Chapter Twelve
He was struggling desperately against the Orichalcos, but it seemed that it was winning in spite of his efforts. Valon and Raphael were both breathing heavily, obviously in pain from his vicious attacks. He was panic-stricken. If he could not break free, then he would rather be dead. If this continued for much longer, his friends would be killed.
No! he screamed inwardly. I can't let this happen! I can't be responsible for the deaths of anyone else I care about! He continued to fight the Orichalcos, feeling its talons clawing at his heart and soul and always hearing his friends' grunts and cries of pain in the background. He could barely stand it. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. His voice had been swallowed up in his hysteria. Then he heard something strange, something that he had never heard before.
"Alister," came the whisper of a soft, gentle voice, "let me help you. I live only for you."
He blinked, bewildered. "Who are you?" he demanded, soon realizing that he was not speaking aloud. "Where are you? I don't see you." He was alone in this battle, and yet he could hear this other voice so distinctly. It was definitely not the Orichalcos. It sounded like his own voice in some ways, but decidedly different in others. It sounded more innocent and not as deep as his own.
"I live in your heart. Let me out, and I'll help you. You want to die. I want to fulfill that. I'll kill you! I'll kill you, Alister, and then you'll never have to worry that you'll hurt your loved ones again."
"Alister?"
The redhead snapped to attention as Valon abruptly poked him in the arm. Everyone in the room was looking at him in confusion. He frowned and grunted. "What?" he said flatly.
"You spaced out on us, mate," Valon retorted. He was disturbed by what Yugi and his friends had come to tell them—about that same strange force that had controlled Alister now having taken control of another young man. But what disturbed Valon the most was that the new victim was supposed to have died months before. He had turned to see what Alister thought of things, only to discover that the redhead had been staring off into the distance with a haunted look in his gray eyes.
Alister shook his head. "I heard what was being said," he replied. And he had. Being told about Duke's battle with the Orichalcos had been what had suddenly brought the horrible memories once again of dueling his friends on the KaibaCorp roof. But where had that voice come from? He frowned. He never recalled having heard that voice during the duel. And it sounded familiar, actually, as if he had heard it somewhere recently. But where could that have been? Its words had been disturbing, to say the least, and made little sense. If Alister had truly died, that in itself would have hurt his friends.
Raphael glanced at Alister, frowning curiously, before turning his attention back to Yugi and the others. Before Valon had poked Alister, Joey had asked if the bikers knew anything about the Orichalcos and Doom rising to power again. "There is a Doom Reborn organization," the blonde man now said slowly. "That's probably what your friend's ended up joining." He crossed his arms. "But the Orichalcos bringing someone to life is something I never heard of before." It sounded absolutely absurd, if Raphael was to be frank.
Joey glared at Raphael. "There's a Doom Reborn!" he cried indignantly. "Why the heck didn't you guys tell us earlier!"
Raphael grunted at him while Alister raised an eyebrow. "Is there a reason why we should have?" Alister said finally.
"Because Yugi, Kaiba, and yours truly had the three Legendary Dragon cards!" Joey shot back. "We couldn't have toppled the old Doom without their help!"
"But you don't have them anymore," Raphael pointed out.
"And the three of us were actually in Doom," Alister said flatly. "None of you were."
Yugi swallowed hard, seeing how angry Joey looked. "Come on, guys, let's not argue," he pleaded. "We need to figure out how to help Duke!"
Joey growled, but reluctantly quieted. He was still fuming inwardly. What if this could have been prevented if the bikers had told them about Doom Reborn? He knew that it was not likely that it could have been, but there was always the possibility. And he hated it when possibly vital information was not shared.
"First, we kinda need to find this bloke Duke!" Valon spoke up.
"Where was he when you saw him?" Raphael asked, looking to Joey.
"It was in the park," Joey replied. "Then the idiot set off a smoke bomb and disappeared!" He slammed his fist into his palm. "He could be anywhere by now! And maybe he even knows where Tristan and Ma are!"
"Hey! I did notice something weird when we were going to Yugi's," Téa suddenly exclaimed. "I can't believe I forgot this, but we were going past that old building where there was a fire, and it looked like a lot of Duel Monsters were hanging around it!" Now everyone was looking at her. She sighed. "I guess I didn't remember because right at that moment we had to deal with a Chaos Mage that wound up in our way," she explained sheepishly.
