Chapter 9

In his office, Gozaburo was laughing rather loudly. In his thoughts, he said "What fools they are! Thinking I'm throwing a tournament, just for their amusement!"

"Servants, bring me my tea, now!" yelled Gozaburo.

"Right away Mr. Kaiba." replied his faithful servant.

After his servant left, Gozaburo sat there, starring at his ultimate prize. He then began to get lost in his thoughts, thinking "If I hadn't of heard of this marvelous little trinket, I wonder where I'd have found myself. It doesn't matter though. Now with the Millennium Crown in my possession, I have the power to finally take over the world. The world will be mine for the taking once I unlock it's full power. But first I must defeat the strongest duelist in the world. Those fools will soon begin dueling each other, pushing each other to their limits. And once they have pushed each other to the limit, one will emerge. Then that one will have to get through my five associates, whom I hope can at least push that one duelist to another higher level. Once that duelist has been pushed to their physical and mental limits, they'll be ripe for the taking for me! I'll crush him or her in a duel, then I'll have the ability to unlock the Millennium Crown! This shall be such great fun!"

His servant then interrupted his thoughts, saying "Sir, here is your tea."

Gozaburo smiled and quickly took the tea and set it on his desk. He then said "Thank you my loyal servant. You may now leave me."

Humbly bowing, the man then replied with "Thank you sir."

With that, the servant went to his quarters for the night.

Gozaburo only chuckled and said "Yes, I shall soon be the most powerful man in the world. And I owe it all to this powerful artifact. I must finish unlocking it's power. I've seen some of it's abilities, but not all. Each is great, but not enough to fully unseal the power to grant one wish."

Gozaburo then slipped the Millennium Crown onto his head and began to activate the powerful crown.

Chuckling again, he then said "Let's see what those fools are thinking about. It should be easy to see into each one's mind."

Concentrating, Gozaburo started searching rooms mentally for a mind to enter. He finally found a first mind to enter, and it happened to be his step son's, Seto.

Laughing, Gozaburo then said "Ah, what are you thinking about Seto?"

He then entered into Seto's mind. There, Gozaburo saw images of a younger Seto and Mokuba playing chess. Then images of Gozaburo flashed through Seto's mind. Most of the images showed when Seto took over, more like stole in Gozaburo's opinion, Kaiba Corp. from Gozaburo.

Growling, Gozaburo said "How dare that arrogant brat think he deserves my company? He built a tower at this very spot once to show his power over me. Then the fool demolished it. But when I came back, I rebuilt it, and to finish it, I took Seto's very own throne from his personal offices at Kaiba Corp. Headquarters! For the ungratefulness of this little punk, he will spend the rest of his years trapped in the Shadow Realm!"

Finally calming down, Gozaburo said "Oh well. Now to look for the next person."

Gozaburo then began to search for a new mind and wandered into the mind of Joey. There he saw images of Joey's sister and friends.

Chuckling, Gozaburo said "Ah, how cute. Joey is thinking of his friends and family. I'll make sure to send them all to the Shadow Realm just to be rather nasty, muwhahaha!"

Next, Gozaburo entered into Mai's mind. She was thinking of Joey as she usually did anymore. Just thinking how lucky she was to know Joey, and wishing so much that it would go past friendship.

Laughing and almost feeling like gagging, Gozaburo said "I can take care of that my dear. Soon you and Joey will spend all eternity in the Shadow Realm, muwhahaha!"

The next person's mind he entered was Marik Ishtar, but he immediately got thrown out of Marik's mind.

Shaking his head, Gozaburo asked "What happened? Why was I thrown out? Hmm, he must have a Millennium Item, thus being able to guard his mind. That could only be the logical explanation. Oh well, I'll just move on."

Again, Gozaburo began concentrating, this time finding Noa's mind. There he saw images of Noa's past floating around. Noa was Gozaburo's only true son, so he saw many things he remembered from Noa's past. Then Gozaburo saw the last images Noa had seen in the virtual world that he'd been trapped in for years. It was Noa trying to prevent Gozaburo from escaping that world.

