Reset Reality

Okay, a chapter dedication to the reviewer who can figure out, from the info in this chappie, what happened to Domino. I hint at it here, but I'll confirm it in a few chapters.

Chapter 2

Survival of the Fittest

Yami was greeted by a long hall lined with doors. Thankfully, the hall was of grey marble, so he spared the blinding white. He closed the door behind him and slowly walked down the hall. A door opened ahead of him, and a man emerged, talking on a cell phone.

"I dunno, something about irregular eating patterns." He said. "They just want to send me to the Clinic, so I'll see you later, I'm gonna be late for the transport. Okay, bye." The man clicked off his cell phone and cast Yami a glance before heading down the hall. Yami narrowed his eyes. So, whomever he was, this man was also heading to the Clinic. He took a breath and followed the man, staying several steps behind.

The man led Yami to another door. The man opened the door and walked through. Yami followed to a large balcony. A short set of stairs led up over the railing to the edge. Yami put his hands on the railing and looked over the city.

This made no sense at all. Why was the Shadow Realm here? Where was everyone? Where were the Millennium…Yami gasped and looked down. How could he have missed it! The Millennium Puzzle was gone! He looked up and frowned. What could possibly have happened overnight to turn the town into this dark world of chaos?

"It's early." The man muttered, climbing up the stairs. Yami looked to his right as a small capsule-shaped craft flew through the sky. "C'mon pal, let's go." The man said, as the shuttle stopped in front of him. The side of the shuttle opened inwards, and the man walked inside. Yami jumped up the stairs and followed him. The pilot, a young, blonde woman held out a large, flat object with a scanner on the front panel.

"Scan your bracelet." She ordered. Yami looked down at his wrist and noticed a bland, silver band running over his wrist. He lifted his hand and placed the bracelet over the scanner. It beeped. "Okay, ID checks out, Yugi Muto, age 21." The woman muttered. "It says you've got irregular sleep patterns. Heading to the Clinic?" She looked up, and Yami just nodded dumbly. "Okay, take a seat." The woman said, pointing to a few rows of seats behind her. Yami walked past her and sat down. There were 3 people- the man he had seen when he had boarded, a young red-haired woman with glasses sitting in front of him, and an elderly man with a receding hairline. The shuttle started forward, and Yami found himself lost in thought once again.

Yugi Muto, age 21. Yugi was only 16. He couldn't possibly have aged5 years overnight, it was impossible. And Yami certainly wasn't Yugi! They did look alike, but now that they had separate bodies, most people could tell the difference. So, if he was being passed off as Yugi, was the real Yugi out there somewhere, being mistaken for Yami? Yami stared out a small window overlooking Domino, and noticed Kaiba Corp coming closer. He peered closer at the building of his rival.

At each of the 4 corners of the roof rose a pitch black spire. The spires rose 20 feet before coming to a tapered point. The spires were triangular in shape, and made of smooth black steel. In the middle of the roof rose a 5th spire, twice as tall as the rest. It too was made of black steel, but about 5 feet from the top, 8 spikes came from the spire. 4 pointed down, angling towards the smaller spires. The other 4 points rose up to surround the spire tip. Occasionally, a jolt of electricity shot from one of the top points to another.

"It's tonight." Yami looked away from the window. The red-haired woman in front of him was also looking at the series of black spires atop Kaiba Corp.

"What's tonight?" Yami asked, getting her attention. The woman sighed and took off her glasses, cleaning them on her sleeve. She, like Yami and everyone else he had seen, wore the same dark-purple jumpsuit.

"Project Shadow Beam." She growled. Yami gasped. The screen in that room had mentioned something like that. "You know, for a while I hoped. I really did. Too bad for me." She said, standing up as the shuttle stopped.

"What's Project Shadow Beam?" Yami asked. The woman turned to him, and a look of recognition came into her eyes as her lips curled into a sneer.

"You should know." She spat. "You're one the engineers on the Project." The woman turned and walked out the shuttle entrance, leaving Yami stunned.

How could he be an engineer on the Project? He didn't even know what it was. Yami groaned, then noticed the shuttle wasn't moving.

"Hey! Muto!" Yami looked forward to see the pilot leaning around the back of her seat. "Your stop." She said. Yami nodded and walked forward, when he got an idea. He stepped out of the shuttle and turned to the pilot.

"Excuse me." He said to the pilot. "I was wondering if you know where I might be able to find a Yami Atemu." He said. If he and Yugi had somehow switched identities, maybe Yugi had his name. The pilot glared.

"Is this your idea of a joke?" She snapped. Yami shook his head. "Yami is dead, pal. Get a clue." The shuttle door closed, and the shuttle drove away, leaving Yami standing alone on the roof of an abandoned building. Kaiba Corp was just a few blocks away. But that couldn't possibly be this Clinic place, could it? And how could he….Yami…what was going on? Yami let out a snarl and fell to his knees, slamming the ground with his fists.

"Damn it!" He screamed, the curse echoing down the lonely streets. What in the name of all the Gods of Egypt was happening? Yami stood up and looked around. He noticed a fire escape and raced down it two stairs at a time. He recognized this neighborhood. He ran down the street and made a left, looking for what had to be there. If there was anyone else in this dark place, they would be there. Yami turned the corner and skidded to a halt.

