Team Zero: Orichalcos
Chapter 42: The End of the Choices
Reku slowly peeled open his eye lids. Heavy as they were to him, he still managed to find the strength to pull them open. He felt a strange feeling, like someone waking up after being knocked unconscious for a long time, but yet, felt a like energy was again flowing into his body.
Lifting his head, the first thing that he noticed was that he was staring into a group of warm and happy faces.
"Good mornin' sunshine." Joe teased, giving a smile that went from ear to ear. A few other people around him laughed.
"Feeling better?" Aliya asked, bending over and placing her hands on her knees to look directly at Reku.
"...What?" Reku asked, looking completely dumbfounded. This brought a bit more laughter from the group of people surrounding him. Letting his head fall lazily to his right, he saw that he was sitting up against the side of the dueling platform. Next to him were a few of the other victims in this whole struggle with the Orichalcos. Shifting his head, he looked to his left to see a similar sight. There next to him, Akina's head rested on his shoulder. She looked so peaceful to him as she snuggled in closer to his arm. His body was still surging with numbness, so he couldn't even feel her body on his.
"Dude? Did the Orichalcos not return your brain or what?" Joe asked, bringing Reku's look back up towards him. Ronin leaned in next to Joe, looking like he had been through the ringer, and gave a slight smile.
"He'd have to have one to begin with for it to come back." He joked, getting the first coherent response from his friend.
"Shove it ass hole."
Laughter this time came freely to most people in the group. Some people didn't understand just how close these two friends really were. Others looked on dumbfounded, thinking that more of an insult that a joke.
Through thick and thin, Reku and Ronin had stuck together. Now, to them, it felt good just to laugh. The stress they had built up inside their bodies freely flowed out in their rolling laughter with each other.
"Honey, you make a bad pillow. You move far to much." Akina's voice came from Reku's shoulder as she slowly became awake herself.
"I'm sorry." Reku said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "I'm a duelist, not a bed." This got the two of them to laughing too. One by one, other people began to join in on the laughter. No one really realized how stressed they all had been. All their tension seemed to slip out, leaving everyone feeling refreshed and renewed.
"So wait." Akina looked seriously at Reku. "Does that mean that you guys finally beat Chime?"
"I guess..." Reku looked up at Ronin who just smiled and nodded.
"After you lost, I finally brought her down." He said, crossing his arms across his chest. "But I couldn't have done it with out your guy's help. We worked as a team to bring her down."
Pulling him self up, and bringing Akina up with him, Reku stood up. Wavering back and forth a bit, he finally got stabilize, looking very pleased. Looking at the other bodies that lay against the stone dueling arena, they all looked to be simply sleeping. Resting after such a hard ordeal.
"Team Zero." The voice of the businessman boomed over the crowed. Walking through the crowd of people who simply parted for him and the two people who followed, Kaiba, Yugi, and Joey made there way tho the three friends.
"Have a nice nap?" Yami asked, smiling at them. Getting a sluggish nod from Reku and Akina, the spirit looked around the dome. The seats were already running empty. Only a few folks were still gathering up their things. Janitors were coming in to begin cleaning after the day of the tournament came to an end. "You were out for a bit."
"Yes, nap time is over. Follow us." Kaiba seemed his cold self, turning and walking between the spiky haired kid and his blond friend. Turning, the spirit and Joey followed him. Behind them, Team Zero and Sachiko followed along.
Soon after, all seven of them found themselves in Kaiba's office. Sitting on a couch on the side of the room, Reku, Ronin, Akina, and Sachiko looked a bit intimidated to be sitting around with the three best duelists the world has ever known.
"So...who are you?" Joey asked, referring to Sachiko. Looking up at him in shock, she simply closed her eyes and smiled wide.
"I'm the team's cheerleader."
Kaiba gave a angered grunt and spun in his chair so that he was looking directly at the four kids. Lacing his fingers together, he leaned his elbows on his desk and placed his chin on his hands.
"This tournament has ended, and you three have walked away the champions." Looking at them sternly to make sure he wasn't going to be interrupted, he continued to talk. "In light of some recent events I am going to say that the finial part of the tournament will be post-poned to a later date. We will schedule some time when the three of you will get to face us three, if you still wish to claim that prize." A silent agreement was made between them and they nodded in unison to Kaiba. "Very well, then that will be taken care of at a later date. But now...it is time for the three of you to come clean."
An awkward silence fell over the room. Looking at one another, the kids debated how much is enough to tell. Looking back to Kaiba, Ronin was the first to speak.
