Chapter 16

The group of boys raced back through Domino city. Three boys followed another boy who had just made this run. Their feet slapped against the pavement as they ran, the boy in front nearly tripped but he did not stop. The cold, early morning air ripped at them and tugged at their clothing but none of them paid it any thought. Their only thought was getting there as quickly as they could. Ross led the way from the city centre and into a disused part of town, the others following behind. When the factories came into view he stopped, doubling over and gasping for breath as the others caught up with him. He gestured to the factories ahead of them.

"Over… over there." He panted, "He's in the largest… the largest one."

Joey moved in front of Ross looking up at the large metal factory ahead. He shook his head, how could they be sure Atem was here? He turned to face the boy who was still doubled over, exhausted from the run he'd just made.

"How can we be sure that you're telling us the truth?" He asked, moving towards the boy.

Ross straightened up, "Because this is my fault. I was one of the boys who attacked him in the streets weeks ago and one of the ones to lure him into that warehouse during your duel."

"Why did you do it?" Yugi asked.

"Honestly, I don't know." Ross replied, turning to him, "I didn't want to lose face with the others, but it went too far. A dispute over a card game should never lead to someone getting hurt. At first, I was ok with what was happening, I'm ashamed to say I thought it funny but… the last few days have been horrible, and I couldn't stand to see what was happening."

Joey grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, "Did you hurt him? When you brought him here did you hurt him?"

"No, I didn't." Ross replied, truthfully, "The other two did but I didn't."

Joey shook with anger, but he did not release the boy, he glared into Ross' eyes who just stared back until Tristan moved forwards to force Joey to let go. The three friends moved together and looked into the factory grounds, each wondering what they would find inside. Yugi looked round at Ross.

"When you left to get us, was he ok?"

Ross shook his head, "No, he wasn't. Please get to him as soon as you can. He's… he's in the back of the factory but the only way in is through those doors," He pointed at the metal doors which were just in view, "The other two are in there so you'll have to deal with them first."

Yugi smiled, a small grateful smile, "Thank you."

Ross nodded but didn't return the smile. Turning away to look at the factories Yugi moved forwards the other two right behind him. He was glad they'd left Tea at the shop to wait with Grandpa, he'd wanted to come with them, but Yugi would not allow it. Together they climbed over the broken fence which encased the factory grounds and moved towards the largest one, looking around as they went.

"Why didn't we think to check here?" Tristan asked.

"It's not marked on the maps." Yugi replied, "This place looks like it was abandoned years ago, I didn't even know that these factories existed."

They closed in on the doors to the factory. Yugi looked back over his shoulder, Ross was still standing where they had left him. Turning to the other two he looked at them.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

They nodded.

"Don't worry Yugi." Joey said, "When this is over Atem is coming home with us."

Yugi nodded, readjusted his duel disk, which he'd grabbed before he'd come, and pulled the door open. It creaked loudly as it opened and inside, he heard voices. Moving inside, with Joey and Tristan right behind him, his eyes were drawn to the far wall where he could see cut ropes attached to the pipework, on the floor were dark stains. He did not need to ask what that was. In the centre of the room was a barrel which had previously held a fire which now only emitted a weak spark as the fire died. Not too far away from the barrel were two boys who, upon seeing them, leapt to their feet. Yugi immediately recognised the boy from the previous night. He sneered at Yugi as he moved to stand in their way.

"Well well," He said, "I must say I wasn't expecting to see you so soon Yugi Muto. I did warn you what would happen if you followed me."

Joey moved to charge at him but Yugi put his hand out, stopping him.

"You did warn me," Yugi replied, "But you never said I couldn't find you on my own or with someone's help."

Dom narrowed his eyes at the boy, "It doesn't matter. I assume you've come to finally hand over what is rightfully mine."

"Like hell he has." Joey spat, "We've come to get our friend back."

Dom exchanged a look with his friend then gestured round the room.

"As you can see boys he's not here. He must have escaped, could be anywhere now."

Joey made to speak but Yugi cut him off,

"No, he's here, I know he is. You would not want to give me the upper hand here. Wasn't it you who told me last night that by having him you could get one over me?"

"Well remembered King of Games, but if you remember that, then you must remember what I said I would do if you didn't give me what is rightfully mine."

Yugi nodded, "I remember. But if you want it, then let's do this properly."

With a movement of his wrist the duel disk on his arm activated, the arms swung round and the light shone.

"You said you were a better duellist then me, well now's your chance to prove it. Defeat me and what you want is all yours."

