"Chapter 25- Excogitation"
By: Agent Baron
Yugi and friends have all arrived back in Domino after the successful completion of the KaibaCorp Grand Championship, regardless of the hacking attempt on the company by Zigfried von Schroeder, of Schroeder Corporation. Unaware of Baron Von Stupor's recent activity, Yugi returns home, ready to finally relax and take a break from fighting the evils of the world.
Waking up to a brand new day, he is surprised to find Téa visiting early in the morning. He runs back upstairs and promptly performs his morning ritual and returns to meet Téa.
"Hi, Téa, why are you here so early?" he asked.
Téa bore a grim complexion as Yugi noticed that she was holding Baron Von Stupor's cope.
"Why… do you have Baron Von Stupor's coat?" he asked her.
"I think the real question is 'why did he leave his coat at my house saying he might not need it for a while'?" she responded.
"He said that? Why would he say that?"
"Yugi… what's the one piece of unfinished business he would have around here?"
"…Potatoes?"
"Yugi! Try to be serious! What's the one thing around Domino that Baron Von Stupor would still need to take care of???"
"I was trying not to say it's Dolimus…"
"Do you think something might have happened to him?"
"I doubt it, Téa… I mean, he's pretty proficient in using his mask for different things…"
Téa looked down at the cope, depression in her eyes.
"I think we should look for him…" she said in a low tone.
"Okay. I'll help you look for him," Yugi responded, trying to smile at her.
"Yugi," Yami spoke from within his mind. "That coat gives me a bad feeling about Baron Von Stupor."
"I know, me too," Yugi responded. "I was just hoping he wouldn't do anything dangerous… where do you think we should go to look for him?"
"That's simple. We should look where he would most likely be, and that place would be wherever Dolimus is."
"Right. Good idea."
"The pharaoh gave me an idea for where Von Stupor might be," Yugi said to Téa, putting on his jacket. "Come on, let's go try to find him. The first place we should try is Dolimus's old house."
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Approaching Dolimus's old house, awful memories of the aftermath that ensued after that duel came flooding back into Yugi's head. Explosions, the house collapsing, and Dolimus's shouts along with blasts from Von Stupor's mask rung in his head so suddenly he almost thought they were real all over again.
"Yugi, are you okay? You look frightened," Téa asked him.
"Just bad memories, that's all…" Yugi answered, moving toward the wreckage and looking around. "They all hit me at once, and it kind of surprised me."
The two looked around when Téa pointed out a stairwell leading underground. Yugi went to investigate it and saw that it had been cleared out for access. The two went downstairs and found an open door on the right and left. Walking into the right room, they were suddenly shocked to see Dolimus sitting on the floor, facing away from them. Nearly shouting from surprise, they slowly began to back out of the chamber when Dolimus suddenly spoke.
"I thought you would eventually come looking for Baron Von Stupor," he said to them.
"D-Dolimus…? What's going on?" Yugi asked, petrified.
"Baron Von Stupor ruined my life… but he saved my soul."
"He what..?"
"I said he saved my soul," Dolimus repeated, standing and turning to face them. "He did it in the most despicable way possible… He sacrificed his own."
Yugi and Téa's heart sank.
"No…!!" Téa spurted and backed away, ready to break down at any instant.
"Wh-what happened?!" Yugi sputtered, his surprise quickly turning to anger. His Millennium Puzzle glowed as he shifted into Yami. Yami rushed forward and grabbed Dolimus by his shirt and yanked him closer. "Tell me what happened!"
"It was a Shadow Game," Dolimus answered, not bothering to fight back. "I still wanted to avenge my father, so in an effort to finish things once and for all, he offered one of two things: either vengeance for my father or to put me out of my misery."
Yami let Dolimus go and backed up, completely confused. Dolimus continued to speak.
"I don't know why he took so much pity on me either, Yugi. But as self-righteous as I thought him to be, every word that came out of that man's mouth was the absolute truth. He's a saint… and I martyred him."
"How… how could you, Dolimus…?"
"Because of that selfless deed, he taught me how wrong I was about so many things… from when I first became Baron Von Engar onward, he showed me through our last couple of duels together what it truly means to be strong. I hate him still, Yugi. But I don't hate him anymore because of what he did to my father… I hate him because he healed me and left me before I even had a chance to thank him. I don't feel anger or raw hatred anymore… only guilt. Horrid, merciless guilt."
"How would you have felt about him if he had won?"
"Actually… when I piece together the things he said before and during the duel, it's almost like... he knew he was going to lose before he even challenged me."
"Why… would he challenge you to a Shadow Game he knew he would lose? And the Shadow Realm is supposed to be a place of eternal suffering… that doesn't sound like he would have put you out of your misery. None of this makes any sense," Téa added, visibly fighting her tears. Suddenly, her mind flashed as she remembered something startling.
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"Von Stupor, please don't think like that! You are a good person!"