"Um, come clean with what sir?"
"Through this tournament, many secrets were held back." The spirit of the puzzle, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest, spoke. "I could sense that the destinies of others were intertwined in this battle with the Orichalcos, but I had no clue it was really you. I began to suspect though, you three seem different than other duelists."
"Um...Thanks?" Reku said, out of words to really express himself.
"Yugi..." Kaiba was about to object, but twisted his chair so he was facing his computer screen instead. "The Kaiba corp. database has every card ever created in it. Only a few select cards escape the database, for logic escapes them. However, we noticed three cards today that are no were in our database. Your crystal cards as you called them."
"Well." Reku began, searching for just the right words. "Honestly, we don't know too much about them ourselves. What we do know is that they are somehow connected to the Orichalcos. They both came from some greater power. They hold incredible power, and we didn't want to use them in any battle in this tournament, but...we were kinda in a stalemate."
"Yea, I'd guess so." Joey said, leaning back on the other couch on the other side of the room. "I could see why you'd have no other choice. Without the use of those cards, you guys would have surely lost that game."
"The point is we had to stop Chime, she was using the power of the Orichalcos to do a lot of terrible damage." Akina said, squeezing her hands into fists in her lap.
"True." Yami said, looking at her. A warm smile spread across his face as he shifted his gaze to look at each one of them. "You three did a very brave thing. We must thank you for stopping Chime. She was moving far to fast and growing far to powerful for us to stop."
"To powerful for you to stop?" Sachiko looked at him in disbelief. "You don't really mean that do you?"
"No one is to powerful for us to beat." Kaiba snapped in, a little agitated at the subject. "But Wheeler. Monkeys could walk over him."
"Watch it Kaiba!" Joey growled, narrowing his brow in anger.
"But she had you guys twisted around her finger, didn't she?" Reku looked at Kaiba, getting a nod as the response.
"She threatened peoples lives." Yami's voice was cold, angry at the thought. "We were not to intervene and try to stop her. Truth be told, we had to make the hardest decision to sit back and watch as she ran through the duelists in this tournament. Guess she didn't expect anyone to beat her." Looking up, he smiled at them. "So it's a good thing that you guys were in this tournament."
"So with Chime gone, and the tournament done, the three of your names will be heard through most of the dueling world." Kaiba leaned back in his chair. "Whether or not you think you can handle the major league is not the point, you are now in. Your victories here are proof of your skills." Leaning forward, his tone getting very serious. "Billions of people saw what odds you faced out there. Chime's deck was super powerful, most duelists cannot handle odds like that."
"Wow." Ronin sat back, almost not listening anymore. "We are like dueling celebrities now, aren't we?" He looked up at the ceiling of the room. "How long have we waited for this day."
"Since the World Tournament." Akina's joy over flowing as she started to bounce on the couch. "We never thought we'd even win that, now look at where we are." Reku looked at her when she said the last comment. His eyes very serious.
"None of us really thought about that." Reku said, sorrow filling his words. "If we hadn't gone to that restaurant that day, we never would have first encountered the Seal of Orichalcos. From that, anyone that was in that restaurant has been completely stressed out this entire time." He jerked up suddenly as he felt an arm on his shoulder. He was soon staring into his best friends eyes.
"That's not really true dude." Ronin stated, getting a very confused look from his friend. "About all the other duels in the tournament, we had fun. Even if the thought that if we did lose kept creeping in, we did have a hell of a good time. We met some fascinating people and seen a lot of intense duels. We dueled world renowned duelists, Rex, Weevil, and Mako. And you can't tell me you didn't find the best challenge facing that Lucien kid."
A large grin began to spread across his face. "Your right." He said, reassured and hopeful again. "We did have a good time, and it was fun seeing all the cool challenges that came out of this tournament."
"There sure were a variety of cards played in this tournament." Joey agreed from across the room. "So many different cards and strategies."
"Yeah!" The four of them replied really loudly, but happily.
"So then, its settled as far as we are concerned." Kaiba said, standing up from his chair and leaning on his desk. "We will arrange for a better time to have the matches between us, seeing as that is the prize that you won. But now, too many people are tired, and this tragedy needs to be dealt with first. Now, I have work to do, everyone out of my office!" Kaiba's order was heard loud and clear as the four friends quickly left the room.
Walking through the large glass doors at the main entrance. Team Zero stepped out into the bright sunlight. Outside, a small group of people met them warmly. Joe, Kevin, Usami, and even Ryokurio walked in close around them.
