The Muto's living room was silent. Yami had just ended his turn by summoning a monster in attack position with a lower ATK than Blue-Eyes, all without setting any cards.
"Just what are you planning, Muto?" Kaiba murmured as he drew his card. His eyes darted about as he tried to figure out Yami's strategy.
Yami didn't acknowledge Seto or seemingly anyone anymore. He simply stared at his duel disk as he held his staunch posture, all to hide just how brittle he was at that moment.
Yami didn't dare look up. He wasn't going to let… this thing control him. However, as Yami looked into his own heart, he knew "controlling him" was the wrong wording. It was still very much Yami in control, just a very warped version of him. It felt like someone had used polymerization on his very soul, combining it with a seemingly endless, terrifying abyss.
The ice flowing through Yami's veins seemed to twist and grow at his thoughts and realizations. Every few seconds, this chill would pulse like a frozen heartbeat within him. It seemed to combine with the Pharaoh's already set ideals, like his need to win in duels or his desire to punish those that wronged him and spiral them towards their extremes. Here it was starting a shadow game because Seto annoyed him. Yami truly feared what he would do if he was out in public or dealing with worse villains. Because along with his restraints being broken, Yami found himself absolutely enraged.
It was a seeping, broiling acid that seemed to burn Yami's insides whenever he looked at anyone, not just Kaiba. It was becoming more intense the longer the chill settled in Yami's soul. It seemed to crush his chest at even the thought of another person looking at him. He wanted them all dead. No worse than dead. He wanted them gone. No mortal had the right to be in his presence. And while this sudden hate made Yami fear for his friends and family, his most pure, distilled fury was kept for himself. Yami suddenly hated his very cells for daring to keep him alive. It was an ingrained and bottomless loathing for the Pharaoh's very existence.
Seto then said something. Yami thought he might have just been taunted, but Kaiba's words were nothing more than buzzing in the Pharaoh's ears. He couldn't focus. He wouldn't focus. Not with where his thoughts and actions might take him. Yami wanted to punish everyone in the room, to make them suffer, including himself. He didn't think it was possible for any human to hate this much. So he remained still, refusing to move.
He would not play these games, so he was ready to lose.
…
"I hope you are right in bringing me along, Yugi. I might only provoke them." Dark Magician Girl said as the group of Yugi, Gandora, and herself made their way to the ravine the Gandora were hiding out in. Silent Magician, Marshmallon, Blue-Eyes, and Kuriboh remained behind to tell the domain inhabitants of the Gandora plan and warn Yugi if the Silents got impatient.
"They hate me too. But we both need to be there." Gandora explained as the three came upon the red and orange sedimentary rocks that led to the ravine separating this domain from the portal to the next realm. "You're this domain's leader. Even if they don't like you, you have the authority they will respect."
The three had decided to not fly straight into the Gandora encampment as to not scare them. So Dark Magician Girl and Gandora found themselves awkwardly helping each other down into the depths of the deep canyon, each taking turns carrying Yugi as they descended to the river bed below. Yugi hated being dead weight like this, but he couldn't do much about it. His headache had returned, bringing along severe fatigue.
Yugi had thought he was better after his nap earlier. His headache had almost entirely disappeared, and he could walk freely once again without getting winded. He hoped that it meant that the Millennium Puzzle's shattering had halted somehow. But it was only temporary relief. Yugi had pushed himself too hard, setting up his traps and spells. While he was strategizing with the group in the castle, he had nearly fainted from merely standing.
Yugi knew now that he had to save his strength to stand proudly in front of the Gandora. He didn't think the dragons would take him seriously if he collapsed in the middle of his upcoming friendship speech. So Yugi relied on his monster friends to carry him and help him ignore the growing pain in his head. Yugi really needed help in that department since the pain seemed to slowly inch down his neck, gradually becoming more than just a headache.
Both Gandora and Dark Magician Girl kept giving Yugi worried glances as they either levitated or held him. Yugi, in turn, kept up his determined smile. He hadn't told Gandora that this fatigue was a sign of his body falling apart. In fact, he hadn't told anyone that didn't already know. Only Dark Magician Girl and Blue-Eyes knew, and Yugi wanted to keep it that way. He had explained away his fainting as an ordinary human disease. While the others might not have wholly believed him, they had new jobs they had to focus on and chose to trust him.
To help block out his growing pain, Yugi looked around at the canyon's scenery. He immediately noticed once they got into Gandora territory. While Yugi no longer being unnerved by his surroundings was a great indicator, there was something else that got Yugi's attention. There weren't trees in this part of the domain, so the Gandora destroyed rocks and streambeds. Yugi had expected to see total destruction like in the earlier forest. And while he wouldn't call this place in pristine condition, it wasn't decimated.
