Chapter 34: Return from the Great Beyond

"The only way out is down, and the only way down is up…what in the world does that mean?"

Matt had been riddling what Malcolm had said since the previous night. He wasn't the only one; everyone on board had been working on some explanation for what his parting words meant. Creighton had thought it could refer to going down to the bottom of the ship while Shannon suspected they needed to fly upwards. No one could agree on a single thought on getting out, and this in turn led to several hours of just sitting around and thinking, which in turn led to questions like-

"So do we need to eat anything while we're here?" Joey wondered. "I feel like we should have eaten something by now."

"I know what you mean, but at the same time," Tristan mused as he sipped on some tea, "I'm not feeling hungry at all."

"And since when do you drink tea?" Joey asked.

"I don't really know," Tristan answered.

"Man, dis place is messing with my head," Joey squirmed, ruffling his hair.

Meanwhile, Yugi looked out over the side of the ship, staring off into the Great Beyond. Tea joined him, looking out across the ocean that seemed to stretch on forever.

"I do hope we find a way back," Yugi said. "I can hardly imagine what Grandpa's thinking right now."

Tea smiled and said, "I'm sure he's not worried at all. We somehow end up in these crazy predicaments anyway."

"That's true," Yugi laughed. Then he looked out again and said, "But still, we've got to find a way back. I'm sure that the Pharaoh wouldn't want to be stuck here for the rest of eternity."

"I'm sure we will," Tea reassured him, though even she wasn't sure if they'd find the way home.

Andrew walked by and looked over to see the two of them looking out at the ocean. He mused for a moment on a silent thought before continuing across the deck of the ship and over towards Izzy, who had taken out some paper and been writing down the different possibilities regarding Malcolm's last words.

"Out is down, and down is up…does that mean out is up? Or that to get out one has to go down then up…"

She appeared no closer to solving the mystery than anyone else it seemed. Andrew looked over at her papers and tilted his head.

"You seem to have put a lot of thought into this," he said.

"How come you haven't come up with an answer by now?" Izzy asked. "I thought riddles were supposed to be your thing."

"Oh, I figured it'd be better if someone else got the chance to solve one," Andrew replied, a smile on his face.

Yeah, he doesn't have a clue what it means…

Izzy sighed and looked back over her notes so far, searching for the hidden meaning of the phrase. "Out is down. Down is up. But for down to be up…"

And then it hit her. It was so obvious!

She stood up from her papers, much to Andrew's confusion, and ran over to the side of the ship. Yugi and Tea immediately noticed her presence, looking over as she ran to the other side of the ship.

"What's she doing?" Tea wondered aloud.

"I'm not quite sure," Yugi answered.

Izzy then got to the other side of the ship, only to run back to the other side again. Andrew watched this curious display of madness, thinking aloud, "She's lost it. Great."

Izzy continued this strange charade of running back and forth between the sides of the ship. Some of the other crew began to notice her odd behavior, looking down at first with confusion and then of despair; if someone with Izzy's mental capacity had already broken down, then it was only a matter of time before the rest did as well. Eventually even Matt came out to watch her run back and forth, her movements gently rocking the ship.

"…that's it."

Matt then ran after Izzy, catching up with her on one of the sides of the ship. He pointed down into the water and yelled out, "Look! There it is!"

Immediately the majority of the crew onboard ran over to the side of the ship, looking down to see what Matt and Izzy had found.

"Where is it?"

"I can't see anything!"

"This isn't the ocean you're pointing at, is it?"

"There's a fish out here?!"

Matt and Izzy then ran across the deck of the ship, Matt calling out, "It's swimming to the other side!"

The rest of the crew then ran after the duo, causing the ship to lean over to its side. Andrew then realized what was going on: they were trying to capsize the ship!

To make down be up, we have to be…upside-down!

Andrew then joined in with the remainder of the crew, and now the entire Poseidon crew was working to rock the ship! Back and forth they ran across the deck of the ship, and back and forth the ship tilted about. The swaying began to lift the ship up off the water for a bit, but then it would just dip down into the water again.

