Chapter Eleven

Yugi stared at Joey in disbelief as the blonde boy related what had happened to him earlier. They were sitting in Yugi's living room, still waiting for the others to arrive. Joey had not wanted to tell the news while Serenity was around, even though he knew that he would have to let her know eventually. But he had decided that he wanted to tell her privately.

"So . . . Duke's using the Seal of Orichalcos?" Yugi said quietly, feeling tears coming to his eyes. That seemed too impossible to be true. How would something such as this have happened? There had to be more going on then there seemed to be on the surface.

"Yeah," Joey said bitterly. "I thought maybe he was a fake, but there wouldn't be any reason for someone to pretend to be him! It's gotta be true." He narrowed his eyes. "Face it, Yug—Duke's our enemy now." Idly he wondered what Tristan would say if he was there. Perhaps he would remind Joey of how determined he had been to rescue Mai from the Orichalcos's control, and of how he had never given up on her. But this situation seemed different, especially because of how absolutely bizarre it was.

Yugi looked down. "But . . . how could he come back from the dead, Joey?" he asked. "That doesn't make sense!"

"I thought so, too," Joey agreed, his voice and expression dark. "But Duke said somethin' weird about the Orichalcos giving him life again. I dunno what he meant." That was possibly the most baffling thing that had been said during their conversation. Joey had been mulling it over in his mind ever since, but he had not been able to figure it out at all. Had Duke meant it literally? Joey did not know that the Orichalcos could restore life; he had thought that it only destroyed life, and it had definitely destroyed whatever was left of Duke Devlin. Of course, it was generally assumed that Dartz had lived for so long because of the Orichalcos's effects on his body—but Dartz had not actually died a physical death before it had taken control of him, as Duke had before this strangeness had even come about.

Yugi looked up at Joey in shock. "Duke said that?" he exclaimed.

Joey blinked at him. "Do you get what he meant, Yug?"

Yugi sighed. "I wish I did," he answered slowly, and shuddered. "I don't understand it, Joey. But this sounds really serious." His violet eyes narrowed. "We have to find a way to save him! He's our friend. We can't just abandon him." The short boy stood up, wishing that he actually had a plan for how to go about the rescue mission. Joey's idea of contacting the bikers was a good one, but Yugi worried that even they would not know how to solve this.

"It looks to me like he's abandoned us!" Joey shot back, clenching a fist.

Even as he said this, Duke's parting words returned to him. "What if the Orichalcos didn't give me any choice?" That baffled him as well. As he had thought to himself afterwards, there was always a choice. It simply could not have possessed him without him giving his permission. And Duke had certainly looked as though he had been enjoying himself when Joey had found him.

Yugi frowned. "We don't know the whole story," he protested. "We shouldn't pass judgement on him until we do know."

Joey started at Yugi's words and turned to look at him. The violet-eyed boy blinked in surprise and confusion.

"What?" he asked uncomfortably, wondering if Joey was angry at him for that statement.

"Nothin'," Joey muttered with a shrug. He hesitated before continuing, not certain how Yugi would take what he would say next. "You just . . . kinda reminded me of Atemu when you said that. . . ."

Yugi's eyes widened. Then he rubbed the back of his neck. He considered it an honor to be compared to Atemu, but he did not know if he truly deserved such a compliment. He could not ever imagine himself as being like Atemu, who had been such a close friend and whom Yugi had admired so much.

"Well," he said after a moment of silence, "it's true. Joey, I don't want to think that Duke's betrayed us. You said that he asked you 'What if the Orichalcos didn't give me any choice'. I think that has to be a key in what happened to him!" Yugi paced the floor for a moment before crossing to the window and looking out. "I'm . . . I'm just not going to give up on him," he said quietly as he gazed at the Duel Monsters wandering up and down the street. "Joey, he lost his life because of how upset that gang was with him for helping us defeat Doom! Do you really think he'd start using the Orichalcos of his own free will?" He turned to look back at his friend.

Joey growled. "I don't wanna think it, Yug," he answered. "It's just that . . . when stuff like this happens, sometimes it's hard to know what to think. And . . . well, I never really liked Duke. I mean, I was nice enough to him, but . . . I was just always afraid that he'd break Serenity's heart sometime. You know how he was with the women." But Joey knew that it was not just because of Serenity that he did not like Duke. Part of him, he supposed, had not forgiven the raven-haired boy for how he had humiliated Joey over national television. And Joey could not stand people who came off as arrogant and proud. That was why he did not like Seto Kaiba or Siegfried Von Schroider, either.

