"Chapter 2: Conspiracy"
By: Agent Baron
Baron Von Stupor trudges the halls of the empty Industrial Illusions HQ, looking for answers to questions he can't remember. Not a soul can be seen or heard as his footsteps echo the halls.
Why is no one here? he thought to himself. Is it a holiday? Perhaps there is a company meeting or gathering elsewhere? Unless... I bet the company is throwing a surprise birthday party for me on the wrong day.
Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion come from the direction of the main entrance. He skipped swiftly through the doors to see two strange men on the main floor, one of them holding what looked like Mai Valentine. The larger of the two rose his pendant into the air and a bright blue light engulfed the entire room, blinding him. He covered his face to guard against the light until it faded not long after. Looking down, he scanned the rest of the room. The men with Mai were gone, but he also saw Yugi, Joey, Téa, and Tristan down below. The security on the building which had somehow been activated after he arrived was disabled as Kaiba ambled in the door. Eager to see his friends again, Von Stupor scampered out of the room to find the nearest stairwell.
He entered back into the mezzanine as the group began to walk toward the door to the main tower.
"Friends, wait!" he called to them.
"Baron Von Stupor!" Yugi cried out in surprise. It was then that Von Stupor recognized his voice as Yami.
"Your hair still sticks up?" Von Stupor observed. "They have products for that, you know."
He reached out to smooth it when Yami moved his head away, a worried expression. Von Stupor was caught from behind by a slap on the back by Tristan.
"Von Stupor, howyadoin?" he asked, happy to see him. "I hear you've been taking good care of the company, eh?"
"Oh, no... I had a bad feeling I'd run into this clown. Of course with everyone gone, you'd be the only one left, just as clueless as ever," Kaiba grunted.
"Kaiba my friend, it's been so long! How have you been?"
"I'll be better once I finish my business here and continue on my way without you geeks."
Stupor looked to Yami and chuckled.
"He called me a geek," he said. "He thinks I'm so smart, but I know there are so many people smarter than me."
"There will be time to talk later, we must find the card Pegasus was supposed to give me," Yami interrupted suddenly.
"I do not know where he is, I apologize..." Von Stupor responded. "He is somewhere trying to throw a surprise birthday party on the wrong day, I believe."
Everyone looked at each other, unsure of what to say.
"Actually, Von Stupor... Pegasus was attacked recently..." Téa informed him.
"What?! Where is your proof?! Such jokes are cruel!" Von Stupor snapped back, raising his voice.
"Easy man, we'll tell you on the way!" Tristan said sympathetically, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Duke Devlin then came into the room, followed by Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, two defeated duelists from the Battle City tournament.
"Guys," he said. "I think I know where we should go! There was one door I couldn't unlock from the computer."
Suddenly Weevil spoke up, pointing at Von Stupor.
"You!! I... I remember you! You're that guy who... my deck... you destroyed it!" he choked, panicked.
"Weh...?" Von Stupor asked, his head cocked to the side.
"I'll never forgive you for what you did! Never! I ought to make you pay for every single one of thosae cards! Don't try and tell me you've forgotten about what you did!"
"Er... I..."
Joey pulled Von Stupor aside and said to him, "This guy was in the mini-tournament battle at the Battle City tournament. I think Majora messed with him during the duel, remember? It was the first time I ever saw you possessed by him."
"Oh, yes... you tried to throw my deck in the water, yes? So I would be disqualified?" Von Stupor then asked Weevil.
"Oh, haha..." he muttered. "Yes, I forgot about that... how about we call it even, then?" he chuckled nervously.
Von Stupor stared at him for a moment, and proceeded where the rest of the group was headed.
Together, the group journeyed to the top of the main tower while Von Stupor was informed of the gang's activities. He learned all about their brush with the mysterious Seal of Orichalcos and Pegasus's falling under its might to Mai Valentine.
"M... Mai? The harpie duelist?" he asked, his voice shaking.
"Yeah," Joey affirmed. "I was just as shocked as you are."
"She... she must repent!" Von Stupor boiled.
"Von... she's brainwashed by those orichalcos jerks. You can't blame her... you can't."
"Someone as strong as her could not possibly be brainwashed! Her fighting spirit..."
"Is not as strong as you think, Von. I understand her better than anyone here, and trust me, she's not as strong as she acts, and those biker punks managed to take advantage of that. I'm gonna get my revenge on them, and make them pay!"
"I as well." Von Stupor's hand clenched with burning anger.
At the top of the main tower, next to Pegasus's office, they found a door with a card lock in front of it.
"Do you know anything about this, Von Stupor?" Yami asked Von Stupor.
"Eh... only that I have not been in this door. 'Tis quite inconspicuous, so I never noticed it before."
Yami observed it for a moment, and took out a strange card from his pocket. Swiping it, the door mysteriously unlocked. He showed it to Von Stupor.
"I recieved that in the mail, along with the video I recieved from Pegasus," he told him.
Yami then marched into the room to see statues of Pegasus's toon monsters all around. A gigantic Toon Mermaid to the right, a Parrot Dragon hanging from the ceiling to the left, plus many more; it was an astonishing sight. Suddenly, a three dimensional hologram of Pegasus appeared before everyone.
"Yugi-boy..." it greeted Yami.
"Pegasus?!" Tristan exclaimed.
"It's a hologram, probably a prerecorded message," Kaiba explained.
Pegasus continued. "Yugi-boy, if you are viewing this message, then it seems that the gentlemen who were after me have finally succeeded."
"What?!" Von Stupor raged. "What gentlemen?! You did not tell me this?!"