The Gandora seemed to almost systematically destroy. They turned riverbeds into tumbling waterfalls and brought great rock pillars to the ground only to arrange them into new, more fascinating shapes. What Yugi found the most interesting was what the dragons did to the high rock walls surrounding them. The Gandora seemed to have purposefully destroyed different levels of the stone, causing different layers of rock to protrude. This was done in both abstract and rigid patterns. Some shapes being things Yugi only thought skilled tools could carve.
"Is… is that Gandora art?" Yugi had to ask. Gandora was holding Yugi at the time and looked to where he pointed.
"It's been a long time since I've seen something like this," Gandora said as she almost reverently touched the rock wall. "This has to be Havoc's work. Even as a little hatchling, he was always interested in using his powers to shape the world around him." She then looked at the miles-long wall with its many other designs. "Though he wouldn't have been able to do all this on his own. Others must have been brave enough to join him." Gandora shook her head as she chuckled. "Even when they're supposed to be hiding, they take time to do this. No wonder the entire domain knew where they were"
"It is… beautiful." Dark Magician Girl commented. She had been trying to find a subject she could connect with Gandora on during the entire trip. Something to break the tension between the two after their fight in the castle. While she had failed so far, Yugi was glad she was still trying. "It takes a lot of precision to get those right angles. Do others of your kind enjoy making this… art?"
Gandora turned away from the wall and continued on their journey. As they headed towards the center of the ravine, Gandora spoke. "Precision is something we Gandora pride ourselves on. It may look like we destroy indiscriminately, but most times, we strive for control. Anything less is seen as a weakness or the work of hatchlings." She then smiled at Yugi. "We can get very picky about our need to destroy. I heard in the past, we used to have yearly contests where Gandora would come from all over to see who could explode the straightest shapes."
"Maybe after all this is done, you can set up another contest like that. I would happily judge such an event." Yugi laughed. He couldn't help but imagine a scene of these terrifying dragons arguing with protractors and rulers in hand over the official definitions of shapes.
"After all this is done…." Gandora trailed off as she looked ahead. The words sounding almost like a plea.
Crumbling from a higher ledge immediately got the three to look up, each ready for an ambush. Above, the group saw the stumbling shadow of a Gandora attempting to be sneaky. Being a massive dragon that naturally didn't have the best balance made this Gandora just about as stealthy as the Kuriboh horde.
"Pieire? Is that you up there? It's Hakairyuu. We-" Before Hakairyuu could finish her sentence, Pieire roared at the group before quickly flying away. They watched as the border spy ran towards the center of the ravine.
"That's a friendly welcome." Dark Magician Girl sighed.
"At least now they know we aren't trying to sneak up on them. Maybe if we get to the Gandora camp, they'll be more willing to talk?" Yugi suggested. The girls could only shrug and continued on towards the distant Gandora voices.
The Gandora camp had once been a tall plateau in the center of the gorge. The stone structure had since been leveled by the dragons. Now, they were hiding in a large open area with towering stone walls being the only thing to hint at a structure once being there. The only way in other than flying was an archway blown out from the side. In front of this archway were two Gandora talking frantically with the little spy from earlier.
Yugi looked to the two monsters beside him, and they each nodded to each other. Hakairyuu then put Yugi down. For a few seconds, Yugi stood straight and firm, only for his strength to give out. His pain flared as he fell backward. Thankfully, Dark Magician Girl was there to catch him. Yugi quickly thanked her and found his feet again. He ignored his friends' ever-growing worry and strode to the archway.
"I should go first. You two remain behind me, just in case." Hakairyuu quickly said. Yugi and Dark Magician Girl silently followed her command and let the giant dragon's size hide them from view.
The two guard Gandora immediately recognized Hakairyuu as she approached. They both roared a challenge at her. Hakairyuu didn't flinch, and neither did Yugi or Dark Magician Girl.
"Stay back, or we will attack!" One of the dragons bellowed.
"We have to talk to Giga! It's about the safety of all of us!" Gandora thundered back. The three Gandora by the entrance only came up to about Hakairyuu's shoulders. Yugi thought it was her size alone that stopped them from acting on their threat. Pieire ran into the camp as the two guards stayed steadfastly in place, even as Hakairyuu towered over them. Then they saw Yugi and Dark Magician Girl behind her legs.