"No." He whispered. He shook his head and jogged forward to a small, broken-down store lying next to a vacant lost. Yami looked down at the broken, shattered sign that had fallen from over the doorway of the shop. The sign had faded and was cracked, but he could read enough of it. Turtle Game Shop. Yami shook his head and raised his eyes to the boarded-up door of his hikari's home. Yami stepped back and charged, ramming it shoulder through the wood. It gave away easily, and Yami fell through to land on the hard, cold tile inside.

Yami coughed and stood up. The inside of the shop had obviously been abandoned long ago. A thick layer of dust covered everything, and spider webs lined the ceiling. Yami took a step forward, and felt something shift under his feet. He knelt down and felt around in the dust, and picked up an old, discarded calendar. The dates had been crossed off up to a point. Yami looked at what date had been the last one crossed off.

"The day of the Konami Grand Prix Finals." He said to himself. The day after that was not crossed off, and must have been when the dates had stopped being marked. The day after the finals would have been… "Yugi's duel with Darek." Yami muttered, placing the calendar on a shelf. He walked up the steps behind the counter and ascended to the second floor. The door to Solomon's room was fallen into the hall, and there was no one inside. The door to Yugi's room was closed. Yami opened it, and stepped inside.

"Yugi?" He called hopefully. There was no response. The Turtle Game Shop was a ghost house. No one had been inside in years. Yami hung his head and backtracked. He shoved a broken 2-by-4 out of the way and emerged back on the street. Alright. Scratch any hope of finding the gang at the game shop. Yami shook his head and started walking down the street. He froze when he heard a loud cough. Yami's head whirled around to stare at another abandoned building before running to the door and throwing it open.

4 heads looked up to stare at him before they started to back away. Yami looked down at the small group standing around a smoldering lump of firewood sitting in a trashcan. 1 was in a badly damaged wheelchair, one wheel bent out of shape. Another was missing an arm, and had their sleeve ties just below the elbow. It was then that Yami noticed that this group was not wearing the jumpsuits; they were wearing the clothes Yami remembered, simple casual clothes.

"Hey." Yami spun around, and a man behind him snapped his hand back, hastily reached to his wrist and pulling the sleeve down. Yami glanced and thought he saw the letters 'DRF' tattooed in black on the man's arm, but the sleeve was pulled down before he could be sure. "What are you doing here?" The man asked sternly. Yami swallowed.

"I'm sorry…I was looking for my friends." He said. The man nodded.

"I see. Normally a Tainted would be reprimanded for being out in the middle of nowhere. Do you suffer some sort of mental or physical defect?" The man asked. Yami thought about that, and all he had seen since he had woken up.

"I'm starting to wonder. I haven't understood anything I've seen today, and everyone I know has vanished." He admitted. The man's hard gaze softened slightly.

"Ah, I see, you're a Banish. Do not worry, it is not all bad here. If He has no use for someone, either due to a physical or mental deficiency, He casts them out. The Tainted have to live in fear of Him, but He needs them, so at least they get to live a relatively good life. We have to struggle for food since He doesn't supply us, and sometimes His patrols harass us. But unless He suspects us of allying with the DRF, He doesn't cause us trouble. Of course, He doesn't go out of His way to help us live either. Survival of the fittest." The man explained. Yami narrowed his eyes as the man nodded to the group of people. One of them pulled up a hatch in the ground, and the other 4 climbed down a ladder.

"You kept saying 'He'." Yami said. "Who is this 'He'?" The man scowled.

"Who else?" He muttered. "Darek." Yami's blood ran cold as the man walked past him onto the street.

"Darek?" Yami muttered, looking up at the clouds covering Domino. The man nodded and looked over his shoulder.

"I suggest you follow them to shelter." He said. "In a few moments, things shall get very unpleasant." The man jogged down the street into an alley. Yami walked onto the street and looked to the side. Here and there, there was a shadow of activity. It was like entering a room when someone else has just left. Like remnants of a group, shadows of retreating figures vanished down alleys. Yami stood and noticed that, even for the ghost town Domino had become, the street was abnormally quiet. Yami remembered the man's words.

"They're running." He realized. The man's lower arm had indeed held the tattoo 'DRF'. The Domino Resistance Forces. They were here. And something was happening that they knew about, and that they didn't want innocent bystanders caught in. What was…

Yami spun around as a large black building exploded just a block away. The lower floors of the building erupted into flame that spewed onto the streets as the building shook. Yami fell to his knees as a tremor hit him, followed by a sound wave so large it hurt his ears. The building collapsed into its own foundation, sending a massive cloud of dust washing over the streets and crashing past Yami. Yami coughed and stood up.

"That's what he meant." He muttered. He squinted into the dust and turned, trying to find the building with the people. If he followed them, maybe he could find that man again, and find out more about what was going on. Yami reached up to rub his eyes and took a few steps forward. He looked around through the thick cloud for something, anything to clue him as to where he was, when a sound caught his ear. Yami turned his head and listened. There it was again. A footstep. He wasn't alone.

Yami just stood there for a moment, listening intently, alone in the thick cloud. Every now and then, another footstep would echo in the silence. Yami heard about a half dozen, before he heard a 7th. And that final step had come from right behind him. Yami whirled around, and found himself face to face with the cold steel of a double barrel shotgun. Yami stepped back and held up his hands, and the shotgun took another step forward, keeping itself an inch from his face. Yami's eyes cast down the length of the barrel, up a muscular and scarred arm, to a face. Yami gasped as he saw the person holding him at gunpoint.

He knew this person…

Ah, my first cliffy! Who is it? Is it Yugi, Darek? Ah, I love evil cliffies, I admit it, I do! Mwa ha!