Yugi sighed, but before he could comment further the door opened and Téa, Ryou, and Serenity entered. All of them looked weary and distressed.

"We haven't been able to find Tristan or Mama anywhere!" Serenity said sadly after introductions were exchanged.

Téa sank into a chair, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "We've been all over the city," she added. "We even saw the Orichalcos once, but we were too far away to do anything." She found that she was not extremely astonished that the Orichalcos had appeared again. It was just one more bizarre thing to add to the list, and she was too exhausted to become visibly stressed over it. Everything that was happening was stressful.

Ryou sighed, letting Oreo jump to the floor from his arms. "I still don't entirely understand about the Orichalcos," he said slowly, "but I've been wondering if its reappearance could have anything to do with at least Tristan's disappearance. . . ." He trailed off, blushing slightly as he was unsure of how this thought would be received.

All eyes turned to the British boy in surprise. That was not something any of the others had considered before. It made a certain amount of sense, especially to Joey and Yugi. They exchanged a look before deciding that now was the time to explain what had happened to Joey earlier.

Téa tried to stifle a yawn. "Did you say you and Joey had something to tell us, Yugi?" she asked.

Both boys came to attention. "Oh! Yeah, we do," Yugi nodded.

Much to Serenity's confusion, Joey then led her out of the room to explain to her privately, while Yugi told a bewildered Téa and Ryou. All were stunned at the news, but of course Serenity was the most upset. She did not want to believe at first that it was true when Joey told the identity of the Orichalcos duelist, instead holding fast to the thought that the Duke Joey had seen had been a fake. Joey was frustrated, wondering if she would not accept that it was Duke until she learned the hard way. Serenity had not seen as many strange thing as some of them had, so perhaps that was also a factor—though Joey knew that it was mostly her feelings for Duke that made her deny this.

After Joey explained the details of their conversation, then Serenity was even more alarmed. But she, like Yugi, believed that if it was Duke, he was not doing this of his own free will. She insisted that they needed to find and rescue him, and she wondered if Duke would know where Tristan and Ms. Kawai were. Joey was momentarily startled by this concept, but then agreed that it was something they needed to look into—if they could find Duke again.

Dartz glared harshly at the person in the chair. "Who are you?" he demanded. The complete reconstruction of his Paradius office was something he had not expected to find. Obviously these people were highly familiar with the original Paradius, down to the most obscure details. A suspicion had already formed in Dartz's mind about who the people behind this were, and that suspicion was growing.

The person gave a mock sigh. "You don't remember? I was one of your warriors." With that the hood was thrown back and a vaguely familiar young man was revealed. "I'm Richard."

Dartz sighed for real. "Oh yes. I remember you. You were one of the first of my followers to lose his soul. I thought you might have learned your lesson after that." He ignored Marik and Mokuba as they came up to him. Finding Richard here was not a pleasant surprise. It seemed that his suspicion—that some of his old followers had formed the organization—was proving true. Dartz was somewhat appalled by this, that even after losing their souls and not being able to be free until they let go of the darkness in their hearts, they would still believe in his ideals and Doom. Now he was starting to see the extent of the damage he had caused while under the Orichalcos's influence—and it disturbed him.

Richard frowned. "'Learned my lesson'?" he repeated. "Then the rumors are true? They say that you were given a second chance at life and that you've rejected the ways of the Orichalcos." He stood up, his eyes flashing. "I didn't want to believe it. When Vivalene said that you were coming back, I thought that you were going to lead us again. But Vivalene said that you were coming to fight against us!"

Both Marik and Mokuba visibly started. "Vivalene!" they both cried in disbelief.

Dartz had never heard of such a person. "Is that your new leader?" he wanted to know, for the time being ignoring Richard's other remarks, and Marik's and Mokuba's reactions.

The boy shook his head. "She's a commander in the organization, but no one has seen the top leader. She's always been shrouded in mystery. There's only one person who speaks to her, and not even that person actually sees her face to face." He crossed his arms. "She may want to see you, though, if you can duel your way to the top." That had actually been the plan all along. Richard was the first duelist that Dartz would face. Other, more skilled duelists awaited him on each floor. And if Marik and Mokuba insisted on staying with him, they would be forced to duel as well.

Dartz narrowed his eyes. He supposed that he should have expected something like this. It was a good thing that he had acquired a deck, just in case. "Fine," he said at last. "If that's the way you want it, then we shall duel. But I warn you—you will lose your soul once again."

