Chapter 21: An Unwelcome Visitor
"WHAT?!"
Yugi was overwhelmed. The whole room was. Slifer the Sky Dragon was one of the three Egyptian God Cards, one of the strongest cards to ever exist, a divine force beyond anything else in the game, but most importantly it was one part of the key to unlocking the Pharaoh's memories. Without it, they would never be able to solve the mysteries of the Millennium Puzzle and the Pharaoh's identity. Yami appeared next to Yugi, a look of grave concern. Joey, Tristan, and Tea also understood what was at stake with the Egyptian God Cards, but even Creighton, Izzy, and Shannon were alarmed by the revelation that Matt had disappeared without a trace, having stolen one of the very cards he had sworn to protect. Andrew was enraged, a clenched fist crumpling the note explaining his brother's disappearance:
"To whomever claims these cards,
I am sorry to have deceived you, truly I am. But I will have to borrow one of the Egyptian God cards for the time being. With its power, I may be able to keep myself prepared for what lies ahead of me. I vowed to keep the God Cards safe for Yugi, and I intend to keep that promise. But for now, I will need to wield its power in aid of another quest of mine, and I'm afraid I don't have much time to explain.
For the past few months, I have been pursued by a truly wicked individual, one who seeks nothing but power in this modern age. He has control over a variety of companies in many different industries, and he won't stop until he himself is in control of the entire world. That may seem like the ramblings of a lunatic, but that's just the type of unhinged individual I've been working against for so long. He would have the world believe that I'm the one who aims to usurp him, to overthrow him and take the power for myself. I have only needed to take matters into my own hands, especially once I learned that he was looking into the one thing I've truly dedicated my life to: the Trinity.
Chances are you have never heard of the Trinity. I don't blame you; they hide themselves well. There is a legend long ago that speaks of a mighty power that rose up in the Middle East in the time of Babylon to stand against the laws that would limit man's freedom, and in their power were the great elemental dragon spirits. This was the Trinity, organized together by those who would oppose the limitations of man. But in the end, they were threatened by another entity, a being the likes of which you've never encountered. This enemy's power rivaled that of the Trinity, and in the secret annals of history, these two forces remain opposed, fighting against one another - one trying to claim their power, the other forcefully pushing them back. It is my own goal, then, to seek out the truth of this legend, and more importantly to keep this power out of evil hands, whether it is my own enemy or the Trinity's.
This tournament has thus served two purposes. To the first, to find the strongest duelists in the world, I believe that has been accomplished. To Yugi and Andrew, I congratulate you. You have each proven your worth, and you are the finest duelists I've had the pleasure of knowing. But with good reason, I could not tell you the second purpose of this tournament: to find the means by which I could seek out the Trinity and help reunite their powers together. To that end, I have had to betray your trust, taking Slifer the Sky Dragon into my own ends. I hope that you understand that I cannot do this alone. I truly need all the power I can get, all the allies I can find. I understand I've put you, Yugi, into an uncompromising position. But now more than ever, I must ask for your help, from you, from your friends, from my own friends, and most of all my brother, Andrew.
I cannot do this alone. My absence only serves to prove the danger I would be in if I remained while we land the island. No doubt the base will have been surrounded by his forces, and I would be captured upon arrival. Again, I cannot allow that to happen, though I also have to say that it is not the only thing that will happen. You are already familiar with my top Admins - Creighton, Izzy, Shannon; they will all be taken into custody by this man, for crimes of which I have more responsibility towards. I can only hope that my brother Andrew will not be captured as well, as he has largely been uninvolved in most of my affairs. As for anyone else, they should be free to go without incident.
To my brother: I know this is hardest for you most of all. I truly did not want you to be caught up in my plight once again, not after El Dorado. But now I must ask this of you, as much as I ask that of Yugi and his friends: help me to find the Spirit Dragons and unlock the potential of my destiny. You know the task well, you know what I aim to do. To the others, I understand if you want to turn away from all of this. I would gladly insist that you do, just to avoid further strife. I know that destiny has deemed you, Yugi, as the one to wield the Egyptian God cards, and I can only assume that despite my interference, Slifer will find his back to you. But if you do choose to join my brother, and join me in fighting together, I would be eternally grateful.