"Baron Von Stupor, I know you are no doubt with the group by now. I want to apologize for keeping you in the dark on the whole matter... These men are very dangerous, and I didn't want you to get involved. This is a matter for Yugi to handle, the King of Games. I'm sorry for doubting you, Von Stupor, but considering that you aren't of legendary descent, I couldn't possibly risk your well-being. Heh, you won't listen to me, I'm sure... You're much too noble for that. Anyway, to the point of this message.
"Yugi-boy, this is the work of an organization known as Doma. They have decided to use the wonderful little monsters I have made and use them for their own evil purposes..."
Pegasus's hologram proceeded to explain about the mysterious organization known as Doma, claiming many of history's events to have been caused by said organization. These events included but were not limited to the rise and fall of Rome and the cultural revolution. According to Pegasus's hologram and an off-hand comment from Kaiba, Doma had also bought out Industrial Illusions and was purchasing horrendous amounts of shares from KaibaCorp as well. It then went on to postulate that Doma has begun acting in evil intention.
Doma... Von Stupor thought to himself, pondering the name. Doma attacked Pegasus and usurped the company. Not to mention, as long as Doma is in control, I no longer have a place in this company as vice-president and CEO. They have also been claiming souls by using a mysterious new card... 'The Seal of Orichalcos'. Something must be done!
"Within this room, I have hidden a very secret card. I would have handed it to you myself, but I'm obviously in no position to do so. In order to find it, you must solve this riddle: Where can you go when you need an extra card?"
Looking around the room, Yami pointed to a sculpture of the Pot of Greed.
"Using the Pot of Greed allows you to draw two cards. It must be in there!" he said, Tristan moving to the statue. Tristan reached in and pulled out a card that was conspicuously blank.
"That's weird, there's nothing on this thing at all," he grumbled.
"Yugi," Pegasus's hologram continued. "I know you are the only one who can stop Doma's plans and my beautiful monster creations! I am placing all of my faith in you... I hope you understand, Baron Von Stupor."
"Heh..." Von Stupor chuckled.
As the group walked out, a figure suddenly leapt from nowhere and shoved Baron Von Stupor back into the room, breaking the locking device on the way and shutting the door behind it.
Von Stupor fell and slid across the ground. His cope stayed in place as he slid up and rolled backwards over its shoulders, draping it over his face. He got up with a jump and flung the cope over his head, revealing the figure to him.
He was of a bit shorter than Von Stupor's height and sported a white shirt with a large, over lined letter 'P' on the front as a design. He wore light blue colored jeans with white shoes, similar in comparison to Von Stupor's. Around his neck he wore a baby blue colored blanket as a cape. Perhaps his strangest feature was that we wore an odd mask, resembling a face with two stacked red stripes of war paint lining his cheeks, a brown stripe for each eyebrow and a blue line that journeyed down his forehead partway prior to heading back up in a symmetrical fashion. The eyes were very striking, a pure white with no pupils. The entire mask bore a battle ready look. Attached to the top of the mask was a gray hat, shaped like a cylindrical pyramid, the hat brim a darker shade of gray. The hat drooped down to just beneath his shoulder line, covering his entire hair area, rendering its color a mystery.
"Hello there, Baron Von Stupor! Long time, no see, eh?" he said in a sarcastic manner.
"Eh... who in the world are you??" Von Stupor asked in utter confusion. "You look a lot like a villain in a poorly made comic I've seen before..."
The man snorted. "Says a lot about your attire, what with how similar we are. Then again, I wear this getup as a mockery of you, anyway. I even have my own name: Baron Von Engar!" (A/N: Name is pronounced "Baron Von Anger".)
"What is your business with me? I have much more important matters to tend to!"
"Aw, now what business might that be?"
Pounding was heard on the other side of the door, ignored by both barons.
"Not that it is any of your business, but I must inflict revenge on the organization who has wronged my friend, colleague, and idol, Maximillion Pegasus! I am on a quest to defeat the Doma organization!"
"Doma, huh? That's quite the aspiration."
"You know of Doma?"
"Hmmm, you never know. So, you're seeking revenge, huh? That sounds a lot like what I'm here for. At least, just the part about revenge."
"Revenge? On me?"
"Ohhhhh, yes. And don't pretend like you don't know why."
"I have never even known anyone named Baron Von Engar before!"
"Oh, but you will, because we're going to duel."
"What? I have no time for this. Remove yourself from my path!"
"Ha... you're going to duel me, all right. Got your deck? I got your duel disk."
Just then, Baron Von Stupor noticed Engar wearing two duel disks. One was his, the other with a very peculiar design on it. Engar took Von Stupor's duel disk off and slid it to him across the floor.
"I know you've got your deck with you," he taunted. "Come on, put it in the system, let's duel!"
"I don't have time for this, Engar, let me leave!" Von Stupor's frustration and desire to continue his quest began to grow.
"Oh, you'll make time, all right... that is, if you don't want this whole place to go up in smoke..."
"You..."
"Thaaaat's right..." he sang. "I've rigged this whole place up with plastic explosives. I'm prepared to bring this whole place down on all of us, and don't think I'd mind."
Von Stupor was flabbergasted as Engar pulled out a detonator from his pocket and waved it about.
"What could possess you to... Why are you so desperate to duel me?"
"Like I said, I'm here on a revenge mission, too. Ha ha ha..."
"What did I do?!"
"Enough talk! Time to duel! Do it!!"
Von Stupor confusedly and fearfully pulled out his dueling deck and prepared to face his maniacal new opponent.