"I know the building you mean," Alister said. He passed it all the time when he was going to the group home to visit the children. Now that Téa mentioned it, it did seem to him as though there had been an unusually large concentration of Duel Monsters in that area. But he had not taken special notice at the time because the entire city had an unusually large Duel Monsters population.
"Let's go check it out!" Joey declared, leaping up. Without waiting for anyone else to reply, he was running out the door.
Raphael sighed, shaking his head. "It does sound like we should investigate," he remarked slowly, "but we shouldn't get in over our heads." And he was not looking forward to having to walk on his leg, but if the others were going he would struggle to go as well. He certainly had dealt with far worse injuries in the past, after all.
"We're already in over our heads," Valon muttered, feeling overwhelmed. He ran his hands through his wild hair before standing up and going to the door. Then he turned back, looking at everyone else. "Well? Are you coming or not?" It did sound like an adventure, albeit a strange one. But Valon was always up for an adventure, and now that he was starting to settle in with his friends again, he was slowly relaxing and again resembling the Valon they remembered.
Alister grunted, getting up slowly and looking to Raphael, who was also getting to his feet. He petted Liu before heading to the door, favoring his uninjured leg. Yugi and the others then got up and followed as well.
Seto narrowed his eyes as he watched the red Dark Magician recline in Pegasus's chair. The creature's words meant nothing to him. "Arkana?" he repeated in annoyance. "Who on earth is that?" Somebody shoot me. I'm talking to a card.
Pegasus slowly sat up, feeling dizzy. He glared at the intruder, but did not have the strength to stand and rout him away. Not that he would have any success even if he did have the strength. He would most likely only be blasted again.
"Arkana is the Master of Magicians, or so he likes to call himself," the Dark Magician smirked, crossing his legs and then laying his staff across them. "He has a very exaggerated opinion of his abilities, but maybe it's all a facade." He shrugged. "Either way, I'm superior to him and his skills."
Leonhard stared at him, his hazel eyes wide. Not only was this a real Duel Monster, but it was talking. He had never thought such a thing could really happen. Suddenly he felt as though he was experiencing a real-life fairy tale. But so far it certainly had not been as fun as he had dreamed about. It had been more like a nightmare.
Seto snorted. "If you're so superior, then maybe you should stop working for this Arkana person," he said flatly. "He's probably only dragging you down."
"Oh, he'll get his, soon enough," the Dark Magician smiled. "I still need to repay him for some things he did in the past." He sighed, then leaned back and continued to relax. "Anyway, even as we speak, the building's being taken over by my cohorts on every floor. It will all belong to us soon enough. Then the Duel Monsters will take over this dimension!"
Seto was not impressed. "Oh please. If you think we're all just going to lay down and submit to you and your little cronies, then you're in for a rude awakening." He looked around for something he could use to throw at the Dark Magician to distract him. If they could get the staff away from him, then he would (hopefully) not be able to blast anyone again. When he failed to find anything that could be thrown, he finally decided to lunge.
The Dark Magician cried out in surprise, unprepared for the attack, and he and his borrowed chair toppled to the floor along with Seto. Then both Siegfried and Pegasus, recovering from the shock of what was going on, jumped into the fray and grabbed for the staff. Siegfried reached it first and snatched it up from where it had tumbled onto the carpet, while Seto and the Dark Magician rolled across the floor as they wrestled. At last Seto delivered a stunning blow and got up while the Duel Monster was still dazed. "Come on," he snapped, heading for the door.
"Where exactly are we going, Kaiba-boy?" Pegasus frowned as he, Siegfried, and Leonhard got up to follow him.
Seto grunted. "Away from this madhouse," he retorted. "I want to know if that Dark Magician was telling the truth when he said that the building had been overrun." And if it was true, then they would fight back. Seto was not going to allow Duel Monsters to control his destiny. The humans were supposed to control the cards, not the other way around!
"I wouldn't doubt him if I were you," Pegasus responded nervously as they got into the hall and discovered an entire row of various mages glaring at them.
Seto narrowed his eyes, watching as all of their opponents raised their staffs. They only had the one staff that had been purloined from the Dark Magician. That would not be enough to fight against all of these.
Mokuba breathed heavily, bending over as he stared blankly at the floor and gripped his knees. He and Marik had just finished their second Orichalcos duel, and he did not know how much more he could take. The Orichalcos made it all much more taxing than it ordinarily would be, and the monster's attacks had been real. Mokuba had never experienced something such as that before. He felt dizzy and almost sick. But he knew that he could not give up. Marik needed him. They had been making a good team.
