Chapter Seventeen

"Oh no," Atem exclaimed. "That is Evangeline!"

"What happened to her?!" Yugi cried. "Why would she put on that amulet?!"

"Why?" Evangeline's voice had an eerie and odd echo. "To take vengeance on those who deserve it."

"And who would that be?" Atem asked.

"My father!" Evangeline declared. "And Dr. Raven! And all of his employees. Everyone who deceived me and everyone who played a part in sending my brother to his death!"

Lector's heart twisted. "Evangeline, I'm not dead!" he protested. "Look at me! I'm alive!"

Evangeline locked eyes with him, but her expression didn't change. "Another lie. You're an optical illusion courtesy of Dr. Raven. I'll be taking care of him next." She turned away, and the Berserk Dragon gave a mighty flap of its wings as it soared into the night sky.

"Wait a minute! Next?!" Téa gaped. "Does that mean she already 'took care' of someone?!"

"Our father," Lector realized.

"She probably got the amulet from him," Nesbitt said. "He must have been hiding it somewhere in the mansion!" He snarled. "I should have thought! When I was in there, the amulet was the last thing on my mind!"

Lector was already taking out his phone and frantically dialing home.

"What?! You're worried about him?!" Crump exclaimed.

"I'm worried more for what will happen to Evangeline if he isn't alright," Lector replied. "The law will hardly accept 'corruption by a magical artifact' as a good defense for patricide."

Crump gulped. ". . . Good point. Only, the way she is now, it's not like the law could ever catch up to her!"

Lector shifted, waiting impatiently for an answer. When the phone was finally picked up, it was his mother on the other end. "Hello?!" she snapped.

"Not much Southern hospitality there," Crump winced.

Fearing the reason for that, and also fearing the woman's reaction to his identity, Lector drew a deep breath and said, "Hello, Mother. . . ."

"Démas?!" she screamed.

Lector held the phone away from his ear with a wince. "Yes. . . ."

"Everything's a catastrophe over here!" Mrs. Leichter exclaimed. "Your sister put on a cursed amulet, blasted your father, and summoned some kind of horrible creature from another dimension to fly away on!"

". . . How is he?" Lector asked.

"He's on the floor saying over and over that he killed you, that he set up the bombs at the warehouse to destroy . . . evidence, and you were caught in it." Mrs. Leichter hesitated. "He is just delirious, isn't he?!"

Lector had gone stiff, stunned and betrayed by the news. "I . . . he . . ." He gripped the phone. "I don't know, Mother. I was caught in an explosion, but I thought Dr. Raven set it up. . . ."

Gansley came closer to offer support. Lector gave him a grateful look.

"In all honesty, Mother, I'm afraid it probably is true," he continued. "Evangeline wouldn't have lost control and taken the amulet unless something drastic happened. Realizing our father caused something like this could certainly do it."

Mrs. Leichter gasped. "Oh no. . . ." She hesitated. "Démas, are you hurt badly?"

"No, I'm alright," Lector told her. "Tell Father that I'm alive and I'll find a way to save Evangeline."

". . . I'll tell him," Mrs. Leichter said slowly.

Lector was badly shaken as he hung up the phone. "My father set the explosion," he said. "He wanted to get rid of any evidence that he'd stolen the crates. . . ."

Nesbitt snarled. "I should have done more to him when I was there!"

"It sounds like Evangeline did quite enough," Lector said.

"I think I really will punch him out, like I'd thought of doing before!" Crump cried indignantly.

Seto's eyes flamed with outrage. "Mokuba could have died in that blast!" he ranted. "Dr. Raven deliberately tried to abduct him, and when that failed, Mokuba went there anyway to save Marik! I'll bring down the entire weight of the Kaiba Corporation on both Dr. Raven and your father when this is over, Lector!" He tightly clenched a fist.

"The police will probably throw the book at him as it is, unless he tries to worm his way out of it with a sleazy lawyer," Johnson said.

"If he feels guilty enough, maybe he won't," Lector said. "Maybe he'll own up to what he's done. But we can't worry about that right now. We have to find Evangeline!"

"Well, she's going after Dr. Raven," Téa said slowly. "But does she even know where he is?!"

"She sure flew off like she knew where she was going," Crump remarked.

"So it looks like it's time to get everyone together again so they can spread out and look," Mokuba said. "Plus, we need to let the others know Lector's alive!" He pulled out his phone. "They don't even know that yet."