"You've betrayed us once again!" One of them roared as the two started backing away.
"The only thing that has betrayed you is your stubbornness and fighting spirit!" Gandora answered, loud enough to echo around the dry landscape.
"We aren't here to hurt you. We are here to offer an olive branch." Dark Magician Girl added as she peaked around Hakairyuu's legs.
Yugi then added. "We don't want the Silents to take you."
The two Gandora looked at each other with complete shock, their wings flitting in disbelief. Then they burst out laughing.
"Olive Branch?! We knew all the monsters here were weak! It was only a matter of time before they surrendered to us." They kept laughing even as Hakairyuu crossed her arms and glared down at them.
"They are not surrendering. As Yugi said, they wish to help us. To finally free us!" Hakairyuu said.
"We are free!" The guard challenged.
"No, you're not… We're not. You call hiding out in a canyon until the Silents come to collect us free?" Hakairyuu said. The two snapped at her, and it seemed like they were about to get over their fear of Hakairyuu's height when everyone stopped.
A deep, bone-chilling, yet familiar growl rang out from inside the camp. Hakairyuu reacted faster than anyone else, her wings immediately drooped, and her arms fell to her side. Yugi noticed her fearful reaction and rested a hand on her knee. She let the tip of her claw briefly touch his hand and then straightened up.
"That means Giga's going to let you in." One of the guards explained with a sneer.
"You've really fallen far, Hakairyuu, if you think you'll ever be accepted here again. He's probably going to blast you three as soon as you step in." The other one said as the two stepped aside to let them in.
The three looked hesitantly at each other. Dark Magician Girl swallowed hard, and Hakairyuu's tail flicked worriedly behind her. It was Yugi taking in a deep breath and stepping forward that led them into the heart of Gandora territory.
Inside, the walls seemed, at first, to be a wasteland of rubble and ash. Yet, when Yugi looked closer, he noticed an organization to the wreckage. The Gandora had piled the leftover rocks to build dens. They had also exploded and blocked the nearby river so that some of the water diverted through their camp, ending in multiple self-made pools.
Yugi could only see about twenty or so Gandora in the area. Each immediately turned to Hakairyuu, almost always ignoring Yugi and Dark Magician Girl at first. Some immediately snarled at Hakairyuu, some looked briefly excited before the roars of their kin made them wilt, some simply shook their heads in pity. But all let it be known the group was not welcome.
Yugi was surprised that no dragon came up to directly challenge them. The Gandora kept their distance as the three walked to the largest structure they could see. Near the biggest pool of water stood what remained of the plateau's core, a large clump of clear crystal. The crystal cluster was nearly the size of a building. And using this crystal as a makeshift throne, lazily flicking his tail, was Giga.
"And so, the cowards return." Giga rumbled as he got to his feet.
…
The Mutos had also noticed Yami's sudden stiffness and weird behavior. They all knew something was not right. Yui and Grandpa looked to each other for any idea of what to do. They felt so helpless, and they knew this kind of uselessness all too well. Years of trying to figure out what to do about Yugi, before they knew about the Pharaoh, drilled into them this feeling. They came to the same conclusion as they were forced to many times before. They could only watch and wait. Junior, on the other hand, was able to turn to Dark Magician.
The mage kept glancing back to Yami while still trying to remain in the Dark Magician hologram's preprogrammed position. But when Yami started to slightly shiver, the spirit gave up on any pretenses and ran to his partner's side. He attempted to touch Yami's shoulder, but the hologram phased through him. Yami once again didn't react. He wouldn't let himself come to hate Dark Magician too.
"I'll start my turn by activating Tyrant Wing!" Seto said as he attached the trap card to his Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Hearing this immediately made Dark Magician straighten up. He looked frantically around the room until he landed on Junior, and their eyes locked. While everyone else looked at Seto, Dark Magician led Junior's gaze to the area behind the group.
"The wall? You want something from the wall?" Junior asked in a low voice as to not attract attention from the others. He was still not comfortable communicating with things he had spent his whole life convincing himself weren't real.
Dark Magician shook his head and desperately pointed to that area again. Junior looked closer at the space behind them, not seeing anything that the spirit wanted. He could tell the spirit was anxious, so he named the only other thing in that empty part of the room.
"My shadow?" Junior asked. Dark Magician nodded his head, then pointed at the pile of board games stacked near the junk box. Junior could only shake his head. "What are you trying to say-?"