"Are you alright, my friend?"
Mokuba looked up, seeing Marik bending down to look at him with concern. Weakly the child nodded, but then quickly ceased when he discovered that his body did not appreciate the action. "Yeah," he said then, managing a shaky grin. "I'm okay, Marik. Just give me a minute." He took a deep breath and then straightened up. "Did Dartz go on ahead?"
Marik nodded slowly. "He did," he replied. "And I'm afraid we need to as well." He narrowed his eyes and clenched a fist. Whether Mokuba would admit it or not, Marik could see that his young friend could not endure the darkness of the Orichalcos much longer. Not even Joey Wheeler had been able to get through two consecutive Orichalcos duels, though it had been somewhat different in his case, as he and Valon had been repeatedly attacking each other directly and therefore, getting more seriously injured than usual. Marik supposed that made a lot of the difference here, as Mokuba had not had that to deal with. He had not been directly attacked any more than usual during a duel.
Mokuba sighed, knowing that Marik was right. "How many floors are there?" he wondered. "I mean, this building is huge! Are we going to be going all the way to the top?" Then a new thought entered his mind and his eyes widened worriedly as he gasped. "Marik! This building probably isn't all that sturdy after the fire. What if all the Orichalcos duels cause it to collapse?"
Marik frowned deeply. He had considered that possibility as well, especially after Mokuba had told him of how the old Paradius headquarters—which had actually been quite a strong and secure building—had caved in after Atemu's second duel with Raphael. It was a miracle that all of those who had been present had managed to get out of that disaster safely. "You're right," he said then, glancing down the hall in annoyance. "These fools probably haven't even stopped to consider that. Or if they have, they don't care. But they'd die, too, if the building gave way." He wondered if they thought that their Orichalcos would protect them. Though he wanted to think that they would not be so delusional, he supposed that anything was possible—especially considering what their ultimate goals were.
A sound from behind them caused them both to swiftly turn around in defense. To their astonishment, a panel moved in the wall and revealed Tristan and Ms. Kawai. Both appeared disheveled and weary, and Tristan looked as though he had been busy beating people up. Marik raised an eyebrow. He was about to speak when Mokuba beat him to it.
"What happened to you guys?" he exclaimed, wondering who the woman was. He had never met Joey and Serenity's mother.
"We had a few nasty encounters with this place's goons," Tristan replied, looking just as surprised. "But what are you two doing here? Did Duke bring you here?"
Marik and Mokuba gawked at him. "Why would he bring us here?" Marik asked then.
Explanations were quickly exchanged, with each party being stunned by the other's story. Then Mokuba said that they needed to get to the next level for their next duel. Tristan frowned at him.
"You don't look so good, Mokuba," he said, voicing Marik's opinion as well. "You should probably sit it out." He and Ms. Kawai had originally gone down to a lower level of the building, but upon not finding a way out they had been forced to go up several flights of stairs that they had discovered. Then they had reached the part of the building that was above ground. From there they had finally stumbled upon the floor where Marik and Mokuba were.
Mokuba narrowed his eyes stubbornly. "I'm okay!" he cried. "And I can't leave Marik to face the next duel alone. They said we had to duel together, anyway." Figuring that ended the matter, he turned to head upstairs.
Marik frowned too, moving swiftly to catch up with him. "I would never forgive myself if something happened to you," he said quietly, "and Kaiba would never forgive me either. Let's be rational and think about this. You have never experienced either Shadow Games or the Orichalcos firsthand, and suddenly you were forced into two Orichalcos battles. That you made it through them both, one right after the other, is an amazing show of strength." He smiled gently as the child looked up at him. "However," he continued, "showing one's strength doesn't mean being completely rash and illogical. Rishid tells me that sometimes, when I let my temper get ahead of me. I know you want to help me, Mokuba, but right now you could help me best by staying on the sidelines and recovering from your experience."
Mokuba sighed, glowering at the floor. "I'd probably just be holding you back, anyway," he mumbled. He knew that Marik was right. It was foolish for him to try to continue dueling, even though he wanted to. If his soul was lost, then the others would have to work to set him free when they needed to be concentrating on other things.
"You've been a great help to me, my friend," Marik said firmly and sincerely. "I just don't want to see you further endangering yourself when the Orichalcos's dark energies have weakened your strength." He laid a hand on Mokuba's shoulder before passing him to go into the elevator.