"And be careful of Dr. Portman," Lector cautioned. "She must be around, watching us. I'm sure she's the one who stuck me with that drug."

"We'll watch for her with pleasure," Gansley said darkly.

"And don't try to take Evangeline on by yourselves," Atem warned. "Only those with magical items should attempt it."

"So that would be you, Yami Bakura, Kaiba, and the Big Five," Marik finished.

"Exactly," Atem nodded.

Everyone's phones started dinging repeatedly as Mokuba's text about Lector was replied to from every group. Mokuba beamed. "Everyone's so happy." He looked up at Lector. "I am too."

Lector smiled at him and looked down at the incoming texts in amazement. So many former enemies, now just overjoyed that he was alive . . . even though some were confused, too.

That's awesome! But . . . wait, how did he cheat death this time?

That was from Joey. Lector quickly tapped a reply.

I didn't, Mr. Wheeler. I wasn't dead. Someone—presumably

Dr. Portman—stuck me with a drug to make me look temporarily dead.

A response came back within less than a minute.

Why, that snake!

Lector certainly agreed with that sentiment. He sighed as he typed the next message.

And we can't relax yet. My sister Evangeline found the amulet, which

my father really did steal. It's taken her over and she's seeking revenge

on everyone who hurt me. She already attacked our father. Now she's

after Dr. Raven. And she's riding a Berserk Dragon.

Again the texts began pouring in from everyone. Joey's summed up everyone's feelings.

WHAAAT?!

Quickly everyone began pledging to help search the city for the wayward Evangeline. Crump sighed, watching the texts fly past from nearly everyone in the extensive group. "So . . . when we do catch up to her again, then what?" he wondered. "I mean, you convinced Nesbitt you're real, but is that same approach going to work on somebody who's under an evil spell?!"

"I don't know," Lector said. He had already felt overwhelmed. That wasn't helping.

"Hey, I have an idea," Téa said. "Do you think anyone would go to Angelique's diner? I mean, the bad guys seemed to be hanging out there. Maybe after things settled down, they'd figure the police would never look for them there."

"I wouldn't think they'd be that foolish," Lector said, "but it wouldn't hurt to look."

xxxx

No one wanted to search places alone, nor was it advised, so Lector ended up at Angelique's in the company of Nesbitt and Crump. The diner had been closed all day due to Angelique's absence, but as Crump rattled the doorknob, the door creaked open.

"Well, that's freaky," he commented. "Maybe some of the bad guys really are here. If they are, I know just what I'm gonna do with them."

They all walked inside, Lector cautiously reaching to turn on the light as they went.

"It looks deserted," Nesbitt said.

"Let's make sure of that," Lector said.

Crump stayed alongside Lector while they roamed the main room and then headed back into the kitchen. ". . . I told Gansley I couldn't believe you were really gone," he said quietly. "Only now that you're back, that's kind of hard to believe too. This isn't the dream, is it? And I'll wake up with Gansley telling me you're dead?"

"It's not a dream," Lector said. Pain flashed through his eyes as it really stabbed into him how deeply his loved ones had been hurt. He knew all too well how they must have felt; the memory of his own pain after he had found them dead following Khu's attempt to kill him was fresh on his mind. And Mokuba too; the drug had been wearing off as the boy had been there crying over his body. Even though Mokuba had saved Marik, Mokuba probably didn't or couldn't think about that at all. Instead, his mind was no doubt filled with Lector having to get him out of there and being hurt in the process.

And Evangeline . . . ! Lector ran a hand over his face. How was he going to save Evangeline?

"I guess you probably wish this part of it was, huh, Buddy?" Crump said. "With your sister gone nuts and all. . . ."

"I don't know how I'm going to help her," Lector said despondently.

"Just be very firm, like you were with me," Nesbitt said. "Insist that she listen to you."

"I don't think that's going to be very easy with the amulet controlling her," Lector said. He looked sick. "All along, I thought the great evil we had to fight was Dr. Raven. Now it looks like it's the amulet itself . . . and my corrupted sister." He looked down at his ring. "With her having summoned a Duel Monster, we'll no doubt have to do the same thing. You realize that, don't you?"

Crump hadn't. ". . . Ho boy."

"We were expressly told the priest was the evil," Nesbitt said. "This must be something that Shadi person hadn't planned on happening."

"Oh? We're evil, are we?"

All of them jumped a mile. Dr. Raven's assistant Amelia had suddenly appeared in the kitchen doorway, grinning and leering at them.