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack Dark Magician," Seto commanded. Yami still did not react, and Dark Magician grew more agitated. Junior grimaced as he tried to reason what the spirit wanted from him. But before Dark Magician could communicate more, his hologram was pulled back onto the battlefield by the game, dragging his soul with it. KaibaCorp's systems were making sure the Dark Magician hologram was in place for Blue-Eyes's attack.
"Shadow and a pile of games? Shadow…" Junior thought back to the last time he had heard about shadows. The car ride where Yami explained the mechanics of his shadow magic jumped to mind. Or, more specifically, how that magic had been used to hurt others. "Shadow Game!"
The dragon's rumble as he shot off his attack wasn't the thing to get Yami's attention. It wasn't even the flash of light that turned from white to red as Blue-Eyes's attack ripped into Dark Magician and kept flying towards Yami. It was the blur of Junior as he pushed Yami aside and the sickening crack that brought the Pharaoh violently back to reality.
Blue-Eyes's attack hit Junior square in his chest and threw him into the back wall. The crash was enough to immediately halt the turmoil within Yami. He could only watch as Junior slid limply to the ground. For a few moments, Yami only heard the pounding in his head. He stared as the smoke cleared, and Junior did not get up. As usual, the shadow attack didn't leave any real physical wounds. But Yami still feared the worst. For those not used to shadow games, the injuries they received were often far more serious. Even though Seto took more game damage earlier, Junior's body would be in no way prepared for what just hit him.
"Dad!" Yami yelled as he ignored his duel disk's pinging and ran to Junior's side. Again, Junior didn't react, didn't even twitch as Yami shook him. Yami grit his teeth as the acid within him bubbled up the memories of Joey falling in his shadow game with Yami Marik or Yugi collapsing in front of him during Pegasus's game. The turbulent ice seemed to combine and grow with the seething acid he had been trying to hold back. Yami began trembling from head to foot in complete and utter rage.
The sound of the last of his damage beeping away on his life point counter made Yami grip his hands into tight fists. He turned away and faced Kaiba, fully intending to end this game. He would not play these games anymore, so he was ready to crush Kaiba!
Then Yami was yanked back by a firm hand.
"Don't you dare!" The duel disk was jerked off Yami's arm. This pulled Yami off balance and made him fall back into a sitting position. In utter shock, the Pharaoh watched as the duel disk's central computer was crushed in Junior's hand, seemingly by accident, as the father angrily pulled the device away from Yami.
What got Yami's attention next was Junior's eyes. They had always been a shade of red, but they seemed almost to glow a deep scarlet at this moment. There was now an aura about Junior that paralyzed Yami and stopped his building rage in its tracks. The Pharaoh was staring into the eyes of a fierce dragon, and he was its main target. Then, quicker than even a blink of an eye, that power was gone. Junior began to cough as he slumped forward. He was back to being just a man.
By this point, Yui and Grandpa were able to catch Junior before he hit the floor. The broken duel disk laid forgotten at their feet.
"Solomon? Solomon!" Yui begged as she held Junior up. At first, Junior could only groan, then he seemed to wake up enough to speak.
"SON OF A-!" Junior then began to string a true tapestry of profanity as he clutched his chest, half of his chosen words being in other languages. He aimed his tirade at no one in particular, it was merely his way of dealing with his pain, and he wasn't stopping anytime soon. He kept going even as Grandpa tried to reason with him and as Yui ran for a first-aid kit.
His family soon became background droning as Yami turned back to Seto. While Seto hadn't lost his cocky stance, his smirk was gone. He hadn't done anything else since his attack, seemingly taken aback by what happened to Junior. Yami wasn't sure why. Seto hadn't even flinched during Battle City, where he saw much worse damage done because of a duel. Yet here, he seemed bothered by his attack. Yami wondered if this was a side effect of the personal growth Seto had gone under during the whole Orichalcos fiasco or something else? Either way, Yami knew he had to seize on that uncertainty now before Seto collected himself, or Yami did something he would regret. Because while Junior had surprised Yami and snapped him out of his warpath, the Pharaoh felt something much worse boiling within him, ready for the next outrage.
While the duel couldn't officially continue thanks to Yami's duel disk being forcefully deactivated. That didn't mean the shadow game was over. The KaibaCorp holograms might have been disabled, but the two still had their duel monsters on the field, each made real by shadow magic. This game would only end if one of them lost, or they both agreed to quit.
…
Once again, Yugi was reminded of how big Giga was. While Hakairyuu had towered over the other Gandora, Giga shadowed her. His body was covered in deep scars and burns. Each wound seemed to grow deeper when the light from Giga's many orbs glowed. For being a zero ATK monster, he had all the aura of being over one million. Yugi's words died in his throat as those red eyes drilled into him.
