Thank you for these characters and their stories, Kazuki Takahashi. Requiescat in pace.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Dria

I watched Seto until he was just a speck off in the distance. I knew better than to argue with him when he was angry because it would only frustrate us both. I could only hope that he didn't do something stupid. I refocused my attention on the action behind me. The Big Five had decided to take one last shot at escaping from this virtual prison and returning to reality. Instead of each man choosing a competitor, however, all five had joined forces within Tristan's body to duel Yugi.

I narrowed my eyes at the older men, "So let me get this straight: All five of you 'gentlemen' are going to duel against one teenage boy? That seems completely fair to me."

Joey quickly stepped forward, taking a spot beside Yugi, "Five on one is uneven! So count me in."

I massaged my temples, trying to push away my frustration at the ludicrousy of this duel. If Noah thought having these five outdated businessmen duel in his stead made him look intimidating and strong, it was no wonder Gozaburo trained Seto to become his successor.

"Since this duel is two bodies against one, the only way for justice to be served is for us to start with eight thousand life points while you two begin with four thousand."

Technically, it was five bodies against two, but since the Big Five's bodies themselves weren't present, there wasn't much of a way around Johnson's sudden addition. What concerned me more was whether or not they would stick to their promise to return Tristan's body if they lost the duel. There was no guarantee Noah would step in again and prevent his subordinates from cheating to get out of this place.

"First things first, I'll play this magic card: A Legendary Ocean!"

Water came rushing from behind Gansley, flooding the entire area with seawater. An ancient city rose from beneath the water, a city that reminded me of the home and nation I had lost so long ago. Tea grabbed my arm and pulled me up the plateau along with the others. I shook my head, clearing away memories threatening to surface, and smiled gratefully at Tea, who nodded in response. It seemed as if she didn't despise me as much anymore, but she still wasn't my biggest fan.

I sat on the edge of the rock, one leg hanging off and the other pulled up so I could rest my chin on my knee. Gansley only got one move in before the others started fighting for control over the body. Now, there was something that could be to Yugi and Joey's advantage. Each of these five men had extremely large and even more fragile egos. If I could break those spirits even further, it might distract them enough. I smirked as Crump suddenly took over Tristan's body.

"I'm an expert in crunching numbers and crushing my rivals."

I started to laugh as loudly as I could naturally manage, "Gansley, now I'm not surprised that your name was the first on the list of people Seto wanted to fire when he first took control of the company. Barely one turn and you already had to switch with one of your younger comrades? You must be slowing down in your old age. Are you sure you're still up to this task, old man?"

I was sure that Gansley was glaring at me from within Tristan's head, but the damage had been done. Now, if Crump should make any mistake, no matter how small, chances were the men would switch again, possibly back to Gansley, who would be desperate to prove himself.

That mistake came much faster than even I expected. Not only did he allow their most powerful monster to be trapped by Kunai with Chain, Cyber Harpy's attack points also increased, placing his monsters into a possibly precarious situation. Then, Joey managed to draw Harpy's Feather Duster, removing the ocean from the playing field, along with Legendary Fisherman. While Joey's excitement was short lived because of his thoughtless attack on the Magician of Faith, the Big Five had probably had enough of Crump's moves. Particularly when he lost A Legendary Ocean again to Yugi's Card Destruction.

"Crump, I sincerely hope you were a better accountant than you are a duelist. Though, if I remember correctly, you were the second name on the list of people to fire, so you couldn't have been that good. Weren't you the one who caused the loss of $2,000,000 because you left off a zero from the basic expense report? You'd think an expert in crunching numbers, as you said you were, would have noticed that."

These men were making it too easy for me. Even if this plan wasn't really working, at least I was finding a way to entertain myself. Eventually, they would realize how right my words were, but I could only hope that moment would come sooner rather than later. Johnson quickly shoved Crump out of the way and took center stage. I shivered a little hearing the lawyer's voice again. I had nothing against lawyers, but this one in particular gave them all a bad name.

"Now that I've cleared the field of all of your monsters, it's time to work on your Life Points."

Johnson attacked Joey directly twice, quickly lowering his Life Points to a measly 300.

"Tell me, Joseph: are you beginning to understand my dueling strategy or do you need a hint? I plan to destroy the weaker link first."

"You're just mad cause I wiped the courtroom floor with you in our last duel."

I raised my hand and spoke up again, "If Joey is the weaker link, what does that make you since he already beat you?"

