, and he was exhausted, but he experienced an adrenaline rush after discovering the unusual light. Immediately he began running toward it, his mind racing.
This is crazy! he yelled silently. What's that thing doing here? I thought the Orichalcos was gone 'cause Yugi and Atemu beat that Dartz freak! He knew nothing of Doom Reborn, as he had not had contact with the bikers in order to be informed of the organization. Seeing the beam now made him panic, and it also made him angry. Obviously an Orichalcos duel was in progress, and that meant that at the conclusion someone would be soulless.
It took him several moments to weave around buildings and streets to get to the location where the Orichalcos was, in the middle of the park. As he approached, the duel was just ending. He shuddered and narrowed his eyes as the loser fell to his knees, screaming in pain as his soul was ripped free and taken prisoner by the Orichalcos. His opponent, who had his back to Joey, gave a low chuckle and flipped his raven hair as he stepped forward to collect the person's soul card.
Joey clenched a fist, fury burning in his eyes at the cruelty of the scene and the uncaring nature of the victor. "Hey!" he yelled, running forward. "Whaddya think you're doing? You can't just go taking people's souls like that! And where'd you get the Seal of Orichalcos card? There shouldn't be any more of them around!" He reached out, about to grab hold of the person's shoulder when the other boy abruptly turned to face him.
For a moment Joey's mind went completely blank with disbelief. He could only stare at the dark-haired teenager who was standing before him and impatiently twirling a piece of hair around his finger. Was this some sort of zombie? Maybe it was all just a hallucination because he had been awake for so many hours. Yes, that sounded possible. Duke Devlin could not be alive, and he would not be using the ancient evil magic that had been indirectly responsible for taking his life. At least . . . Joey did not want to think that he would.
"Who the heck are you?" he demanded finally.
Duke grinned wickedly. "Don't you recognize me, Joey?" he replied, stepping closer. "I thought you'd remember me. After all, I was trying to woo your sister."
Overcoming his shock, Joey reached and grabbed Duke's vest in anger. "You're dead!" he yelled. "And I thought you'd know better than to fool around with somethin' like the Orichalcos!" He gave the other boy a rough shake before feeling a chill go up his spine. This was not a hallucination. Duke was truly here, and he had just stolen someone's soul with the Orichalcos. Now Joey's mind was spinning, trying to sort out the bewildering and vexing situation. If Duke was here, and alive . . . then who had they buried? Or was this one possibly a fake? But what would be the reason for such a deception?
"The Orichalcos gave me life again, Joey," Duke answered then, breaking into the blonde boy's thoughts. "It's the reason why I'm not six feet under right now." He looked at him seriously before prying Joey's fingers away from his vest.
Joey's mouth dropped open. "What!" he cried. "That's just crazy!" He clenched a fist. "You got brainwashed or somethin', just like Mai did!"
Duke shook his head. "Sorry, Joey," he replied, looking for a brief moment like the Duke of the past. "You wouldn't understand." His eyes flickered for a moment, as if attempting to revert back to their usual emerald green instead of the crimson that they currently were, but after a moment the ruby color burned more brightly than before.
"I wouldn't understand! You bet I wouldn't understand!" Joey burst out. "Serenity would never want you now! You sold your soul to the Orichalcos!" He looked at Duke in disgust, still having a rough time comprehending that this had actually happened. He wanted to say that none of this was possible and that the Orichalcos could not restore life, but he was too perplexed to think rationally and instead was letting loose with the first things he thought of to say.
"Maybe," Duke hissed as he pushed past Joey to walk off, "the Orichalcos didn't give me any choice." With that he threw a smoke bomb to the ground and disappeared into the mists. The secret behind Duke being controlled by the ancient evil was an equally evil and dark one, and Duke was right—Joey would not have understood. It was too appalling to ever imagine.
Joey coughed, cursing silently at the trick the other boy had pulled. When the air cleared again several moments later, there was no sign of Duke in any direction. "Darn it!" he yelled then, stamping his foot on the ground. "He got away!" He clenched a fist. It would be pointless to attempt tracking him down now. Instead, Joey decided, he should call the medics for the poor man who had been defeated. He knew that the doctors would not be able to help the victim, but until his soul could be restored and he could be brought out of the coma, he might as well be somewhere comfortable.