"You had your chance, Pharaoh, and you failed. You've already proven you are not Gandora strong. So we have no need to talk to you." Giga growled. Then he turned to Dark Magician Girl. "And I thought I made it clear to you that if I ever saw you again, I would even out your other side."
Dark Magician gripped her still bandaged half, a grimace making its way to her face. Seeing this made Giga smirk.
Hakairyuu then stepped up to Giga and began. "Giga, we have come with an idea. A way for all Gandora to finally live in peace-"
"Give me one good reason I shouldn't blow you two to the stars." Giga cut off Hakairyuu and walked past her. He never once glanced at her. This made Hakairyuu pause, her mouth hanging open. She then growled and ran to be in front of him again.
"We are trying to save you! If you listen to Yugi and Dark Magician Girl, then maybe, just maybe, we can stay in this land. Please, Giga! I know you don't trust me anymore, but you have to listen to us." Hakairyuu said.
Giga was silent a few moments, then he crossed his arms and looked back to Yugi. "Get control of your beast. Her incessant buzzing is tiring." Hakairyuu froze as Giga still did not meet her eyes. "Who is she anyway? She's clearly not a Gandora."
"Hey! Don't talk like that about the dragon, who is the whole reason your sorry tails are even here!" Dark Magician Girl shot back. Hakairyuu was surprised at Dark Magician Girl's sudden defense of her, but Yugi wasn't. He knew Dark Magician Girl too well. She was never one to stand insults, and Giga's seemed to cut Hakairyuu deep.
"Why have you even kept her around? She's far too useless for even a weak heart like yours, Pharaoh." Giga said in a matter-of-fact voice. He then stepped forward and shoved Hakairyuu aside with his shoulder.
Yugi saw the amount of hurt in Hakairyuu's eyes. He didn't know if it was because he was a spirit partner to her, but to Yugi, her pain became nearly a physical ache. He immediately stepped up to the towering male dragon, all his earlier fear flying away.
"She is an amazing dragon, and I can't understand how you refuse to see that! Even now, she is trying to save you from yourselves-!" Yugi began.
"Save us from who?" Giga once again cut in as he glared at Dark Magician Girl. "Are you here to declare war?"
"Of course not." Dark Magician Girl said. "The Silents! They are coming to capture all the Gandora and return you to the Crags. Isn't this why you are hiding out at the edge of the domain?" Dark Magician Girl asked.
The three realized they may have taken it a step too far as Giga took another threatening step towards them as he roared. "Gandora hide from no one!" The Gandora around echoed this thunder.
"Right, right." Yugi quickly back-tracked, realizing this would get them nowhere. Dark Magician Girl, too, took a deep breath and backed off a few steps.
Giga rose to his full height as he glared down at the two, once again completely ignoring Hakairyuu. This time Hakairyuu stayed back. She watched her friends from the side, but her gaze was more focused on the gathering of Gandora. Yugi gulped as he felt the ever-closing circle of dragons surround them. He didn't like this but knew if he was going to get everyone out alive, they needed to talk this out.
"Great Giga, I know you're not hiding, but I also know you don't want a fight with the Silents. You all must be tired from your race to get into this domain. Fighting a full archetype of trained monsters is not something you wish, right?" Yugi looked around at the Gandora.
It was clear the Gandora were trying to remain confident looking, but Yugi could see the worry in their eyes. Then Yugi returned to Giga. While the giant dragon was showing complete confidence, Yugi noticed some chinks in his facade. The flicking of his tail, his tightly held crossed arms, it showed that he knew the threat the Silents poised towards his archetype.
"What are you getting at, Pharaoh?" Giga reluctantly growled.
Yugi sighed, finally some progress. "We three came together to figure out a way for you all to remain here and protect you from the- and dissuade the Silents from coming after you. But to do that, you have to work with the domain and its inhabitants…."
Yugi and Dark Magician Girl then continued to explain the idea. When they brought up not destroying the domain freely anymore and instead working with the people here to remove the perfection, they thought the Gandora would argue. To their surprise, the dragons remained quiet and kept listening. Giga even nodded in understanding at some points, especially when it came to their power to permanently destroy perfection. Most of the Gandora got excited when they heard this land would help set them up with shelter and food in return for their work. For a while, Yugi and Dark Magician Girl became just as excited as the dragons around them. Maybe the Gandora were more agreeable than they expected? But that slight hope between the two ended abruptly when they brought up that Gandora would have to work under Dark Magician Girl during this project.