"Let loose everything we got!" Andrew called out, hustling to the stairs to go below deck. Some of the crew followed him underneath, helping him to untie and let loose a great variety of objects. Cannons, crates, cannonballs, barrels of rum - everything was sent rolling around the lower decks of the ship, causing it to tilt even further and even more violently. Meanwhile back on top, the rest of the crew continued to rock the boat. Eventually the ship tilted to a point where it couldn't settle down onto the ocean.

"Everyone hang onto something!" Matt yelled, running to the other side of the ship and grabbing the railing. The rest of the crew quickly followed suit, and the ship began to roll over. Soon it was on its side, and it didn't take much longer for the entire ship to capsize.

"And now down is up, and up is down!" Izzy commented as the ship finally flipped over, putting the entire group underwater.

For a moment, nothing happened. The Poseidon and all of its crew merely floated underneath the surface of the water, waiting for something to occur. Andrew looked over at Matt and tilted his head, wondering what they should do. Matt simply shrugged his shoulders, and the rest of the group continued holding their breath.

Maybe in hindsight this wasn't the best idea, Izzy thought to herself, hoping that her intuition didn't just lead to the ship being overturned and stranding them in the Great Beyond.

Then it happened! No one saw where it came from or what had done it, but a green light shot out and enveloped the group and their boat, blinding them and shrouding them within a mystical orb. Then just as suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared. The group looked around and saw they were still underwater, but when they looked below to see the depths of the water, they saw a new surface rising up to them!

There's no way!

But it was! And then the Poseidon and everyone on board shot up through this surface, landing down on the deck of the ship with a great THUD!

The group got up and checked themselves for injuries. Creighton rubbed his lower back, easing the pain he felt after he landed on it, while Izzy and Shannon stood up and checked themselves. Once everyone had been checked and accounted for, they gathered together on the deck.

"Did it work?" Creighton asked, a question many of the crew had.

Matt instinctively checked the jade jewel in his pocket, bringing it out to check on it. Then it began to glow softly, and the group heard the calm and eerie voice of-

"Matt? Are you there? I hope you can hear me!"

"Auntie Margareta!" Shannon identified the voice along with the others.

"I'm here, Auntie," Matt said. "Sorry I'm late getting back."

"Oh dearie, there's no late in coming back to the living," Margareta's voice called out from the jewel. "How about I bring you all here and cook you up a nice meal for your troubles?"

"That would be great," Matt replied.

"Alright! We're alive again!" Joey yelped.

"And on top of that, we're getting free food!" Tristan cheered.

And with a hearty cheer, the Poseidon and its crew were transported away in a great ball of green light, shooting across the sky.


"Lord Montalban, sir, we've brought you the man you requested."

"Send him in then."

Montalban sat once again at his desk, a grim disposition on his face. Word had reached him of Malcolm's disappearance, though he figured it was no such thing given the request he'd made. It turned out dealing with supernatural entities was a lot harder than he had initially believed. Such is the way with business.

In the meantime, he turned his attention to the man standing before him, an odd American fellow who was now dressed in some kind of purple cloak. It was an odd garb for everyday attire, but then again this was no ordinary individual. Montalban had picked him out because of his credentials not only in Duel Monsters but also in his current occupation as the leader of a gang of rare card thieves. And if there was anyone who would be interested in working for rare cards, there was no better group for the job.

"I suppose you're interested in why I've summoned you here today," Montalban said to the man before him.

"Tch, please, I know exactly why you brought me here," the man replied, a grin spread wide across his face. He pointed to his temple, his hand in the shape of a gun, his finger just above a pair of shady glasses, as he said, "I know because it's my business to know. I play a lot smarter now than I ever did way back in the day, both in dealing with people and in dueling them."

"Then I suppose you know what I'm willing to pay you for then," Montalban continued, a sly grin on his face.

"Naturally," the man said. "But just so you know, my group and I don't come cheap."

"I never expected to skimp you in the slightest amount of money," Montalban remarked with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You'll find there to be no financial issues with me."

The man chuckled. "So you've got the job and the payment down already," he said, humbling gesturing a bow to Montalban. "So that means all that's left is to say the word, and we're on it."