Dom stared at Yugi for a moment, this was not what he'd been banking on. He was not prepared to duel here. This was not how it was supposed to go.

"Well," Yugi said, drawing five cards from his deck, "Let's do this, King of Games."

He looked over to his opponent who still hadn't moved. There was no sign of a duel disk anywhere but this wasn't an issue, Yugi was pretty sure he'd worked out this boy's game.

"What are you waiting for?" Joey called, "Too much of a coward to put your money where your mouth is?"

Dom continued to stare at the other boys for a moment, before Seb gave him a shove from behind.

"As much as I'd love to crush you." He said, finally, "I'm afraid this was not our deal. I never agreed to duel you for the title. You were just to hand it over."

"So, you don't wish to prove you can duel circles round me?" Yugi asked, "Here I am, the King of Games, challenging you to a duel and you say no."

"I never said no, I said it was not part of our deal." Dom spat, glaring at Yugi.

"Oh, so you'd rather become King of Games under false pretences? You'd rather hurt someone to get to the top rather than earn it yourself."

Dom spluttered to say something but found no words came out.

"You never had any intention of duelling." Joey called, "You thought kidnapping and beating someone we care about would be the way to get everything you wanted. You're a cheat."

"That's not all he is." A new voice called.

Turning they saw Seto Kaiba enter the warehouse with Roland and other members of his security team behind him.

"He's a liar and a thief." Kaiba said, moving to stand next to Yugi, "You tried to fake your way into the tournament by pretending to be someone else. Too bad for you my system saw through your lies and rejected you."

Dom took a step back, unable to say anything.

"Everything you did was full of lies and deceit." Yugi said, putting his cards away, "I've dealt with people like you all my life and I know that you're all just cowards who would do anything other than face up to what you've done. You knew you couldn't make it through by yourself and had to pretend to be someone else. Then when that didn't work you went back to doing what all bullies do and hurt people to make it look like you're all that, rather than accept reality."

The two boys seemed frozen where they stood as Roland and his colleague moved in, ready to grab them if they tried to make a run for it. A tense silence broke out as Yugi just watched the two boys, waiting for any response from them. But none came. No patronising or sarcastic retort, nothing.

"Suddenly, the King of Games has nothing to say." Yugi sighed.

"He's a coward at heart." Kaiba agreed.

After a couple more long moments of silence the two boys decided that now would be a good time to try to make a run for it, but Roland and his colleague were too quick, they grabbed the pair stopping them from escaping. Dom looked over at Yugi, he glared at him.

"You think this is over Yugi but it is far from it. I will get that title from you, I will be the most famous duellist in the world. Mark my words I will take it all from you."

"No it's over." Yugi stated, folding his arms, "I suspect we won't be seeing you for a very long time."

Dom merely growled in response as he was forced out of the factory by Roland. Yugi watched him go for a moment before turning to Kaiba.

"Thank you." He said, "How did you know where to find us?"

"After your visit last night, I checked the CCTV footage of Domino." Kaiba explained, "I found you talking to that guy in the park and tracked him here. I also saw that other guy who led you here, so came to join the fun."

"Thank you Kaiba, I mean it. Seriously, thank you."

Kaiba waved him off, "Spare me your appreciation. I only made sure that no one else but me was in a position to take that title of King of Games from you. Now, go find him and get out of here."

Yugi rolled his eyes and turned away, his mind focused on the main reason he'd come here. Now that he'd sorted Dom out it was time to find Atem. Moving over to the pipes he crouched down and put a hand to the dark stain on the floor. He felt a coldness flow through him, he didn't want to think about how these stains had got there. His eyes traced the stain up the wall, there were two bits of rope which were tied round the pipework, but the ends were frayed. They'd been cut. Atem had been here, but where was he now? Taking a breath he looked round, Kaiba was following his team outside and his friends were also searching for clues. Moving away from the wall his eyes fell upon a doorway which led to a long, unforgiving corridor. Ross had mentioned Atem was at the back of the factory, maybe this was where he'd meant. Heading through the doorway, Yugi hurried down the corridor, there were many doors that led away, but he thought the best place to start would be at the very end of this corridor after all Ross had said to go to the back. The corridor was long and menacing, he hoped he found Atem quickly. The quicker he found him, the quicker they could get out of here. So focused on getting to the end of the corridor he almost missed the steps in front of him. Wobbling slightly Yugi stopped and cast his eyes around. Various pieces of broken objects littered the floor. But also, lying in what once must have been a shelving unit was someone who looked remarkably like Yugi.