Noa succeeded, to a degree. He did keep Gozaburo from escaping the virtual world, but little did Noa know that a second virtual world had been constructed, so Gozaburo was able to flee to it. Unfortunately for him, Noa was dragged with him. After much thought, Gozaburo decided to reconstruct both his and Noa's body. He had no need for Noa, but did feel a small bit guilty for leaving his own son behind. Plus, he thought possibly he could change his son's mind if he created a body for him. So, against his better judgment, he constructed two bodies. He then had both his and Noa's minds put into the new bodies. After the successful transfer, Noa was still angry with his father. Horrified that his father had survived and still wanted to control the world, Noa fled from his father, hoping to find a way to stop this madness.

Growling at the ungratefulness of his son, he said "That fool will pay dearly for not remaining with me. He'll suffer the same fate as Seto and the others."

Calming down, he then chuckled and said "Now, who is next."

Gozaburo next entered into the mind of Yugi Moto. But once in his mind, he saw what looked like Yugi, but not quite. This Yugi looked taller, and more dark.

"Leave now!" commanded the odd looking Yugi.

Gozaburo was then thrown out of Yugi's mind.

Shaking his head, Gozaburo tried to reason out what happened. "No way Yugi could have been that strong. Wait, I remember now. I saw him wearing the Millennium Puzzle when he came in. I get it now. He is carrying the pharaoh's spirit. Muwhahaha, this will be more pleasurable than I thought! I'll soon rid the world of that do gooder, once and for all!"

After taking a moment to have an evil laugh, Gozburo then regained his composure. He then entered into Bandit Keith's mind. Once in there, he saw images of Keith losing to Pegasus, as well to Joey Wheeler. Then the final insult was when Marik took control of his mind and had him duel Yugi.

Smirking, Gozaburo evilly said "Don't worry fool! The embarrassment isn't over yet. Soon enough, you'll have all eternity to think about it while you're in the Shadow Realm!"

Again, resuming his concentration, Gozaburo entered into Bakura's mind. As with Yugi, there stood someone in the way. The one in the way looked like Bakura, but wasn't quite. He seemed darker, and much more twisted.

In an irritated voice, the dark Bakura said "I'd suggest you leave before I send you to the Shadow Realm for daring to enter my vessel's mind. Now, leave or be destroyed!"

Gozaburo was then thrown from Bakura's mind.

Smirking, Gozaburo then said "Ah, I see we have three duelists with Millennium Items. That's alright. I might not be able to enslave them when I take over the world with the Millennium Crown, but I will have them hunted down and taken care of. I'll imprison each of them in the Shadow Realm when it's all done and said with. Now to check on the last two. If my hunch was right about who they really are, I may find out now."

As before, Gozaburo began concentrating on finding the two remaining duelists. First, he tried to enter Marie's mind. But he soon enough was blocked. He had only slightly entered, and saw nothing but a white hallway. Then he was tossed out as with the others.

Smirking, he laughed and said "I see. My hunch was right about that girl. She quite possibly is the one I was searching for. Soon enough, I'll have what I want from her!"

Finally, Gozaburo tried entering into Illidan's mind. Immediately, he was stopped by an invisible force and saw an image of Illidan appear before him.

With a smirk on his face, the image said "I'm sorry; Illidan's mind is not open to you at this time. Please hang up and try your call again."

Growling, Gozaburo roared "Arrogant little punk! How dare he speak to me like that!"

Gozaburo then slammed his fists into the throne. He was extremely frustrated due that he had run into five duelists with Millennium Items, but mostly he was frustrated by the last one.

Finally, Gozaburo stopped and started to chuckle. He then calmly said "At least I know he is here as well. That will make this tournament all that much sweeter when I win!

He then began an evil laughter and got up to leave his office. Continuing his evil laughter into the night, Gozaburo proceeded to his room. His laughter could be heard throughout the tower as he walked the halls.