"What are you doing here?"
Joey Wheeler glared at Seto Kaiba, rushing past him and making his wayinto the conference room. "I was invited. Why are you here…oooh, little pastries."
"Joey Wheeler, always stuffing your face." Mai Valentine said, entering the room and taking a seat near a window. "Where do you put it all?"
"High metabolism." Joey said, crumbs spilling from him mouth.
Seto just glared at him. "It is bad enough you are here, do not disgrace the rest of us with your poor manners."
"What bad manners?" Joey asked, waving a pastry at him. "I'm cultured! Say I'mnot, and I'll beat your ass from here to Thursday."
"Yes, quite cultured." Mako Tsunami joked, walking in wearing his usually torn vest, shorts and sandals. "I have seen Great Whites that feast with more grace then you."
"Just keep laughing, fish boy…" Joey snarled.
"Are we making fun of Joey, Kaiba-boy?" Pegasus questioned, making his way into the rooma nd dusting off a chair. "You really should have let me know, I would have brought my joke book."
"I told you before, don't call me that." Kaiba snapped.
"Oooh, temper temper. Don't want to bust a vein, my boy…ruin your pretty face with a hemorrhage." Pegasus grinned.
"You know, its things like that comment that got Michael Jackson in trouble." Bandit Keith snarked from his spot at the table. "Why don't w go back to insulting monkey-boy…that's something I can really get behind."
"Shuddaup, ya cheat!" Joey snarled, hurling an apple at Bandit Keith. The duelist ducked, the fruit flying past him…
And caught by a meaty hand.
"Is this the best the world can offer in terms of duelists?" The man said, crushing the apple in his fist. "Children that bicker with each other in our dark hour." The man, standing 6 foot 5 and built like a tank, settled his muscular body down in one of the chairs next to Mai. "The world is doomed if this is the case."
Seto rolled his eyes. "Pleasant to a fault, aren't you Guy?"
Guy Roads smirked slightly. "It is what makes me charming."
"Guys, lets get down to business." Yugi Moto said from the head of the conference table. Though he had been a late bloomer, finally hitting a growth spurt and hisvoice cracking to a more deep pitch, he was still dwarfed by those in attendance. It didn't help that Keith, Seto and Guy were there to make him look even shorter. "As you all know, I called us all here today to talk about some serious matters.
"It has been several years since the Duelist Kingdom, Battle City…the Atlantis Invasion…a time where we were able to simply do as we wished and live our lives. I had hoped, with the destruction of the Millennium Items, we would finally have peace and a period of reprise.
"That time is over." Yugi paused for a moment, taking a breath. "I have felt a stirring within the Shadow Realm."
Seto stood up. "That is why we are here, to listen to you blather on about children's fairy tales?"
"Idiot." Mai muttered.
"What did you call me?" Seto demanded.
"I called you an idiot!" Mai snapped. "Children's fairy tales…lets count it off: You have 2 former slaves of Marik…" Joey frowned, as did Keith. "a guy that shared his body with the ghost of a pharaoh, a former gunmen for Dartz," She pointed to herself.
"And don't forget your demi-god boyfriend." Joey added with a slight sneer. The fact Mai had dumped him (at least that's how he saw it) for Guy Roads still stung.
Guy cracked his knuckles. "Can I smite the monkey?"
"Please do." Seto said. Mai calmly stopped him before Guy could reach over and pop Joey's head off his body.
"Such blood shed." Pegasus tisked. "Really Yugi-boy, could we nothave kept the riff-raff out?"
Mako frowned. "Are you making fun of me?"
"No one was addressing you, my dear Mako. Much as it always is."
"Guys!" Yugi shouted, as the room exploded into many little arguments. "Guys, listen to me…"
BOOM!
Everyone froze, turning as one as the doors to the conference room exploded, shattered from their hinges and crashing down, Guy just able to throw himself infront of Mai as one of the doors flew at her. The door smashed against his back, breaking like glass and raining splinters down upon them.
Turning, Guy closed his eyes as he took in the man that had decided to break down the door. "Party's over." He muttered.