As I write this, I am met with the opportune moment to flee, and I must take it with great haste. Otherwise, I would have communicated all of this to you in person. Now I can only hope you will accept the task I have asked of you, even knowing the risks involved. For all I know, you may be my only hope.
Deepest regards,
Matt Zero"
The other note was a much smaller slip of paper that only read one thing: "The secret lies with the Crimson Rose."
A long silence loomed over the group in the office.
"To think, he was going to ask this after the tournament," Andrew muttered. "That fool..."
"What kind of person could force someone to take such drastic measures?" Yugi wondered aloud. "The note said you would have some idea of what he's referring to."
"We all do," Andrew admitted, looking up at the group. "Crieghton, Izzy, and Shannon are all personal friends of my brother and myself. We all knew about his...obsession."
The other three looked down at the ground in shame. The others though remained confused. "You mean with dat Trinity thing?" Joey asked.
Addressing this group, Andrew explained, "The legend he speaks of in the note is in regards to what would be known as the Trinity, a secret organization that has supposedly existed for thousands of years. My brother learned about this organization of people and wanted to find them. It became his one and only thought..."
"Ha ha! I win again!"
Two younger teenagers were seated playing Duel Monsters, with one celebrating their victory over the other.
"You've really gotta change the cards in your deck, Matt," the victor said, shuffling his cards back into his deck. "You'll never beat me if I know your strategies inside and out!"
The younger Matt smiled. "I was just waiting for the right time to invoke my strategy," he remarked. "It just didn't come around this time."
"You always say that when I win!" the other teen retorted, rolling his eyes. "Come on, if your strategy is so great, how come I never see you win with it?"
"It's all in good time," Matt replied. "Don't worry, Andrew, someday my strategy will reveal itself to you."
He patted his brother's head and got up to leave the room. Young Andrew watched on and asked, "Where are you going?"
"I've got to do more research," Matt answered, standing in the doorway.
"That's another thing, you're always researching too. What's so interesting about what you're looking into?" Andrew asked.
Matt merely gave him a small smile. "Because someday it'll save the world," Matt replied, and he left the room leaving his brother to watch on.
"He almost never stopped thinking about that legend, but that's all it's ever proven to be. Nothing more has come of it..."
Andrew looked down at the smaller note and remarked, "...and that piece of paper has been the only clue that's driven him to searching all this time."
He then stood up and walked up to Yugi. "Yugi, I know my brother made a request of you, but now I have one as well."
Yugi looked up expectantly. He had a strong feeling he knew what Andrew's request was going to be.
"Yugi," Andrew sighed as he requested, "I wish to borrow one of the two remaining Egyptian God cards."
Everyone else jumped with surprise. "Wait just a minute!" Joey yelled out. "You can't just ask for da God Cards like dat!"
"I understand that my request is steep," Andrew snapped back, "but with my brother out there wielding a God of his own, I'll need to have the power of one by my side if I'm going to take it back from him. It's my responsibility that he's gone so far in order to achieve his goal, and the God Cards are my responsibility now too."
Joey looked at Andrew for a moment, a look as though he wanted to say something but couldn't. He backed down from his challenge as Andrew turned back to Yugi and pleaded, "I know what I ask is a great deal, but please understand."
Yugi thought about it for a moment before he looked back at Andrew, responding, "I think you should talk to Yami about this."
"Yami?" Andrew asked curiously, but then Yugi swapped spirits, and the ancient spirit of the Pharaoh appeared.
"You're Yami?!" Andrew yelped, startled. He recognized him from watching Leila and Yugi's duel, when he and Joey had been in the security booth.
"I am," Yami replied, "and I understand you wish to borrow an Egyptian God Card."
Andrew stood up straight again, a more respectful air about him. Yami noted this and continued on, "There are only a chosen few who possess the ability to wield an Egyptian God Card. You may not be able to handle its power."
"I'll have to take my chances," Andrew replied. "I need a God that surpasses Matt's Slifer, that way I can take it back."
Yami nodded. "There's only one God that will do that," he stated, "but its power is far greater than either Obelisk or Slifer. If you are not able to wield its power, it may even turn against you and strike you down."
"I'll have to take that chance," Andrew asserted, taking a step forward. Yami watched Andrew's determination, then reached for The Winged Dragon of Ra and handed it over to him. Andrew held it in his hands tentatively, feeling the god's presence even within this single card.
"With the power of Ra, I promise you that I will return with Slifer the Sky Dragon," Andrew promised.