"I'll have served my purpose," Richard replied. "That's what you taught us—that we all have to serve our purpose to bring the Leviathan to the world, and that it's an honor for any of us to have our souls taken to nourish it with!"

"Yes, well . . . most of what I told you was a delusion," Dartz answered, taking his deck out as a duel disk was shoved toward him.

"You're delusional now!" was Richard's angry response. "You turned away from everything you believed in, and for what? It was that Pharaoh who did this to you! The Pharaoh whose soul you were trying to take ended up corrupting you in the end!"

Marik gazed at him, somewhat disturbed. This boy had the same devotion to Doom now as he had in Egypt, when Marik had defeated him. He had not recognized Richard at first, but now he did. It amazed him, as it did Dartz, that Richard still was loyal to Dartz's ideals. He's a fool! Marik cried in his mind. Dartz was right—he should have learned his lesson.

Mokuba bit his lip, having to wonder if it actually was true about Dartz not accepting the teachings of the Doom organization anymore. It seemed too strange to be true, but even if it was, Mokuba did not know that Dartz was trustworthy. "It's really sad about these people," he admitted quietly to Marik. "Dartz tricked most of them into joining with him after they'd suffered a lot and lost their families. He promised them that they'd rebuild the world into some kind of paradise." He looked around the room nervously as the lights came on in order for the duel to begin, wondering what was going to happen to them. Richard had not acknowledged their presence, but Mokuba was certain that he was aware that they were there.

Marik was about to reply when Richard suddenly looked their way, as if reading Mokuba's thoughts. "Don't think the two of you can sneak away!" Richard announced. "If I win, I'll be dueling both of you next." His eyes narrowed. "And if I lose, there'll be duelists ready for you on the next level, as well as for Master Dartz." With that he looked back to Dartz. He had spoken the word "Master" in a demeaning way, as if now he felt that Dartz was the furthest thing from being a good master and leader. And that was most likely how he did feel.

The turquoise-haired man was frustrated. "Leave them out of this," he grumbled, again wishing that they had not been so curious as to enter the building. The last thing he wanted to do was to have to worry about keeping them from losing their souls or from causing him inconveniences.

"It's too late for that now," Richard answered, activating his duel disk. "What happens to them from here on out is their own fault, so don't concern yourself with them. I'm going to take you down, and then you can serve the great Leviathan by nourishing it as you did in the past!"

Dartz narrowed his eyes. "We'll see," he answered coldly. As usual, Richard's over-confidence would likely be his downfall. He was an above-average duelist, but Dartz was much more skilled and had more experience. And he had no intention of losing. He would make certain that this insane plan did not progress.

"I never thought I'd actually want Dartz to win," Mokuba muttered.

Marik crossed his arms. This was going to be an intense duel, indeed. And no matter who won, he and Mokuba would have to duel someone. He just hoped that Mokuba could duel in an environment such as this. Occasionally the two friends had dueled for fun, but Mokuba had never been exposed to dueling for serious, life-and-death reasons. He had only stood by and watched as others were.

"Are you ready for whatever might happen?" the Egyptian asked quietly.

Mokuba clenched a fist. "Yeah!" he vowed. The thought of dueling made him nervous, but he would go through with it if he had to. I have to be strong enough to do this, he told himself silently. I can't let Marik down . . . or Seto. He knew how distraught Seto would be if Mokuba ended up losing the future duel and his soul. He refused to let that happen.

Marik smiled slightly. "We'll win," he said firmly, laying a hand on Mokuba's shoulder. He could sense the boy's nervousness, but he also knew how determined Mokuba was. He was certain that they could win, if they put their minds to it.

He was not extremely pleased with the idea of dueling for high stakes, either. He had not done so since he had been fueled by his hatred and pain during Battle City. The thought of seriously dueling again now brought back bad memories, but he narrowed his eyes and forced them back. That was the past. This was the present, and the circumstances were different. Like Mokuba, he would duel if it had to be done.

Raphael sighed to himself as he leaned back on the couch with Liu. The police had now taken Rocky away with them, and a doctor had been called to examine Raphael's wound and make certain that it was not poisoned. It was not, much to Raphael's relief, but he still felt uneasy for some reason that he could not quite determine. Would Rocky truly be that easy to defeat? Raphael was afraid that the gang leader had something else planned. Maybe the other members would come looking for him and try to take revenge on the bikers. Raphael was not looking forward to another fight, especially when now he needed to stay off his leg as much as he could. And Alister's ankle was not completely healed, either. If they were attacked by an entire gang, Raphael doubted that they would be much help fighting them off.