"So..." Joe began, his tone of voice like that of a man who has something on his mind. "How does it feel to be the winners of such a high honored tournament?" He blurted out, getting similar nods from the other kids around him. Getting in real close to make sure they hear all the answers clearly.
Reku, Ronin, and Akina just broke out in laughter. Sachiko even started giggling at this.
"Well, we don't really feel any different." Ronin said, wiping a tear out of his eye from laughing so hard. "Were not going to let the fame go to our head. Were still cool."
"Dude, you never were cool." Reku joked, earning a punch in the arm from Ronin. The group of them all started to laugh. None of them even noticed a growing light around them. Intensifying, the light blinded out everything.
When the light died down, the group of laughing kids were in the middle of a large golden room.
Order looked on very confused. Tilting her head to the side, she stared on in wonderment at the kids who were laughing like idiots. "The...chosen...ones..." Order was speechless, gawking at the kids.
"Oh great, the moron crew." A guy's voice rang out over the laughter. Looking up suddenly, the kids realized that they were no longer on the street, but in Orders chamber. The jaws of the kids dropped open at the sight of the owner of the voice.
Leaning against the door frame, the silver haired man in his funeral attire chuckled a bit at the speechlessness of them all. Pushing himself up, he walked towards them.
"Gurabe! Your alive." Reku was astonished, not expecting to see him.
"The living dead maybe." Gurabe closed his eyes, and actually smiled at them.
"But how?" Ronin asked, looking from Gurabe then over to Order. "I thought that since he wasn't really the owner of all those souls, when they were taken from him he was gone forever."
"True technically." Order said, walking up next to them. "But again, he had formed a unique bond with them. Fusing them into his replacement soul. As a chosen one, he could use the power of the crystal to bring him back, but only if he wanted." Looking up at the silver haired boy, she smiled at him. "He chose to come back and he got his wish."
"But why?" Akina asked, tilting her head to the side as she spoke. "Why come back now?"
"I haven't had enough fun yet." Gurabe's tone slowly was becoming its old, cold self. "I haven't tortured you guys enough."
"Sounds great." Ronin smirked, but then grew serious again. "Wait, when I defeated Chime, that glass orb broke. Why did it do it then? And where is Chime's soul if that was were the souls were being stored?" Proposing the question to Order, but not looking at her until he finished speaking.
"I don't know where her soul is now. I never really thought about it. But the reason it broke was because the orb was using the power of the seal. She was the last one on the planet that was drawing on that power. Once she lost, the seal backfired on her, and broke all connection to her. So with no more power to draw from, the orb just broke apart." Scratching her chin with her delicate fingers she looked around in wonderment. "But that is a good question, I wonder what did happen to her soul."
"Is it possible that it is sealed up some where else?" Reku inquired, getting a shrug from Order as his answer. "Or it could be wondering around the world."
"It could very well be." Order said, looking out over the group with a grim look in her eye. Suddenly changing emotions, she took on a very bright and vibrant look. "But anyways, when we find out, then we can put our fears to rest. Now I'd assume that you three would like to enjoy your victory. You did a spectacular job as duelists, and you saved the world again."
"Yeah." The entire group agree. Nodding their heads with wide smiles across their faces. Reku, Ronin, and Akina's smiles the widest.
The sun was rising in the east, sending its rays of light swimming across the sky of morning. Across Domino City, a strange calm had rested. A peaceful morning was just beginning. Birds chirped and Squirrels scampered down the trees, waking up to the fresh morning.
The air ports were packed with duelists leaving from the tournament. Anxious teens ready to get back to their home town to be congratulate, shunned, or just tell the wonderful stories of their epic duels in such a prestigious tournament.
A large crowd was heading for a gate, in the crowd our four stars were walking. They were on their way home, but they weren't in any terrible rush to get to the plane. Walking along at an average pace, Reku, Ronin, Akina, and Sachiko just talked about their new found fame and glory.
"Reku! Hey Reku!" A voice yelled out from somewhere behind them. Turning quickly, the black haired boy looked out to see who was calling his name. Soon he spotted the owner of the voice.
Running up to the group to make sure he caught them, Lucien finally slid to a stop just before colliding into them.
"Hey Lucien, I guess we never got to formally say goodbye." Reku said, holding out his hand. Lucien absently mindedly took it and shook it. "I hope we'll get a chance to duel again some time. We didn't really meet under the best of times. But, it sure was fun playing with you."