Just before he did, a tremor shook the building and he yelped, falling backward to the floor in surprise. Mokuba, Tristan, and Ms. Kawai were also thrust down—not having expected that at all.
"What was that?" Ms. Kawai cried indignantly when it had finally ceased a moment later.
"An earthquake, most likely," Marik growled. The building swayed dangerously and Mokuba's dire prediction came to his mind again as he forced himself into a sitting position. "And it just may bring this building down!"
Dartz, in the middle of a duel with Vivalene, felt it too. Both he and she were thrust back against the walls of the Orichalcos barrier until the shaking passed. Then they slowly got up again, looking intently at each other. Dartz found Vivalene to be an extreme annoyance, while she was amused and intrigued by him. Each had to admit that the other was a skilled duelist. But after a second tremor, Vivalene decided that enough was enough. It was not wise to continue at the present time.
"I'm just afraid that this building won't hold much longer, darling," she purred, drawing a card and laying it on the field. "And I want to live to take your soul another day. So, go Destruction Ring! This duel is a draw!" It's a good thing I had that card laying around in my hand, she thought to herself. I knew it would prove its use at some point.
Again Dartz was thrown back. He growled low, feeling the Orichalcos vanish and sending him crashing directly to the floor. "Wait!" he yelled at Vivalene, who he assumed was making her great escape. It was hard to see through the light generated from the blast, but he doubted that she intended to linger around.
"Oh, we'll meet again," she smirked in reply. "In fact, I'm looking forward to it. Just think about your old hideout and then come to me!" With that she leaped out of the window and onto a rope ladder hanging down from a helicopter that was hovering nearby. She blew Dartz a kiss as her vehicle gained altitude. He would survive, she was certain. He was clever enough to find the way out. And if not, well, then she had greatly overestimated him.
He glared after her as he got up, contemplating her words. Was she referring to the Paradius headquarters in San Francisco, which was being rebuilt—or did she mean the Orichalcos temple? Were they rebuilding that as well? Just how powerful was this organization? Memories of their conversation upon meeting each other came to his mind.
Vivalene smirked, turning to face Dartz and lacing her fingers together as she leaned over the desk. "I knew you'd defeat my lackeys, darling," she remarked, obviously enjoying herself. "Now I'm the last warrior standing in the building."
Dartz frowned, feeling immeasurably annoyed. "Then you are the one who started all of this?" he demanded. She was the one who had reorganized Doom? He studied her, thinking that something seemed off. She had the cunning, but not the sincere motives of her followers. That was obvious just from her expression and eyes. Her reasons for being involved were selfish ones.
Vivalene laughed. "Oh no!" she replied. "That was someone else . . . someone whom you will most likely meet very soon. I'm one of her most trusted subordinates." She stood up and came around her desk. "If you can defeat me, then the helicopter outside will take you to meet her. I must say, she's been very interested in the idea of meeting you. She has so many questions—first and foremost, why you decided to abandon the teachings of the Orichalcos."
Dartz had to admit that he was relieved to know that Vivalene was not the leader. He had been sincere in his attempts at purifying the world, even though he had been misguided, and he did not like the thought of someone taking the Doom organization and using it for selfish goals. And yet of course that was what Vivalene was doing, whether she was the ultimate leader or just a trusted subordinate. He glared at her as she got her duel disk ready.
Her eyes lit up as she drew her first hand. "Well, look at this. I have the Seal of Orichalcos right on my first try." She sneered at him. "This duel is definitely going to be interesting."
Dartz was not looking forward to meeting her again. All throughout their duel she had flirted with and taunted him. She was one of the most irritating women he had ever met. And not even pointedly telling her that he was married had deterred her. She had only replied that his wife was not there and that it could be ages before he would find her again, only making herself all the less desirable to him. He was determined that he would find Phiona again, no matter what it took.
He still found it strange, that when he, Ironheart, and Chris had been restored to the mortal world, Phiona had not been with them. He had not seen her for so many thousands of years. He wanted to hold her in his arms again, to caress her, to kiss her and tell her how much he loved her. But would that ever come to pass? Would he ever see his beloved again? Would Chris ever have her mother back?
These thoughts tumbled over in his mind as he quickly went down the stairs. He could feel the building trembling underneath him and his eyes narrowed. There was no time to remain here. He would have to hope that the answers he wanted were elsewhere. And he had to see what had happened to Seto Kaiba's younger brother and the boy he had been with, as much as he would rather hurry off and try to find where Vivalene had gone.