"You just want to enslave us again!" Giga roared as he reared back defensively, the other Gandora following suit. Dark Magician Girl raised her staff and seemed ready to defend Yugi when Hakairyuu's voice broke through the mass.
"No! This isn't like what we've lived through. Honestly, it's nothing like anything we've done. I've worked with the monsters here personally. Building and creating it's amazing. Especially when working with others. I want you guys to be able to experience creating at least once. And even if you don't like it, it's not permanent. We just have to make it up to the monsters of this land for all the damage we've done." Hakairyuu explained.
"We aren't like you!" A female Gandora from the crowd shot back. "Why do we even want to 'make it up' to these weaker monsters?"
Hakairyuu sighed deeply. She then turned to face the speaker. The shorter dragon seemed momentary worried but stood her ground, flashing her orbs briefly in threat.
Hakairyuu spoke. "What are our rules when another Gandora has offended or hurt you?" No dragon spoke. "Someone, speak up! Since I am no longer a Gandora, I might not remember our personal laws correctly." Hakairyuu said as she shot a quick glare at Giga.
After a few more moments of muteness, a male Gandora spoke up. "If the offense is proven either with evidence or by winning a duel between the two, the offending party must make it right with the other Gandora."
"Yes, and that is something we must do now," Hakairyuu said. The other Gandora began to argue with her, but she cut them off with a quick snarl. "Call our initial destruction what you will. Explain it away with whatever excuse you have. It does not take away that we have hurt innocents and… We have become no better than the warrior army we ran away from."
This got a significant reaction from the horde, enough that once again, Yugi and Dark Magician Girl were ready to shield themselves. But somehow, Hakairyuu's voice continued to rise above the din.
"We hurt and took without reason! We didn't even prove our strength. We simply proved we were unrestrained monsters! Monsters that an archetype like the Silents have every right to return to the Crags! But we know what we are! We are a proud archetype. We are more than living bombs, and we have to prove that to this land, to ourselves even!"
Hakairyuu continued to explain her personal experiences regarding the domain. She spoke of her fear of the Silents and loneliness. Then she told of the joy she felt thanks to the kindness the monsters (and one human) of this land gave her. This brought a hush over the dragons. At first, they seemed determined to argue her points. But slowly, they listened. She continued speaking on things that only the other Gandora seemed able to resonate with. Personal experiences that Yugi and Dark Magician Girl could not understand the importance of, but the other Gandora seemed to. Hakairyuu spoke bravely and steadfastly, never flinching from the crueler things the Gandora had done while letting them know there was an opportunity to fix this. They just had to take it.
Yugi couldn't help but look to Hakairyuu with pride. The dragon, who at first had troubles putting her pride aside to simply ask him for help, now was helping her own archetype to throw aside their pride for peace.
"…I know we are scared, and I hate how we have become unable to even admit our fear thanks to our fighting spirit. We Gandora are strong. Strong enough to fight this damaging fire within us and become new dragons. This is our chance! With this destructive power only we possess, we can move on from the war and the way things have been-"
"QUIET!" Giga roared, and for the first time that day, he faced Hakairyuu. "You're speaking of useless dreams! You always have! You're going to do nothing but lead us to our demise!"
The many Gandora that had come closer to Hakairyuu were now slowly backing away.
Hakairyuu turned defiantly to Giga. "What? Isn't this what you wanted? What we wanted when we escaped the warrior army? To live in peace?"
"This isn't peace you speak of! It sounds like we have to throw away everything that makes us Gandora! With you leading, we will be nothing more than that Domain leader's lap puppies!" Giga thundered at Hakairyuu. "You're not a Gandora. You're not even a dragon!"
Hakairyuu didn't back down. "Giga…"
"You can't call me that! You lost the right to call me that name the moment you left us for dead at the border. When you left me at the border!" The pained edge that lined that last sentence surprised even the Gandora around. Giga quickly re-corrected when he realized he'd let his voice crack. He flared out his wings and let his orbs flash with a deep crimson light. "You fully buried that right when you brought these two to us. You think we are all weak like you, but we are far from being anything like that! We are Gandora!" Giga snarled.
Hakairyuu paused. Yugi feared she would be upset by his words again. But instead, she copied Giga's posture as she too flared out her wings and stretched her claws.
"I am not weak!" Hakairyuu roared, making Yugi smile. The thing he had been trying to tell her this whole adventure yelled loud and clear for everyone to hear.