"Yeah, ditto." Lucien smiled. Quickly though, Reku noticed that he had something on his mind. Before he even got a chance to ask him, Lucien began to talk again. "About what happened here with this tournament. There...was more than just fake cards and high settings on the duel disks, wasn't there?"
"...um." Reku looked at his team mates for support. Sighing he turn back to the brown haired kid. "Lucien, your sometimes too smart for your own good." Scratching his cheek with index finger, Reku seemed to be thinking of exactly how to say it. "I kinda wish you weren't so smart. But..."
"I think I get what your trying to say." Lucien smiled, not totally sure if he got it, but he did get a silence answer.
"Just think." Reku said, turning so he was facing the gate but looking over his shoulder at Lucien. "Sometimes logic doesn't always apply to what we don't understand. And not everything is as it seems."
With that said, Reku and the others began to walk down the hallway that lay before them. Without looking back, Reku waved his hand at the kid.
"Tell Raoul and Aliya we said bye." Reku called back just before the four of them disappeared around a corner.
Lucien stood there, watching as more people walked down the hallway. Smiling kind of dumbly, he turned and walked away with his hands in his pockets. Looking down, he seemed deep in thought, but of what, only he knew.
The four of them had found their seats on the plane and were already to begin their trip home. Reku was thumbing through his deck again, looking at the cards he had used. Thinking of all that had happened. Akina and Sachiko were chatting away, just laughing and giggling. Ronin sat with a newspaper in his hands.
"Well that's weird." Ronin said, letting the newspaper sink into his lap. Reku looked up from his deck and Akina and Sachiko looked over at the boy.
"What's weird Ronin?" Sachiko asked the question that was on all of their minds.
"Last night, it was recorded that the moon was ice blue in color." As he spoke he reached down to his waist and pulled out his deck of cards that were still in his deck holder. Holding them up to his face, he saw the top card to be the Sapphire Crystal.
"How pretty." Akina said, looking at the picture on the page. The large spherical moon was indeed a frozen blue color. Hauntingly beautiful. But soon, she got a strange sensation down her spine. As did Reku when he looked at the picture.
"You guys feeling it too?" Ronin asked, looking at his team mates.
"I think we do." Reku said, quickly running through his deck until he found his Ruby Crystal card. Reaching under his shirt, Reku appeared with his medallion that he wore and looked at it deeply. Its gold surface had the circular mark with the crescent moon design of lines on it that they had grown so familiar with. Also embedded into the surface was a clear piece of rock, appearing to have moving lava inside of it.
"That strange feeling that just shot through my body?" Akina asked, pulling out her own crystal card and looking at it. "Like the same presence as our crystals, but not the same ties to it."
"Exactly." Ronin said, looking back down at the paper. "It's like it has something to do with us, but its has nothing to do with us what-so-ever. Someone else's fight."
"I agree." Reku said, looking back and forth from his crystal card, to the medallion, to the paper. "Its creepy, but I don't think it's anything we need to be greatly concerned about."
"I would agree. Oh, and." Reku flipped the paper over a page to show them an article on the inside. There were the photos of the four of them and random pictures of them during duels in the tournament. The headline read; Up and Coming Team Score Big Recognition in Tournament.
"Our fame is spreading fast." Ronin laughed, as he watched the other three of them look intently at the paper.
"Wow, the photographers really know how to get my bad side." Reku commented, looking at one horrible shot of the ring when he was drawing a card during his duel with Lucein.
"No, that is how you look most of the time dude." Ronin commented, getting a swift punch in the side of the arm. Then, the four of them started laughing again.
Life was good for them now. Things were looking up for sure. From the bottom of the dueling world, the four of them climbed the latter, and they did it together every step of the way.
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Well, well. Here we are once again. The finial chapter in my Team Zero: Orichalcos story. Now for those of you who follow my other story, Last Guard of the Spirits, if you paid attention to the last two chapters I dropped two clues as to how the two stories are related. This one more than the last one, but its in there. Yes, Last Guard of the Spirits is a side story and has an intertwining history to my Team Zero series.
For now, my attention will be working on my Last Guard fic. Once thats done, then maybe I'll think about continuing my Team Zero series. But for you readers who really enjoyed Team Zero, you might try Last Guard of the Spirits. Although, much darker, it is still the same steamy goodness you've come to expect from me. I don't know exactly when I'll start posting chapters on that, but I am going to get on it soon.
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