As he looked for a telephone booth, his thoughts turned back to Duke's parting words. That had been even more bewildering. What's he talking about? Joey asked himself. You always have a choice! The Orichalcos can't get hold of you unless you let it! He frowned, deciding that after the medics came, he should go try to find Yugi, Serenity, and the others to let them know what had happened. Perhaps together they could find a solution.
Hey . . . I wonder if the bikers would know what to do, he mused now as he found a booth and placed a quarter in the telephone. He had only seen the trio once after Doom had been stopped, but he now knew that they were living in Domino City. After Joey informed his friends of this bizarre development, he determined that maybe they should all go speak with the former "Musketeers of Doom."
Dartz was not extremely pleased at the discovery of Marik and Mokuba in the temporary Paradius building. He was certain that they would only complicate what he was attempting to do. Both of them were mere children in his eyes, and neither of them would know how to stand up against the Orichalcos and its forces. And he could sense that Marik once had possessed a terrible, dark energy. What did that mean? What manner of person was this?
"Well?" Mokuba cried again. "I think we deserve an explanation, Dartz!" He clenched his fists, his blue-gray eyes flashing. He could never forget when he had been watching Yami Yugi and Seto duel against Dartz and Seto had lost. It had been so horrible, to see Seto laying so lifeless and still on the floor after his soul had been taken. Mokuba doubted that he would ever be able to forgive Dartz for that incident. And the man had most likely torn apart countless families over the millennia. Mokuba abhorred him. Even if he had been influenced by the Orichalcos, Mokuba did not think that was an excuse.
"Actually," Dartz retorted calmly, "I am the one who should be requesting an explanation. Neither of you have any idea what you will be up against if you continue this pointless venture." His golden eyes narrowed. "I, on the other hand, am more than familiar with the powers residing here." My only question is, How much power has this organization gained as of yet? If they are responsible for releasing the Duel Monsters, then their influence must be steadily increasing. But they would need a large number of souls before this could happen. How would they have collected so many in such a short time? It took me centuries to gather all the souls I needed.
But of course, Dartz had worked on his own for most of that time. Only in recent years had he recruited warriors to assist him. If the new Paradius had many members, all working at once, perhaps they would be able to accomplish things much more quickly. Or . . . perhaps their tactics had changed. There were so many possibilities. Dartz supposed that they might have even discovered something new that he was not aware of.
Marik crossed his arms. "We're trying to get to the bottom of this mystery," he informed the man. "These Duel Monsters are disrupting everything!" The Egyptian's feelings about this enigmatic person were mixed. He could understand Mokuba's feelings and he also felt outrage for what Dartz had done in the past, but it seemed to him, now that he was seeing the Atlantean, that the man had a tortured soul—as did Marik himself. This intrigued him to the point that if the circumstances were different, he would have liked to have a deep conversation with Dartz.
"Indeed they are," Dartz retorted, "and the reason seems to be because the Doom organization has risen again." He looked down the long hall, seeing a Kuriboh happily bounce along around a corner, and then turned back to Marik. "But who are you?" he demanded. "I remember the younger one, but I have never seen you before." He would not have asked, if he had not sensed what he had about Marik. He wondered if this person would be another obstacle as he tried to complete his mission.
"He's my friend," Mokuba announced before Marik could answer. "Did you call my brother last night and tell him about Paradius coming back?" He glared up at Dartz, suspicion and distrust obvious in his eyes.
Dartz was growing more annoyed with the questions. "And what if I did?" he answered boredly, stepping past them to look into a nearby room. His eyes narrowed at what he saw. The conference room from the original Paradius had been reconstructed. This was an exact copy. Candles were burning dimly throughout the room, lighting up the long table and the company symbol, which was painted on the wall. The chair at the far end of the table was turned so it was not facing him. Dartz had the feeling that someone was sitting there.
He was correct. The chair slowly turned around now, revealing a figure in a dark cloak. As the entity looked up, the Orichalcos symbol burned brightly on its forehead, standing out against the shadows that were cast all over the room.
"Master Dartz," the figure purred. "You've come back, just as our current leader predicted. Welcome home."