Hakairyuu continued. "I am a Gandora, same as you! If you can't see that or refuse to acknowledge there are other forms of strength, then you no longer have our archetype's best interest in mind!"
This made Giga's eyes widen before they narrowed to slits. "Think about your next words carefully, worm! I've spent my entire life fighting and surviving while you remained behind to raise hatchlings."
Hakairyuu closed her eyes and released a curl of white smoke from her nostrils. "Giga, I challenge you to a duel. Winner leads the Gandora."
Gasps passed around the horde like a bad cough. Dark Magician Girl even seemed like she wanted to jump in and stop Hakairyuu, but they all remained deathly still. Yugi felt his eyes widen, his heart sinking. He knew Hakairyuu to be strong, but he often found experience won out more in a duel. And by the sounds of it, Giga had much, much more experience.
Giga let out a hollow and half-mad laugh, making worried looks come to even his fellow Gandoras' faces. "Fine by me! I've been too soft on you. It's time I show you what a Gandora really is!"
…
"-Himmeldonnerwetter! Shadow magic, BURNS!" That was about the time Junior slowed down enough in his pained rantings to get to his feet.
"Whoa there, sailor. Are you really ok to stand?" Grandpa asked.
"Yeah, yeah. This isn't anything worse than I've had before. I was just not ready for the... non-physical aspects of it." Junior gasped. Yui had grabbed the family first-aid kit by this point and was nearly glued to her husband's side. She was currently trying to find some sort of wound to disinfect. The way she treated him like it was second nature to her made Yami think that she had to do this very often for Junior at one time.
"Are you ok, Pharaoh?" Grandpa's voice made Yami jump. He looked up to see his grandfather reaching out to help Yami to his feet. Yami was about to take his hand when he started to feel another building wave of rage about to drown him. He couldn't do this anymore; being able to move absolutely wasn't worth it.
"Kaiba, we have to stop this game." Yami used the last of his strength to say before he fully pushed the ice out of him, the acid being pulled with it. Yami then fell forward. Thankfully, he was caught by Grandpa.
Yami's words made Seto shake his head, seeming to bring him back to reality too. "I think it was already ended." He said as he gestured to the broken duel disk, the life point counter's shattered screen still flickering away. Junior then also looked down.
"Did I do that?" Junior asked as he looked over the crushed generation one duel disk. A generation of duel disk that was made with metal and glass parts instead of the later plastic. He then looked down at his hand as if searching for an explanation. His confusion only grew. "I'm strong, but... not crush metal in one hand strong," he murmured to only his family.
"We had it in the junk box for a reason. It was already a little bent thanks to Yami luging it around the desert," Yui shrugged. Her focus at the time was on Yami as she tried to look for injuries on him.
Yami wasn't reassured by Yui's explanation, but he couldn't focus on that at the moment. He had to gather all his strength to push through the painful static that now filled him to speak. "Nonetheless, Kaiba. You need to say this game is over." Yami gasped.
"You're the one that started this. Get another duel disk." Kaiba ordered. Yami weakly shook his head, not caring how fragile it made him seem. He wouldn't let those horrible feelings return, even if he had to forfeit the game and take the penalty.
"He won't believe this is a cursed game, right? Even with getting hurt himself?" Junior whispered to Yami. Yami was barely able to nod his head.
With that, Junior turned to Kaiba with a snarl. "Something's clearly up with your system, Kaiba! First, the holograms go crazy this morning, and now this!" Junior said as he pointed to the two places where people had collided with magic. "Yami's right. You two have to stop this duel."
"Even if you continue, this will not be a true win for you, Kaiba. Yami's too sick for his heart to be in the cards." Grandpa added.
Seto glanced between the Mutos, not moving. Then he sighed. "You're lucky, Yugi. I would have beaten you." Seto said as he pushed a button on the side of his duel disk that ended the game. With that, the room temperature returned to normal, and the remaining spirits lost their physicality. Yami was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
"I don't know why I even humored you. It's not the reason why I came here." Kaiba said as he strode up to the family, Roland quickly catching up and standing nervously behind him. "Now, are you going to go to a hospital?"
"No… they… won't help." Yami managed to say. He then got his family to bend down so he could whisper in their ears. "Get the Blue-Eyes card. I think the only way to fix this is…Yugi."
Junior nodded to him and stood up to face Kaiba. "We'll deal with his health later. You don't have to worry about that. But what I am wondering is, why you came here in the first place?"
"I told you that when I first entered the house," Seto said as he crossed his arms.