He had to stop at two different floors before he found the boys. When he did, they were about to run into the stairwell themselves along with Tristan and some woman he had never seen before. They ended up having a collision and all toppling to the floor.
"What on earth is happening?" Marik cried, not having expected that to happen, or for Dartz to come back down.
"The building is coming down," Dartz answered, getting up and offering a hand to Ms. Kawai out of politeness. She accepted his help, but wondered who this latest strange person was with the knee-length turquoise hair. Honestly, it seemed to her as though Serenity's friends associated with the most bizarre people. In fact, her friends themselves seemed rather bizarre.
"Yeah? Well, tell us something we don't know," Tristan muttered. He, Marik, and Mokuba also got up as the floor vibrated again.
Dartz ignored them and headed for the stairwell door. "Follow me and I will lead you back out, unless you would rather stay behind and die here," he said dryly, looking back briefly at them before continuing on his way.
"Oh, he's a real cheery guy," Tristan remarked in annoyance as he and the others followed. "Look, don't you think we've got better things to do than to let a psycho nutcase who tried to feed the world to a big snake lead us around now?" No matter what Dartz claimed to be doing now, Tristan did not feel that he had to trust him. He had been one of their most dangerous enemies because of his sincerity in his mission. Throughout every horrible thing he had done, he had not been trying to be wicked or cruel—he had honestly believed that what he had been doing would be for the good of the world. Tristan was highly disturbed by him, and from Mokuba's expression, he felt the same way.
"We don't have much choice," Marik spoke up quietly. "But if he starts leading us astray, we can overpower him. I don't think it's likely, though. We're in a stairwell. There aren't many things he could do to us in a stairwell." And somehow, he believed that Dartz would do them no harm. When all was said and done, he hoped to have a chance to speak with this enigma.
Duke stood outside the building, brushing his hair out of his eyes as he felt another tremor in the area. "Uh oh," he muttered, but he smirked as he said it. "I don't think that burned out joke is going to last much longer." He crossed his arms, but then grimaced as a pain racked his body. In the next moment he was doubled over, coughing violently as he stared blankly at the asphalt.
Memories flashed through his clouded mind then. He remembered being beaten by the angry gang and giving the warning desperately to Yugi with his last breath. Then everything had gone dark. He had known nothing for what seemed an eternity. It could have merely been moments or it could have been days. But the next thing he remembered was feeling himself being enveloped by a strange light. A strange green light. It had been all around him, surrounding him, bathing him in its essence. And he had opened his eyes again.
"What . . . what happened?" he choked out, his mind blank. "I thought I was supposed to be dead. . . ."
An unfamiliar brunette woman was looking down at him. "The Orichalcos brought you back to life," she said softly and kindly with a smile. "You're safe now. You will serve it and it will sustain you." Her eyes were sad, filled with tales of some immense suffering she had witnessed in the past. They were her most striking feature.
He frowned in confusion, trying to comprehend what had been said. "The Orichalcos?" he gasped. "But . . . no! Wait a second! Something's wrong here. . . ." He did not have a chance to finish his sentence before he grew dizzy and slumped back. The Orichalcos embraced him again, filling his mind and soul until it had completely washed over him and held his sanity in the balance. It was sorting through the pain in his heart and digging it out. And he was too weakened from the beating to do anything to stop it.
Vaguely he was aware that the woman had left. In her place was a rough-looking man that forcefully began checking Duke's vital signs. "It's our little secret—we beat you up to the point of death so that you'd be too weak to resist the Orichalcos's takeover of your mind," he hissed. "No one else knows that, not even the higher-ups or our mystery leader. But you're gonna be a big help to us and bring us all your little friends. First, though, you've gotta get better."
Duke wanted to resist. He tried to resist. But he felt himself passing out again.
He straightened up, shakily raising a hand to his forehead. Vaguely he heard Yugi and the others who had been his friends calling to him from nearby. "Help," he whispered, without realizing that he was doing so. Somewhere in his subconscious, he knew what he had been doing for the last few months—and he was horrified. And he feared that the Orichalcos was the only thing still keeping him alive. If it could somehow be removed from his body, there was a good chance that he would die. But . . . was he truly living, as he was now? Or was he more like an empty, mindless shell, forced against his will to obey the power that had spared his life?