"Yeah, you kind of are," Crump said. "And I'm gonna pay you back for locking me and Kaiba in the freezer and making Johnson think he'd been poisoned!" He took a step forward.

"Be careful," Nesbitt warned.

Amelia cackled and darted into the hall. When the Big Three gave chase, they found two of Dr. Raven's henchmen flanking her. "Try to catch me now, Mustache," she taunted Crump.

"We don't have time for foolish pranks," Lector snapped. "Where's your boss?"

"Not here," Amelia giggled.

"Well, he's gonna get a visit from a nutso girl riding a dragon," Crump said, stepping forward, "so if you wanna get a warning to him, you'd better tell us where he is."

Lector caught sight of Yami Bakura and Bakura entering through a door at the other end of the corridor, but he said nothing and hoped that his eyes would not give their presence away. This could be just what they needed to get these people caught.

"And why would a girl on a dragon visit him?" Amelia countered.

The Big Three started to advance, forcing them to back up.

"Basically, because she wants revenge for everything he's done to her brother," Crump said. "And that sounds pretty good to me, too."

Yami Bakura sneered, quietly opening the freezer door. Bakura stood by, eyes wide.

The Big Three charged without warning, Crump leading them in an attack. Even as Amelia and the henchmen yelped in surprise, they were driven backwards into the freezer.

"There," Crump said with a sneer, taking the door from Yami Bakura and slamming it shut. "Now you can feel what it's like!" He set the lock in place.

Amelia just seemed amused, but the thugs were starting to panic. They ran over, banging on the window. "Let us out!" one of them yelled.

"Tell us where your boss is," Crump countered.

"In the bayou!" the second thug cried. "Please, we didn't have anything to do with anything!"

"You helped Dr. Raven kidnap Marik Ishtar, with the intent that either he or somebody else was gonna die," Crump countered, folding his arms. "And that almost caused two of my best buddies to kick the bucket. Not to mention that when one of them really seemed like he was gone, my other best buddies were so heartbroken they didn't know how to deal with it. So . . . yeah, I'm leaving you in there too."

"Oh my," Bakura gasped. "You're not really going to . . . ?!"

"Eh. They can stay in there until we get the cops here to arrest them," Crump said, flicking the window. "Me and Kaiba were trapped for hours. They can stand it for thirty minutes or so."

"Well, I suppose. . . ." Bakura still looked concerned.

Yami Bakura wasn't. "The bayou is a very large area," he grunted. "I would say we need to acquire more specific directions from them."

"Not to mention that there are many different bayous," Lector said, "including two within the city limits."

"We should probably start there, don't you think?" Crump said.

"I suppose so." Lector frowned at Amelia. "But which bayou—St. John or Sauvage?"

"Oh, you will find the people you seek easy enough," Amelia grinned. "Just look for the girl on the dragon."

"How would she know to go to any bayou?!" Lector shot back.

"The amulet she wears will guide her to her prey," Amelia said.

"Well, you sure don't seem very upset about that," Crump noted. "Don't you care about the guy at all?"

Amelia laughed and shrugged.

"And why is Dr. Raven at the bayou?" Lector demanded.

"He likes to work his magic there," Amelia said eerily. "He can't get the amulet from your father now, but he can wait for the girl and have a showdown with her over ownership of the amulet!"

Lector stared at her. "Then you were only pretending to not know about her a few minutes ago!"

"Of course," Amelia laughed.

Nesbitt had stepped away to call the police on his phone. Now he stepped back. "The police are coming," he said.

"And we should be on our way." Crump waved at the trio in the freezer. "Bye-bye now."

Lector was troubled as they walked back up the hall. "Crump . . . what else happened while I was out of it?" he asked. "I know about Nesbitt, of course, but from what you said to those people, it sounded like there was even more trouble."

Crump froze, caught. "Well . . ." He scowled. "Darn it, I didn't want you to have to know all of it. I shouldn't have said what I did. Johnson tried to revive you, and when he couldn't, he just got shellshocked. Wouldn't speak or nothing."

Lector stopped walking and just stared at him. "He went catatonic?!"

"Yeah, that's it. And Gansley, he was so broken-up he couldn't deal with it at all and just wanted to consider you dead because it hurt him too much to pray for a miracle he didn't think we could get."

"And you?" Lector said quietly.