"Damn straight it is over." Geno Roads snarled, marching into the room. He extended is hand, smacking Seto across the head, his former apprentice having the smarts to look properly cowed, even if it meant Wheeler laughed at him.
The dagger that flew at Joey and nearly cut himin two was enough tomake up for the embarrassment.
"Mr. Roads…you received my message…" Yugi said, as Geno sat down at the other end of the table.
"Of course…and it only confirmed what I have felt."
Mai frowned. "You felt it too?"
"The air sings with it…something has upset the balance."
Yugi turned to Geno. "The Shadow Realm has become active again…I've always felt touches of it…but now, it is like I am there again." He turned to Pegasus. "Did you feel it?"
"Yes." The creator of Duel Monsters admitted. "I have felt it rather strongly, Yugi-boy. I merely assumed the events at the academy…"
"Yea, the academy." Joey spoke up. "Nice going there, Kaiba, letting a school be built by a shadow duelist!"
"I'll personally throw you out of here if you don't…"
Geno played with his dagger. "The Rare Hunters have returned."
Everyone grew quiet.
"There is no use keeping our secret, Seto. They need to know." He leveled them all with a glare. "The Rare Hunters have been resurrected by 4 powerful shadow duelists…each of whom is more powerful then Marik.
"The first, and least dangerous, is Vanessa Fox, now called Nessa Lockehart. And when I say she is the least dangerous, don't assume that makes us safe in the slightest. She is the Queen of Nightmares. Already, the demons of Hell are readying for her call to battle."
Mako frowned. "How do you know this?"
Guy rolled his eyes. "My father is Heaven's number one warrior. The gods always give him the info before the rest of us."
Geno continued on. "The next is Samantha "Mayday" Ciro-Lockehart. She is a cunning strategist, maybe one of the best battlefield generals ever to be born. She moves like the world is her chess set…and every one of her pieces is a queen."
"I've heard of her." Mai said. "She's the Greek Harpie duelist…she's a Rare Hunter?"
"Not just a Hunter…one of the guardians. The other is Arlen Lockehart…a man that has tricked me and Seto before."
Seto nodded. "Arlen took the disguise of Alexander Milo, his old name, and was able to become a teacher at the Duelist Academy, insuring him the power to bring more duelists into the hunters." He paused. "He is also a skilled assassin. 12 powerful men and women are known to have been killed by him…hundreds more are believed to be."
"The most dangerous though, is a young man named Arliss. Brother of Arlen, he is a con man, and the King of the Rare Hunters. He has been the most active in creating Rare Hunters."
"Don't you mean recruiting?" Joey asked. "Or brainwashing?"
"No." Geno said, throwing some photos onto the table. "This is Vanessa Fox, Candace Misawa and Alexis Rhodes." He threw 3 new pictures down, each of a different stunning, if evil looking, woman. "They are now known as Nessa, Cassandra, and somehow Lexie…even though Alexis is still alive."
The group looked at the pictures. "You mean…he physically turns them into…these women?" Mako asked.
"Yes." Geno said. "Arliss has learned to use the Shadow Realm to transform others into dark versions of themselves. We believe he even has done this to himself. He has now begun raising an army…he has atleast 7 regular duelists he hasn't converted working for him, though one is close, as Mr. McGregor is dating Cassandra. He has already made clear he wants to take over the world, but has been careful to cover his tracks. "
Joey frowned. "Wait…the gods talk to you, right? So why don't they have you just kill the guy?"
"Assuming I could…" Geno said with a bit of humility, "there are bigger things to worry about…the Society of Light for one."
"The Society of Light?" Pegasus asked. "The rumors are true?"
"What rumors?" Mako questioned.
Pegasus explained. "There have been rumors of a group ran by a man named Sartorious. He is said to posses the same ability as Arliss Lockehart, making people into what is called "Whited Out Slaves"."
"The NAACP is gonna sue his ass…" Guy muttered.
Geno glared at his son. "Sartorious wants the same as Lockehart: The world under his thumb. He is seeking to take control of the world through several ways. His first attempt…well, we will discuss that in a moment. But his second will begin soon enough."
"His second?" Yugi questioned. Rapidly, the meeting that was suppose to be about a strange feeling he had gotten had become something more. Something darker and more dangerous.