He was startled out of his thoughts as the telephone rang. He was about to get up and answer it when Alister stumbled into the room and lifted the receiver. As the redhead spoke, Raphael tried to determine who it was that he was talking to. Raphael was completely confused, especially when he heard Alister ask if they'd questioned Rocky "about that."

Alister looked confused himself as he hung up the telephone a moment later. "That was intriguing," he remarked, easing himself into a nearby chair. Upon seeing Raphael's questioning look, Alister continued, "The police found Valon's identification card among Rocky's belongings when they searched him."

Raphael was shocked, to say the least. "Why on earth would he have that?" he demanded. That meant that Rocky must have taken the card from Valon two months before, when the gang had found him on the highway. It meant that he had always known who Valon was, but had never said so. It meant that the fact that Rocky had shown up at the bikers' house made perfect sense. Of course he would go there, since he knew that was where Valon belonged. He had probably decided that no stone should be left unturned and that he should check to see if Valon had possibly gone home. Now the remarks Rocky had made upon arriving made perfect sense.

Alister shook his head. "The police don't know," he answered. "They tried to question him about it, but he only cursed at them." The news angered him. He had realized what Raphael had, that Rocky had been withholding the information of Valon's identity. But Alister could see no reason for the purple-haired man's actions. Why would he want to keep Valon around that badly? He could easily find someone else to be in his gang. But . . . what if Rocky was working for someone? Alister frowned. What if this someone else wanted Valon for some reason and Rocky had been keeping him for this person?

Upon hearing a noise nearby, both Alister and Raphael turned to see Valon standing in the doorway. The brunette looked stunned and then angry, his blue eyes flashing from behind the messy brown bangs.

"I take it you heard me," Alister remarked flatly. Valon had been wandering all over the house since Rocky had been taken away, and now had appeared to have come from the back part of the main floor, where there was a storage room. Alister had assumed that Valon was either trying to let off steam or that he was checking to see if anyone else was waiting to attack, so Alister had left him to his own devices.

Valon clenched a fist. "I can't believe that he knew all this time," he growled. "I never thought he knew anything about me at all, and here he was keepin' it all from me!" He looked from Alister to Raphael. "He was using me. Well, I don't take kindly to that."

Raphael growled. "I hope you're not planning to take revenge," he commented. The last thing we need right now is for Valon to lose his temper!

Valon hit the wall before coming over and sitting down as well. "I'd sure as heck like to," he muttered. I know I didn't exactly trust Rocky, but even at that I must've trusted him too much. This couldn't have happened if I hadn't been stupid enough to figure that he didn't know anything about me! He glared at the floor. The identification card would tell him his name, his age, where he lived, and other such basic information. But that did not seem to matter. Valon was certain, deep down, that this truly was where he was supposed to be—in spite of the confusion and bewilderment that he still felt. And even though part of him yet wondered if he should leave, another part screamed that if he did, he would never find any of the answers he was seeking, and that he would regret his departure.

"Let's think about this," Alister spoke up then, looking from Valon to Raphael and back again. "Rocky must have been working for someone. That's really the only explanation that's logical. But who could he have been working for?"

"Who knows," Valon snapped, running a hand through his bangs. "It could've been anyone! I dunno who'd have an interest in me for some reason, though." He frowned. "Why would someone want me hangin' out in a gang? Would they want me to end up in prison or something?" He looked from Alister to Raphael, and then tried to push back any thoughts of suspicion in his mind. It would not have been either of them. He was tired of feeling as though he could not trust them. Without even asking them, it seemed obvious to Valon that they were the ones from his dream memory. Within it, he had been devastated over what seemed to be their deaths. And even though they were quite alive, that did not mean that he could not have thought that they were dead.

Raphael rubbed his eyes. "It's more likely that it was someone like your parents," he said as Liu began to knead against his chest. He glanced down at her with amusement before then remembering that they had not told Valon about his parents. His remark would mean little to the brunette and probably would only serve to confuse him further.

Indeed, Valon gave him an incredulous look. "Why would my parents do somethin' like this?" he demanded.

Before anyone could answer, the doorbell rang and startled them. Then Raphael grunted. "That's probably the police officer, returning your identification card," he remarked, and tried to get up. He did not especially want to, but he felt that he should answer the door anyway. Someone would need to.

Alister got up first, however, and reached the door. He blinked in surprise when he checked through the peephole and saw who was standing next to the doorstep.

"Who is it?" Raphael asked as both he and Valon looked to their red-haired friend.