He held the card up as part of his declaration, but then suddenly The Winged Dragon of Ra flashed with a powerful light! Everyone in the room worked to shield their eyes as Ra became encased in an orb of light!
"What's happening?!" Andrew yelled out, but the others could do nothing as the light bound them in place. And then just as quickly as it appeared, the light disappeared. Andrew opened his eyes and looked back down at the card.
"What's this?" he asked. "The card art changed?"
Yami looked down at the card and saw that The Winged Dragon of Ra had reverted into its Sphere Form. He took hold of the card and closed his eyes for a moment. Andrew watched as he did this. Then Yami opened his eyes and announced, "I'm afraid that Ra has deemed you unworthy at this time of wielding his power."
"What?!" Andrew was surprised. "But I defeated you in a duel! Surely that means something!"
"There's more to it than that," Yami interrupted. "Ra does sense you have the power to wield it, there is no denying the power you possess. But the god's will and your own conflict with each other. Your goal may be noble, but you're asking Ra to fight against its brother. It will need time to consider things from a neutral point, but there may come a time in the future when Ra deems you worthy. When the time comes, Ra will lend you its strength."
"When the time comes..." Andrew looked down at the card in his hand. To think it was powerful enough to have a will all on its own. He had never encountered such a card in his life, but he had come to terms with such unusual instances after being familiarized with them by his brother.
"Very well then," Andrew reluctantly agreed, and he stowed the card away in a deck box in his jacket pocket. "I think for now you should hang onto Obelisk the Tormentor. I don't want to take all of them away from you at least."
Yami simply gave a firm nod before he swapped souls with Yugi once again, bringing the young boy back.
At that moment, a loud rumble was heard, and a thud shook the entire company. "What da heck was dat?!" Joey yelped.
"The island must have landed," Andrew replied. "Chances are Matt had the autopilot program turned on before he left."
"Affirmative," Izzy confirmed while operating a side monitor. "An analysis of the computer's functions indicates that the Autopilot had been set to take us back here to the island."
"And right into his hands..."
A notable disdain came from Andrew's remark. Yugi looked over at Andrew curiously, but Andrew continued on towards the door.
"Alright then," he announced to the group at large, "let's get a move on. We're going to need to get the others off of this island as well."
The group wandered out of the tower to find several duelists lingering around the base of the tower amidst the cloudy day. They appeared to be lost, confused about what was going on as they were surrounded not by the regular tournament officials but a new group of uniformed personnel featuring violet attire laced with gold trim. Instead of the white dragon pins that were adorned by the tournament officials, these violet invaders bore pins that were shaped as a simple black yet curvy M. The personnel on each side were locked into some kind of solitary stalemate, neither side working to do anything as the duelists lingered between them all. At that moment, Andrew stepped forward, raising his hands up to get the attention of everyone in the area.
"Alright, everyone," Andrew called out, "we have a new group of personnel who are here to help escort you to the docks. The tower has landed back on the island, thus concluding the Battle of the Titans tournament. Please head down to the docks and board one of the different ships there, they will take you back to Domino City. And please be sure to follow all our personnel's instructions clearly so that everything can go smoothly. Thank you once again for your participation!"
The duelists all looked around at each other and began murmuring some things to each other, most of which were in concern to where their host had disappeared to. Eventually though, the tournament personnel moved forward to help start escorting the duelists down to the docks as per Andrew's instruction, with the violet personnel waiting patiently on the sidelines. Some of them stepped forward to help the tournament admins with the process, moving the crowd of duelists over towards the boats and to their safe voyage home.
"I wonder why they brought out so many ships?" one duelist asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" another replied. "They have to pick us up along with the losers from the preliminary rounds."
These sorts of conversations took place across the duelist crowd, and an unspoken established reasoning for the multitude of vessels seemed to keep the crowd in check. Nobody really cared why there were so many more vessels once the rain began to pour from the grey clouds floating above.
"So this man who's looking for your brother...do you suppose he's the one behind all these other officials?" Yugi asked Andrew.
"There's no doubt about it," Andrew replied grimly. "They bear his sigil on their chest, and that can only mean-"
"My my, Andrew, it's been too long."