"The gods are clueless…but they say it will occur in a few days, when Sartorious, the Society of Light, AND the Rare Hunters all arrive in Domino."
"WHAT?!" They all shouted.
Geno nodded. "The Academy is coming to Domino…and with them, both sides ready to do battle. It will be a dark time, and thus we must be ready."
"What do you suggest?" Yugi asked. "Get the best duelists out to take them on? Set up traps and spring them? Gang up on them together and eliminate them one by one?"
"Nothing." Geno said. "We do nothing."
You could hear a pin drop.
"E-e-excuse me?" Yugi stammered.
"What the hell?" Joey shouted.
"Brilliant, Geno-boy." Pegasus said. When the others looked at him, heshrugged. "Let your enemies destroy each other…common warfare."
Seto nodded. "its just stupid enough to work."
Guy chuckled. "My father, the king of stupid ideas."
Mai nodded. "Glad you said it, big boy…"
Geno rolled his eyes in annoyance. "This isn't a suggestion, this is a decree. You all have a habit of getting involved with matters of the gods when you should just butt out."
Guy raised his hand. "Uh, that doesn't count for members of the holy family, right?"
Mai raised her hand, Guy's engagement ring flashing in the light. "Or future ones?"
"Most times no…but in this case, even I'm not allowed to interfere."
No one disagreed at that point. If Geno Roads wasn't allowed to get involved…
"Guy, Mai…I need to speak with you for a few moments…in private." At the glances Mako and Keith gave him, Geno flashed a winning smile. "Wedding talk and all that."
Mako nodded in good humor. "Of course, take your time, Mr. Roads."
"Just let us groomsmen know what you need, alright?" Keith asked. Geno had originally insisted that Bandit Keith join Guy's dueling team because he wanted his old friend to protect his son. But with Guy proving just as cunning as his father, Keith, Mako and Guy had ended up forming a bond of brotherhood, the three almost as close as Guy was to Seto, who he considered to be a little brother…something Seto was not thrilled with but could do little about.
Moving out into the hall, Geno's smile faded as he pointed at Mai. "Because you will be joined to my son soon, and thus be welcomed into the godly family, I am going to let you in on this. But I swear, if you leak one word to your other mortals…"
Mai held up her hand. "I swear to keep quiet, Geno. I've seen you when you get smiting."
"Hurry it up, Kratos." Guy snarked.
"Stop calling me that."
"stop acting like a brooding bitch then." Guy answered. "And get on with it."
Geno licked his lips, looking around. "Anarchy."
Guy's face paled.
"Who's Anar…" Mai said aloud.
Geno and Guy clasped her mouth shut.
"Don't!" They both hissed. "Never say his name in public or that loud."
Once they had released Mai, Geno began speaking. "Anarchy is an ancient evil, a titan-god from the world of the duel monsters. Along with his sister Sola, he was able to take over the shadow realm, the duel monster realm, and several others, before meeting their end here, on this world."
"Thanks to dear old granddad." Guy added.
Mai looked at the dagger Geno always carried. His pride and joy, his chief weapon, the Millennium Dagger was the first of the items, the one that inspired the Egyptians to make the other 7. His had belonged to his father, Destiny, and thus was more powerful: It could block magic, open dimensional rifts, and return to his hand at a thought.
It also, apparently, could defeat a titan-god.
"IF their gone…"
"Their back." Geno whispered. "The gods hid them in a metal cube, claimed it was a demon of light, as they knew no one would want one of those…until Sartorious came along." He ran his fingers through his hair. "The gods want me to deal with them, since I hold the dagger."
Guy frowned. "Can you beat him?"
&&&
"I hope so." Geno's voice said, tiny as it came from the crystal ball.
Anarchy and Sola shared a look. "Now…aren't you glad we splurged on cable?"
Next Time on GX: Hunters- The time as come. With the Society of Light and the Rare Hunters coming to Domino, the stage is set for confrontation. Lexie, deciding to take a break from her new family to go baby shopping, encounters her white half. As Lexie and Alexis do battle, neither realizes that the Hammer of Heaven, Marco Giovanni, watches with interest.
Episode 71-Yin and Yang