"Me, I wanted to believe you'd be coming back," Crump said, equally quietly. "But I really 'knew' you were dead. Wanted to break down bawling, but . . . I didn't."

"I am so sorry," Lector said in chagrin.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault," Crump said. "You had to protect the kid and all. But boy, I'm telling you, I sure get how you must have felt when Khu killed us."

"It was one of the most horrible times of my life," Lector said.

"While this is all very touching, perhaps you had better tell us about the two bayous in town," Yami Bakura grunted. "We need to determine where to go."

Lector sighed. "Bayou Sauvage is a wildlife preserve—in fact, the largest urban wildlife preserve in the United States. Bayou St. John is more of a lake where people go to canoe or fish. But if you can figure out where a vodun priest would be more likely to go, you're a better man than I."

"Well . . . it sounds like maybe we should try Bayou St. John first," Bakura suggested. "It would be smaller and less cumbersome to investigate. Plus, I wonder if we could even access a wildlife preserve at night. . . ."

"It might prove difficult," Lector agreed. "Although we may have to check them both. But we'll check Bayou St. John first."

"I've gotta say, I dunno why a voodoo priest would hang out in a wildlife preserve anyway," Crump said. "Bayou St. John is probably the best one to start with."

"That's perfectly alright with me," Yami Bakura shrugged.

"It would be a lot more difficult for Dr. Raven to do anything in concealment at Bayou St. John, however," Lector said. "There are houses all around the lake. Bayou Sauvage has more areas to hide out. There are also places very near to New Orleans, such as the Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve, that have bayous."

"Oh great!" Crump groaned.

"Well . . ." Bakura gave a weak smile. "It sounds like we'd better get started."

xxxx

As luck would have it, Dr. Raven was definitely not at Bayou St. John, leaving everyone with the problem of how they were going to access the wildlife preserve in the middle of the night.

"There's probably a gate or something, right?" Joey frowned. They had all gathered at the bayou to look around and now were meeting at the edge of the water. It was calm, the moonlight glittering upon it from above. Across the water, houses' reflections and their lights stood calm and welcoming near the shore.

"Maybe there's even guards," Tristan worried.

"Maybe you guys will have to summon your dragons with your rings and fly in that way," Mokuba suggested, looking up at Seto and the Big Five.

Seto paused, considering that. "It's not a bad idea," he admitted. "But without light from something like headlights, how are we going to see well enough to find anything?"

"The crazy lady did say to just look for the girl on a dragon," Crump said. "It can't be too hard to spot a Berserk Dragon flying through the night sky."

"And it would sure be easier than trying to see Dr. Raven on the ground," Téa said.

Seto frowned down at the diamond ring on his right hand. "There's always the chance the rings won't activate," he said. "It sounds like they're pickier than Yami Bakura's Infinity Ring."

That suddenly reminded Yugi that they hadn't told Yami Bakura what they had learned about said Ring yet. Now certainly wasn't a good time to spring such information, but hopefully when everything was all over there would be a chance.

"Well, hey, what's the harm in trying, you know?" Crump held out the fist with his blue ring. "Let's try it!"

"We're all going to do that?" Johnson said, eyeing Crump's pose.

"That's how everyone's posed on the box," Crump shrugged.

"And probably on Captain Planet," Lector muttered under his breath. But he consented to striking the same pose.

When all six of them had gathered, they closed their eyes and concentrated. Would it work? It was hard to say. But surely this was a crisis that would qualify for the rings' activation. . . . They focused long and hard, thinking of their signature beasts.

"Something's happening!" Téa abruptly cried.

They opened their eyes. All of their rings were glowing. And then, from just above them, a large portal opened in space. Mighty roars echoed through the night air and Blue Eyes White Dragon flew out, followed closely by Five-Headed Dragon. The two behemoths landed nearby, studying their owners questioningly.

"Oh wow," Mokuba breathed.

Seto just stared for a long moment before approaching one of the majestic creatures. He reached up, touching its face before moving his hand along its neck and towards its back. "A real Blue Eyes," he whispered.

The Big Five were gawking at their Duel Monster. "It's massive," Gansley remarked. "There's room for all of us and more."

"There'd better be room for everybody, because we all wanna go along," Joey said.

"Between the two dragons, I'm sure that can be arranged," Atem said. "But perhaps we'd better travel by car until we come to the preserve."

"Fine with me," Crump said. "But the dragons can fly above us and let us know when they spot something."

That sounded like a logical arrangement. No one protested.