A thud and splash of boots in one of the puddles that had begun to form on the ground not far from the group. The party turned to looked at a single man accompanied by four others who were each carrying a thin metal pole that held up a large tarp that covered the area above the man's head. The man himself was decorated unlike any of the rest of the uniformed persons such that he would easily be picked out from a group among them as the one and only leader. He appeared as though he had stepped out of a time machine from the eighteenth century, his wool violet jacket covering his scarlet vest, each one trimmed with glimmering gold. Even the intricately detailed buttons glowed in what little light had penetrated through the clouds. His dark trousers merged with his old-fashioned boots, ideal for walking in the rain. A sash was draped across his body, where a sheathed sword remained at his left hip. An elaborate and pristine white silk cravat was tied around his neck, going almost identically with his graying goatee, mustache, and shoulder-length hair. A gilded eyepatch bearing the curved M covered his left eye, and a sly smile was upon his face.
"When was it that I last saw you, I wonder," the man smiled sinisterly, tapping the thick walking cane he brandished into the rough and somewhat muddy ground. "If I didn't know any better, I would assume you were that brat that got me in my way some years ago! But I believe that was your brother, wasn't it?"
Andrew grimaced a little as the man addressed him. "I should have known it would be you," he said.
"Wait a sec," Joey interrupted, "you two know each other?"
"Oh, we go way back, this boy and I," the man answered. "Though I should say I've dealt far more with his pesky brother than him, but I would never forget the face of the young man who foiled my plans. I hope you haven't forgotten the crimes you've committed against me too."
The elderly man tapped against the M in his eyepatch sternly. Andrew's fists tightened in response as several of the other uniformed officials came over to the group and began handcuffing Creighton, Izzy, and Shannon.
"But alas, what's an eye or two among old acquaintances?" the man remarked, nonchalantly waving his hand like he was lazily swatting a fly. "I'm willing to forgive old wounds. After all, you've brought me your brother's treacherous allies right to my doorstep. Though I suppose your brother already knew that, seeing as he's the one who hijacked this island from me in the first place. Really now, a tournament? Subtlety really should have been a bigger priority if he didn't want me making a visit."
Another of the violet personnel approached the enriched elder, whispering something into his ear. His face twisted into a disgusted frown. "Of course he isn't here," he muttered, though with the venomous volume he had used, he might as well have shouted it out to the world.
"You must have missed his boat," Andrew stated.
The man turned back towards Andrew, his one good eye trained on him as though he'd disappear if he didn't watch him closely enough. "Don't be so modest," he spat out. "Your brother will be in my clutches soon enough."
He then turned his attention back to Creighton, Izzy, and Shannon. "As for those three," he rambled on, "I'll be taken them back with me. Your brother might be familiar with the term 'collateral', so I'm sure he'll understand that these three are not coming to rescue him any time soon."
"Matt doesn't need rescuing!" Creighton shouted out. "He's gonna kick your butt back to where that dress came from!"
"Cheeky as always." The man shook his head before waving a hand towards the guards. "Take them away."
Despite Creighton's struggles, the violet suits pulled the three away from the scene. Joey and Tristan quickly made a move to block the group from leaving the scene.
"Hold up," Joey remarked. "I don't remember ya asking for permission to nab our friends!"
"Yeah," Tristan reiterated by cracking his knuckles, "or did you forget that we're still here?"
The one-eyed man sneered at the duo's display of courage, looking back towards the group and taking in the others. His eyes widened when he saw Yugi standing there. "Well, this is certainly a treat," the man chuckled as he walked over towards the group. "Yugi Muto, the King of Games himself, has come and graced my property with his presence. Who would have guessed that Matt Zero would have shanghaied you into all of this?"
Andrew stepped between the strange man and Yugi. "He was only here for the tournament," he interjected defiantly. "He's got nothing to do with Matt."
The man looked down at Yugi, his eye dropping down to the Millennium Puzzle. "An interesting individual with an interesting treasure of his own." The man tilted his head to the side. "I will admit, I'm almost flattered he has more of an interest in my treasures than he does in yours. After all, it's long been said he who would wield the Millennium Puzzle could have the power to save the world. Or destroy it."
Yugi only took a small step back, but he still spoke up, "The Puzzle is not a tool to be used."
The man snorted. "Pity." He looked back to Andrew and sneered. "I trust you'll do me the pleasure of finding your brother for me? I don't want to have to waste more of my precious time hunting him down."