If the comments from the peanut gallery bothered Johnson, he hid it well. I assumed the other members of the Big Five were constantly reminding him that he had been defeated by Joey earlier and had to prove himself this time so they wouldn't be trapped in the virtual world forever. I couldn't truly blame them. Eternity might have grown dull, but at least I'd had the opportunity to travel and meet countless numbers of people. Here, there was nothing tangible; no people, no friends, no life really. My eyes slid closed as another memory flashed through my head.

"Run, my Lady! Intruders have broken into this side of the palace!"

One of the male servants burst into the bathing room shouting these words. Clashing swords could be heard from down the hallway as the guards attempted to fight off their attackers. The other women screamed and ran around wildly, trying to escape or to find a hiding place within the bathing room. Mereret calmly continued to wrap my covering around my body, tying off the loose ends into a belt at my hip. She then motioned for me to sit down in the chair I had thrown the covering onto earlier as she collected the various combs and oils she would use to finish washing my hair.

Five large men suddenly tore down the curtains covering the entrance to the women's bath. Some of the servants rushed forward, daggers drawn, but were quickly rendered unconscious or captured. The other women had huddled into a corner, attempting to hide behind the curtains that decorated the walls. Only Sekhmakh and Pyhia did not attempt to squeeze behind the fabric.

"Sekhmakh! We have grown tired of waiting for you to set our plan into motion. We will take matters into our own hands from here." A number of men advanced forward with small daggers drawn. Suddenly, one of them called out to the others, with a finger pointed towards me.

"You fools! Do you not realize who else is present? She sits in clear view!"

The others' eyes followed their comrade's outstretched digit until they met my eyes. Several of them stepped back towards the doorway.

"It's the head mage, Lady Alexandria! She commands the red dragon god! Run for your lives!"

Nearly half of the men quickly vanished back down the hallway. The leaders, who had begun their approach on the other women, didn't flee but remained frozen in their positions.

One soon spoke up, "Have you come to foil our plans with your red dragon, My Lady? Prevent us from fulfilling the task the gods themselves have laid before us?"

I laughed at the man's question, "Hardly. In fact, my presence here is merely bad fortune on your part. I don't intend to interfere unless necessary. However, your plan must not be as divinely granted as you believe, seeing as I am here."

His eyes narrowed at my suggestion, attempting to drive fear into my very marrows. When I didn't flinch as he expected, his frown became a devilish smirk.

"Perhaps, then, I should remove any temptation for you to interfere with our plans."

He quickly flung 3 small daggers in my direction. Mereret had, thankfully, retreated to safety behind a column when the men noticed me. While she didn't know the truth, she did know that there was something different about me and it would be wiser for her to simply stay out of the way.

One dagger missed completely, crashing into the stone behind me. The second struck my upper arm, pinning me to the wooden chair. The third left its mark across my cheek before joining its comrade on the ground beside the wall. I briefly struggled against the dagger in my arm but relented almost immediately. I didn't want to put the others in any more danger. So instead, I decided to wait until an opportune moment to strike back.

"Let us proceed. Sekhmakh, either you explain the reason for your delays, or we shall force the truth out of you."

Sekhmakh's pale complexion turned green as one of the men began fiddling with his own set of daggers.

"The only reason I have delayed in sending for you is because I have not been summoned by His Majesty in recent days. I cannot tell you his thoughts concerning the state of your village or his secret plans for ending the war with the Eastern barbarians. You have no foundation upon which to lay your claim for assassinating the King of Egypt!"

The other women, including myself, gasped as Sekhmakh's secret was exposed. The Pharaoh had given her everything she requested of him and this was her display of gratitude? My vision became distorted as my anger began to rise. As silently as possible, I pulled the dagger out of my arm with magic, intending to throw it towards the traitor. If their rat were dead, their entire plan would fail.

"We will proceed without a reason. There is sufficient unrest within the kingdom that it would not cause a violent revolt. We could even remove the rest of the royal family and assume command without strong resistance."

I began to lift my hand to throw my new weapon and summon my staff when another figure boldly stepped forward.

"I regret to inform you gentlemen, but the Pharaoh has already been made aware of your plans."

My eyes widened at the messenger. Pyhia? What in Ra's name was she doing?

Suddenly, the quiet breathes of the wind outside were the only noise in the room. The astonished men stared at the young princess, who had before hardly spoken a word to anyone beyond the circle of women hiding behind the curtains. The leader regained his senses first and leapt towards her in anger.