"Right…" Junior sighed as he once again rubbed the spot on his chest where the attack hit him. "As I said before, I am not coming with you to talk alone. I trust KaibaCorp about as far as I could throw you out of my house. If you got something you want from me, you can say it in front of my family."
"Are you sure about that, Dragon? There's nothing about your time working for Gozaburo you don't want your family to know?" Seto asked with a skeptic eyebrow raise.
Junior turned away and looked at Yami. Yami couldn't read his facial expression, but he did see as the man's face darkened. Junior then picked up the limp boy from Grandpa's arms and set him on the couch.
"My name is Solomon. Dragon is long dead," Junior said in a low voice, not turning to face the others.
"I don't quite believe that," Seto answered.
This made Junior turn angrily to the CEO. "What proof do you need then? Is more than a decade of silence not enough?!" The room, even with no shadow magic, seemed to frost over at that sentence.
Before things could escalate again, both Junior, Yami, and even Seto paused. They all immediately felt her presence, even before she strode in through the wall. A Blue-Eyes walked in and bent down to keep her head from going through the ceiling. Yami watched (ignoring how much Junior seemed to panic when he saw her) as the female Blue-Eyes White Dragon spirit went to Seto's side and then flopped down. Her tail curled around the unflinching Seto, lazily flicking back and forth. The male Blue-Eyes happily greeted her as Dark Magician gave a little bow to her. The sorcerer then floated to the couch to stand guard by Yami.
The female Blue-Eyes then reached up to Seto's chest with her tail tip and slightly touched the picture-holder he had around his neck. Being a spirit, she didn't affect it; she didn't even slightly shake it. Yami, even though the immobilizing static now swamped him, tried to focus on the dragon. Yami didn't think Seto could see her, so why did she pretend to play with his necklace? He then noticed an almost immediate change in Seto. It was subtle, but the slight shift of his feet and his shoulder's lowering was enough for both Yami and Junior to see that Kaiba was just a bit calmer.
Junior paused. He seemed to think for a bit, studying Seto. Then he spoke, his words coming out slowly. "No, you're face shows it all. You really don't care about me. It's something else you want."
Seto shifted a little, and the dragon curled around him turned her gaze to Junior. "I would prefer to talk about this alone, at KaibaCorp."
"I said I would never walk into that headquarters again, and I meant it, even if it's the new one in America." Junior then leaned back as he analyzed the situation. "It's not about me, huh?" Junior shook his head and spoke. "Is it the Gozaburo blackmail I have?"
Seto leaning in a little closer was all Junior needed.
"That? Coming over here now was about that? But it's blackmail for Gozaburo specifically. It wouldn't affect KaibaCorp or you in any way. Its things like the Schroeder Files and the Sacred Beast charts, they mean nothing to KaibaCorp or the public anymore."
"Is that all you have?" Kaiba asked. If Yami didn't know him any better, he might have thought Seto sounded slightly worried.
Junior shook his head. "I really have nothing else you could want… other than a key to Noah's old computer, but Yami told me that place exploded."
Seto's eyes slightly grew larger, though he quickly hid his reaction. "Key… Is it merely a key? Our records of missing inventory show you might have something… quite different."
"Uh…" Junior glanced at Yami, but Yami couldn't even shrug at him. Junior returned his gaze to Seto. "I heard it referred to as a key once, though it's not a metal door key. I don't know technology terms, so I've always called it that. Is it… something more?"
Kaiba took in a deep breath to calm himself. "Do you mean a Code-8R41N Key?"
"Yeah! That's what it was called. It's a little computer-like thingy that I had to swear up and down that I would always keep plugged in back when Gozaburo entrusted it to me." Junior then paused. "But there's nothing on it. It's just a tiny black box. I had a friend try to data-mine it when I first left KaibaCorp. She found nothing on it."
"Have you kept it continually 'plugged in?'" Seto asked, his voice slightly rising.
"Yes. It's always been plugged in at the location I have it hidden away. Even after Gozaburo's… disappearance, I kept all my blackmail, just in case." Junior shrugged. "The only thing it's done in the last decade was flash a light on its side about a year ago."
The gears could clearly be seen turning in Seto's head. Then a half-smirk made its way to his face. Then that smirk slowly grew into full-on chuckling.
"So Mokuba was right all along. Noah, that little…." Seto then started rubbing his forehead. "What better place to transfer his backup data than Gozaburo's enemy?"
Alternate chapter title: Make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw against the two dragons' frightful presence. Hakairyuu and Yugi, you succeed. And oh! Yami-Zorc, you failed.
OR
What's with the Mutos' continued need to jump in front of shadow game attacks?