"I'll let him know you stopped by," Andrew retorted.
The man signaled to the guards to keep moving, and despite Joey and Tristan moving to intercept them again, the men pushed the duo aside with ease and continued escorting Creighton, Izzy, and Shannon away in the midst of the pouring rain. The group could still hear Creighton's cries as they were disappeared out of sight. Andrew looked after the man as he was escorted by his tarp carriers away, presumably to head towards the docks. As he disappeared around the bend, Andrew turned back to the tower and headed inside.
"Hey, wait for us!" Joey yelled out, with Yugi nd the others all running after Andrew into the tower. They stood there inside the main lobby area, the rain dripping from their clothes, as they watched Andrew lean against the check-in counter, his eyes closed and furrowed with frustration.
"Who was that creep?" Tea asked, concerned.
"That man...was none other than Montalban, head of the Montalban International Alliance of Corporations," Andrew replied. "That's the man my brother has been dealing with now for several months. Montalban is notoriously ruthless in the business world, targeting smaller businesses and bullying them until they submit to his proposals for a buyout or close their doors due to bankruptcy before merging them with his other companies. I'd love to tell you he's just some rich guy with an ego the size of this tower, but he's far more dangerous than that. Once he started looking into the Trinity, Matt discovered that Montalban was also looking into the organization, and now it seems that Matt's in far worse trouble for it if what Montalban says is true."
The friends looked at each other in bewilderment. What kind of person was Matt to be involved with someone so powerful? And what's more to have also taken Slifer the Sky Dragon in order to somehow alleviate this debt or another? It was beginning to appear that Matt was not the man they had known in those few days of the tournament. Andrew turned to look at them, a desperate look on his face as he walked up to Yugi. Andrew put his hand on Yugi's shoulder, his eyes pleading with him.
"I'll not ask more from you than you've had to contend with already, Yugi," he begged, "so I'll only ask this of you once: get out while you still can. Even for the Egyptian God Cards, there's no sense in endangering yourselves anymore. That goes for all of you too. This is my brother's debt, and it's my responsibility to see this through to the end. I can only promise to-"
At that moment, Yugi put his own hand on top of Andrew's on his shoulder and interrupted, "It's all right. You don't have to protect us."
"He's right," Joey chimed in, punching his hand with a broad grin. "Dis ain't exactly our first world-saving adventure, after all. We've dealt with lotsa crazy-bad people in da past, and we're not about ta just sit around while another goes after your brother!"
"That's right," Tea added, "we're all in this together!"
"We'll get your brother back safe and sound, and Slifer the Sky Dragon too!" Tristan finished off, rubbing the underside of his nose.
Andrew looked at the group surprised. "After all he's put you through...after everything you've just witnessed, and after everything my brother warned you about in that note, you would offer to help even now?" he asked.
Yugi simply nodded his head. "After all, Slifer the Sky Dragon's my responsibility more than yours," he continued. "I know that Yami wouldn't rest easy until he knew it was safe."
Andrew looked down again sullenly. "I understand that, but-"
"No buts!" Joey interrupted. "We're going with ya, and dat's dat!"
Andrew looked around at this small group of people that were now providing support. He closed his eyes and smiled again.
"Thank you all," he murmured, looking up at the others again. "You're doing so much more than you need to, and I can't begin to repay you. Right now, there's not much that can be done, but I will gladly bring you along to help out! For now, we'll have to play things by ear to ensure that everything goes the way we want it to."
He then walked past the group and called out, "Come along! There's much business to attend to!"
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Well, we don't have any cards this time, so I'll take this opportunity to talk more about how this story came to be!
As I said in the beginning, this story originated as an idea from my brother, who came up with the idea for the Spirit Dragons. As was the case between us, we liked making up cards for the game, and my brother's favorite Type was the Dragons. Throughout our playtimes, we did a lot of dueling with each other, and one day he came to me with the idea of the Spirit Dragons and the Trinity. He had even set-up a PowerPoint presentation over it! Over the years, the storyline hasn't changed much, but we did revisit it every now and again. Sometimes we even started it all over again. And it was always a joy working on the story and tweaking all sorts of elements. Eventually, we split off to go to different colleges in different states, which dampened our ability to hang out and do stuff together, and in memoriam to the plotline we had worked on and off for years, I decided to start writing it down.
Next time: the origin of the Ancient Heroes!