Alister began unlocking the door. "Yugi and his friends," he announced.

The businessmen soon resumed their meeting and spoke for a while longer about the certain things they could try to do in their quest to resolve the Duel Monsters problem, but Seto remained firm that Paradius was where they would most likely find answers. Pegasus was inclined to agree, but since Siegfried had not had experience with the company he was not certain what to think. However, he recalled again how shrouded in mystery Paradius had always been, and the chance to uncover some of the mysteries appealed to him.

"But," he objected, idly playing with a rose in the centerpiece of the table, "where would we begin such a search? This Paradius company is in San Francisco. Are we to take our quest down there?" Not that he would necessarily mind, but if the company was stationed in San Francisco, how would it send so many swarms of Duel Monsters upon Domino City? It seemed more likely to him that the culprit would have to have a local headquarters. He had seen many more monsters roaming loose through Domino City than in Germany, though he supposed that did not mean much. There could be branches of the Paradius company all over the world, from which they could send out their holographic technology—or whatever it was. He did not know that this was the case with Paradius, however. If there had been multiple branches worldwide, then it seemed that they would all be deserted now. But he supposed that someone could be reviving all of them.

"Well," Pegasus responded nonchalantly, "if all else fails, then yes, I suppose so. Unless anyone else has a better solution?"

Seto grunted. "They could be secretly operating from somewhere in the city," he announced, and he was actually quite certain that this was the case.

Pegasus clapped his hands. "That's brilliant, Kaiba-boy!" he smiled, though he himself had been thinking of the possibility all along.

"I must wonder," Siegfried mused, enjoying Seto's look of irritation as Pegasus purposely tried to annoy him and obviously succeeded, "are these Duel Monsters . . . real?" He had been observing two dragons battling in the sky through the window, and their bleeding battle wounds did not look like anything he had seen in holograms before. And he could not help remembering Leonhard's expression of awe from earlier. He had to wonder if his brother would greatly mind if the beasts were real.

Pegasus was about to reply when a bit of blood splashed on the outside of the window. He frowned at it in distaste. "It certainly does look that way, doesn't it," he answered. Of course he believed in the reality of the creatures, and of the Shadow Games. He himself had taken part in many Shadow Games in the past, when he had embarked on his futile quest to bring his beloved Cecelia back to life. He would actually be quite relieved if he could find out that the Duel Monsters now were only holograms, but he doubted this very much.

"Actually, Siegfried," he said now, glancing at the pink-haired man with curiosity, "you've most certainly sparked my imagination up! And . . . well, just supposing that the Duel Monsters are real, what would you think about that?" He followed Siegfried's gaze to the couch in the corner, where Leonhard had curled up and fallen asleep.

Siegfried set the rose back in its vase and leaned forward over the table. "That," he said calmly, "would largely depend on what it was that they wanted. For example, if they wish to wipe out humanity and claim Earth for themselves, I doubt that I would be pleased." He smirked as he said this, letting it be known that he was not seriously considering the possibility.

Seto rolled his eyes. "Let's forget about whether they're real or not," he said coldly. "We have more important matters to tend to."

That was when the plate glass window was abruptly shot out. Particles of glass flew everywhere, and the businessmen struggled to shield themselves from the sharp edges. When peace had descended once again and they dared to look up, all were stunned to see an unusual, red-cloaked Dark Magician standing there. His skin was a soft tan and his hair was blonde enough so as to appear white. He smirked at them and then raised his staff as Siegfried crossed the room to make certain that his brother had not been cut by the flying glass.

"What do you want?" Seto demanded of the newcomer, annoyed at this strange interruption.

"This building is being taken over," the Dark Magician replied with a smile.

"Taken over?" Pegasus cried indignantly, still trying to get over the shock of hearing a Duel Monster talk. "By who?" He rose, glaring at the mage standing before them. "I'll have you know that you have no right to barge in here like this!" Industrial Illusions was his company. He was not about to let some odd Dark Magician take control of it.

The Dark Magician's reply was to forcefully blast Pegasus across the room as the man gave a cry of surprise and pain. Seto, Siegfried, and the half-awake Leonhard were all startled by such a show of brutality. They looked from Pegasus's dazed form to the strange creature that was slowly advancing before suddenly claiming the amber-eyed man's chair for himself.

"By all of us," he answered smoothly. "My master will be highly pleased."

Seto snarled. "And just who is your master?" he wanted to know.

The Dark Magician smiled, releaving pearly white, threatening teeth. "Arkana, of course," he declared.