"What have you done, you wench?"

Jumping forward as well, I managed to intercept the man before he could reach the princess. But not before his comrade's dagger found its way through the confusion and struck her delicate neck.

I shook off the remainder of that vision. I wasn't ready to revisit the outcome of that battle, not yet. The battle before me was far more important at the moment. Pyhia and her memory would still be there when I returned. Perhaps one of these days, I would understand my necklace's choices in memory. I glanced back down at the duel, hoping that I hadn't missed too much of it yet. Yugi and Joey were both still in the game, so at least the Big Five hadn't managed to take out Joey yet. The Big Five also still had Altar of Mist on the field, but if my math was correct, it was close to activating.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to push away the lingering fatigue from the now constant headache. Just when I thought I could adjust to this whole virtual thing. Maybe some sarcasm would help.

"I could be wrong since I haven't been paying attention, but I'm going to assume that Nesbitt screwed up like Johnson did and that's why Leichter is now in control. His leadership won't help much since I heard from several others that you would have destroyed Kaiba Corp. entirely."

As expected, I got a short glare out of it before Yugi directly attacked with Dark Magician Girl.

"The time has come to reap the benefits of my magic card. You couldn't begin to imagine what monster lurks in my deck."

I raised my hand again and shouted down to the field, "I have a guess! Pick me! It couldn't possibly be…"

A terrible roar confirmed my suspicions. The Five Headed Dragon was here.

Yugi

We had faced the Five Headed Dragon before, but we could only defeat the monster by using creatures of Light. We had one turn to figure out a strategy.

Calling both our Deck Masters to the field was extremely risky. I could almost feel Dria's nerves spiking at both Joey's and my decision.

I hope you know what you're doing, all three of you.

The Pharaoh smiled slightly at her comment while I turned and gave her a thumb up. She rolled her eyes in response, shooting back a smile.

"How do you plan to beat our dragon?"

"By combining our Deck Masters together to form Dark Flare Knight!"

I took a deep breath as our move continued. Dark Flare Knight attacked and was destroyed as expected, with Mirage Knight taking its place. We should have been victorious with their Deck Master destroyed.

"Did you forget about the facedown card I played earlier? It's known as Deal with Dark Ruler."

Leichter was clearly the most capable of the Big Five. He had moves planned several turns in advance and was prepared for nearly any situation. I could only hope that Joey and I were as prepared now that Mirage Knight was gone. Magical Hats would only work for so long.

"Since my new dragon can attack four monsters at the same time, your hats won't work."

"One of us is about to lose."

Yugi! Pharaoh!

When Berserk Dragon attacked, Flame Swordsman threw himself into the line of fire to defend my Dark Magician. What was Joey doing?

"Joey, no!"

Suddenly, images flashed across my eyes: myself leaping to defend Joey and Tristan, the Pharaoh jumping to my defense, Dria throwing herself between a young girl and a knife.

"You there, Joey?"

Not only did Joey save us, but he had also managed to protect himself. I smiled widely as Pharaoh praised Joey's excellent plan. He had come so far since he first started dueling back at Duelist Kingdom. He was standing on his own feet now and was a great duelist. We made a great team. Finally, the Big Five were defeated again. "It was a pleasure doing business with you gentlemen."

Dria and the others came down from the small plateau they had been watching from and joined us on the ground again. The Pharaoh smiled widely as she approached us, gently wrapping his arms around her in a sweet embrace.

"I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone who believes in playing fair."

Suddenly, all 5 Deck Masters came rushing out at us, intent on stealing our bodies from us. There was nothing we could do to protect ourselves. The Pharaoh tightened his grasp on Dria, intent on defending her however he could. Then, all 5 were forced back as a red force field appeared around us.

"Breaking my rules again are we, gentlemen?"

The Big Five and Tristan's body were gone once more. We had gotten so close, and yet still couldn't rescue our friend. I glanced around, wanting to ask Dria if she had any other information on Noah. She was staring out where the Big Five had been, her eyes a blazing red instead of the soft green. Had she conjured the force field that protected us?

The red quickly faded, and she swayed a little as she stood. The Pharaoh reached out a hand to steady her before she could fall again. We needed to get out of this place before it was too late. But with Mokuba kidnapped, Kaiba missing, and Noah nowhere to be found, I wondered how we were going to accomplish that.