"For every person I help, I wind up hurting another somehow. Think about it…"
"No… I won't… If it weren't you, I never would have—" she caught herself and looked away. She appeared embarrassed.
Von Stupor held out his hand and after hesitating, shakily took her hand in his.
"Don't say that," he said to her.
"W-what are you—" she stuttered, shocked at his gesture. "What about your… fear?"
Von Stupor was visibly distressed from this action. Taking deep breaths, he said to her, "Sometimes… one doesn't always have a second chance to do things… So sometimes, it's best to simply… take the chance while the window of opportunity is open."
She watched him, frozen, unsure of what to do or say.
"Don't say what you were saying earlier…" Von Stupor continued earlier. "Even if I weren't here… you would have. I know that you also like one or both Yugis."
Téa's eyes widened with surprise.
"It's… really quite obvious," Von Stupor said, withdrawing his hand. "If you are having conflicting feelings between myself and Yugi… perhaps you should pursue Yugi instead. I'm quite sure I'll only break your heart in the long run."
OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO
"I have no idea," Dolimus answered. "He kept talking about the heart of the cards guiding him, like he had some kind of grand plan going that stretches far past even helping me."
"He couldn't be… executing some plan in the Shadow Realm, could he…?" Yami postulated, stroking his chin.
Suddenly, Téa's memory sparked. "Oh, no… he's not going to try it… is he?!"
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"Hey… one question I have… I heard that that entity used a card called 'Shadow of Orichalcos'… and it had the same effect as 'Seal of Orichalcos'?"
"Yes, it did."
"Yugi said that instead of shooting into the sky like normal, a purple spherical object just sat there… was that the entity's soul just sitting there?"
"Possibly because it had nowhere to go."
"And what about the Shadow Game?"
"Well, if you combine their 'effects', so to speak, I suppose it would make sense that the bound soul would be cast into the Shadow Realm."
"If that's the case, then Mai…"
"Yes, and Lighty… they have most likely not woken up yet, and they won't unless the soul is brought back to this realm."
"Is that possible?"
"If souls can be sent to the Shadow Realm, I am sure that those souls could be returned, too… except for the problem of them being stuck in that seal."
OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO
"Oh, no!" Yami cried aloud. "How could he do something so foolish?!"
"Oh…" Dolimus spoke, reaching into a small box nearby. "Here… he wanted me to give you this…"
He placed the Millennium Eye in Yugi's hand and he gasped.
"Dolimus…! How did you get this…?" Yami asked him, surprised.
"Von Stupor, originally asked me to give the mask to you, but it disappeared with his soul, but the eye-thing there was left behind. I figured that if I couldn't give you the mask, I'd at least give you that. You might know more about that mask than I do anyway."
"I don't even know why this fused with Majora's Mask in the first place… But now I wonder what exactly happened to the mask. Dolimus, where is Von Stupor's body?"
"Look in the other room."
The group entered the other room and found Baron Von Stupor lying on another bed of cushions Dolimus had made. He had a cloth pulled over his face.
"I know how much he wore that mask," Dolimus commented. "I put that cloth over him to preserve his real face's mystery. If he comes back, I'm sure he'd want to show his face when he's ready."
"Thank you," Yami said to him, sighing. "I don't know what he was thinking… but based on what I know from the Shadow Realm, that is not a friendly place to be and one's soul is very fragile. The more time he spends there without finding a way back, the more he decreases his chances of ever returning…"
"Von Stupor…" Téa cried, and held onto Yugi for support.
"Hey, Yugi," Dolimus said to him. Yami turned to face him. "I don't ever expect you to forgive me for the things I've done, for the lives I've ruined. But I've been doing a lot of thinking since before you got here and I wonder if you could find it in you to give me a chance to repent for what I've done."
"What are you talking about?"
"Duel me, defeat me," Dolimus said, extracting his deck. "Send my soul to the Shadow Realm. Let me help Stupor come home safe."
"Dolimus…"
"Look, I'm not doing this to butter you up. I'm doing this because I need to repent for all the sins I've committed, and the first step is by throwing myself into immediate danger to save the man who deserves to live his life more than I do. I'm not doing this for me this time, and I'm finally placing all of my faith in my deck. No matter what, I'm going to trust in the heart of the cards, and hope it guides me to the right place."
Yami hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"I can see it in your eyes," he said to Dolimus. "I understand. Once we start this, there will be no turning back. Do you understand this?"
Dolimus nodded.
"Very well, then. This will be a Shadow Game. The loser will have their soul banished to the Shadow Realm!"
"I accept those conditions... let's duel."
Dolimus executes a plan to follow Von Stupor's lead to the Shadow Realm! There's only one way this duel will end and both duelists know it... yet they will fight their hardest and let the heart of the cards make the ultimate call! Email me with the subject "he kicks like a donkey" and I'll give you the theme for the next chapter! See you then!