"My word is as done as this deal," Montalban said, leaning across the desk. "I trust I've made a good investment in you."

The man looked up and took off his sunglasses, brushing a hand over his bandana stylized with the American flag on it.

"For Bandit Keith and the Neo Ghouls, there's no better deal than us."


"So now what are we going to do?"

It was extremely crowded within the small shack of Auntie Margareta's, giving that everyone in the crew needed a nice hot meal. Luckily Margareta was more than accommodating to them all, serving them each a nice steaming bowl of her special recipe soup. No one bothered to ask what made the soup so special - not that anyone really wanted to know either - but they each devoured as much as they could, their bowls magically refilling with it anytime they ate all of it up. Now that they were back from the Great Beyond, the group sought out Matt's guidance as to what they would be doing next. Naturally, the newly revived captain had such a plan.

"The best thing to do now is to split up," he said.

"Split up?" Shannon asked.

"But we just got back together!" Creighton complained. "We can't just split up again!"

"Actually, in a tactical manner of speaking, it's the best thing we can do," Matt continued, bringing out a map of the world. "As my research indicates, the Trinity hid away their chests all across the world and have been doing so for years, every now and again relocating them to keep them out of Rommel's hands."

"So how do you even find dese chests?" Joey asked quizzically.

"The only way I ever find anything."

Matt placed his medallion down on the map, its intricate designs still as dazzling as ever. The majority of the group looked down on it, not knowing of its special qualities. For those who were aware of its power, regardless of what their eyes saw, they knew the truth behind its simple appearance.

"This will help me find the chests, no matter where they are," Matt explained. "So I'll take a group with me to go search them out, while another group will go straight to the advisors who wield the medallions that can unlock them."

"But how will the other group find the advisors?" Yugi asked.

"He has a point," Andrew commented, "whoever goes after the advisors won't have any way of finding them."

Matt smiled. "Auntie?"

Margareta smiled as well, pulling out a small metal disk engraved with magic runes. "It's not the same power as the Compass Medallion," she said, "but it will do ya good for finding the advisors."

"That'll help out whoever goes after the advisors to find them without having to regroup too often," Matt explained. "That way Montalban and Rommel can't figure a good spot to intercept us and get in our way."

"Sounds like a plan! Sort of," Creighton responded.

"If we're going to have two separate groups, we're going to need two separate ships," Izzy pointed out.

"True, which is why I called in for some back-up," Andrew said, looking over his shoulder towards Margareta. Margareta moved out of the way to reveal Kari Asaila, dressed in her secretary attire again.

"Kari Asaila?" Matt asked. He hadn't seen her since the Battle of the Titans tournament, and that felt like such a long time ago.

"I've been in contact with Seto Kaiba of KaibaCorp," Kari explained. "He's invested in a low-tech wooden ship just for us. He'd do anything to keep Montalban from taking over KaibaCorp, and helping you guys out will promote that."

"Neat!" Creighton said. "So now we've got the ships, the medallions, the plan - all that's left is to figure out who goes with who!"

Matt turned to Andrew. "I was hoping you'd take on the advisors for me while I seek out the chests," he said.

Andrew sighed and nodded, "I figured you'd need help anyway, so it's only fair." Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a specially wrapped packet, walking over to Matt and handing it over.

"Hope you don't mind," he said, "but I've been holding onto these for a while. Kaiba made sure to pack them up safe."

Matt opened the pack up and pulled out the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. He smiled and tucked the cards away in his deck box. "I'll see that they have their time," he said, standing up.

"Now it's time to go dragon hunting!"


AUTHOR'S NOTES

Yep, it's getting real again...well, as real as a Yugioh story can get.

In any case, this is going to be the end of the Pirates of the Caribbean references, and from here on out it's all original! We get to see lots of sailing and dueling and adventurous shenanigans, and Bandit Keith and the Neo Ghouls are gonna play a big role in this, as I'm sure you can tell! THIS IS GONNA BE SOMETHING ELSE!

...or maybe I'm hyping this too much? Eh, YOU DECIDE!