"Atem!" Yugi cried.

Hurrying down the steps he struggled to climb over the various debris. But when he reached his friend, he found the former King lying on his side, his back to Yugi. He was only wearing his t-shirt and trousers; the t-shirt was ripped and bloodied. Yugi could just see blood clinging to the once King's back from various puncture marks. He bit his lip as he cast his eyes over his closest friend. His arms were covered in cuts, bruises and grazes, his left arm bore a nasty gash which Yugi guessed had been from the shelving unit given as the metal around him was covered in blood. There was rope still tied tightly around his wrists and blood seeped from underneath. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Atem was cold to the touch and for a moment Yugi's heart stopped as he thought the worst. But as he rested his hand on his shoulder, he felt Atem trembling as his body desperately tried to generate heat. Letting out a sigh of relief, he carefully climbed over Atem to get a look at his face. His eyes were closed, and his face was covered in blood, his nose had blood trickling down from both nostrils and from the dry blood Yugi guessed this wasn't the first nosebleed he'd had. Various other cuts littered his face, all of which varied in severity. The skin which could been seen hiding underneath the blood was pale and clammy. Yugi, still with his hand on his shoulder, knelt next to the former Pharaoh.

"Atem? Can you hear me?" He asked, he spoke softly to not startle the once King, "It's alright, you're safe now."

Atem did not respond, the lack of response told him that his friend was unconscious. Yugi gently shook his shoulder, he was desperate to get some sort of reaction from the King. He needed that reassurance that they'd found him in time.

"Please Atem, just open your eyes. It's me, you're going to be ok."

For a moment there was silence, Atem's eyes remained closed, and his body continue to tremble. But as Yugi continued to shake his shoulder a violent tremble shot through him. Atem's eyelids fluttered for a moment and his right hand twitched. Watching him closely Yugi saw after a few more long moments his eyes opened by just the smallest amount. He heard the tiniest whimper of pain escape Atem's lips before his whole body lost its tension, Yugi squeezed his friend's shoulder reassuringly as his eyes slid shut again. He felt the tears, which had been building since finding Atem, finally break free and roll down his face. Now free they kept coming and Yugi could not stop them. Atem was in bad shape but at least he was alive and had, for a moment, regained consciousness, although he doubted Atem would have been aware of that. Taking hold of the former King's left wrist he gently began to undo the rope tied there. As he removed the rope, he saw a deep cut encircling the wrist, blood seeping out. Yugi was quick to remove the rope from the other wrist which was in a similar state. Atem did not flinch as his wrists were freed, he was unconscious and, for now, blissfully unaware of his injuries. But Yugi knew, given the King's small whimper when he'd briefly regained consciousness, that he'd be in a lot of pain when he woke. Yugi had to get him out of here, but on his own it seemed impossible. The last thing he wanted to do was make anything worse. But as he knelt there, he heard voices calling out to him. Joey and Tristan were making their way along the corridor.

"Yugi? Yugi where are you?" He heard Joey yell.

"Joey!" He yelled back, "Joey down here!"

He heard his two friends break into a run, their footsteps echoing down the corridor. His friends appeared at the top of the small flight of stairs and their faces paled at the sight they saw. Joey was the first to move, he carefully stepped over the debris, being taller he had an easier time then Yugi had. Tristan was quick to follow after him.

"Is he alright Yugi?" Joey asked, crouching next to Yugi.

"No, we need to get him out of here."

"He's freezing." Tristan remarked, he'd placed a hand on the former Pharaoh's back.

Joey removed his coat and, as carefully as he could, wrapped their friend up in it. He didn't care about the blood which seeped gleefully into the fabric.

"Let's get him out of here." Joey said, "Tristan can you carry him?"

Tristan quickly nodded. Together they carefully eased Atem away from the broken metal which had cut him in multiple places and onto Tristan's back. They walked back along the corridor and out of the factory. Outside they found Kaiba with various members of his security team. In the midst of them were Dom and Seb. They were looking at the floor, looking entirely defeated. Kaiba looked round upon hearing approaching footsteps, his eyes widen slightly upon seeing the state of the former Pharaoh, but said nothing. They walked past the group, Yugi was more focused on getting his friend medical treatment to pay any attention to what was going on there. But Joey had some unfinished business and now it became clear why he'd wanted Tristan to carry Atem rather then himself. Instead of walking past the group like the other two had, he turned towards them and made a beeline straight over to Dom who looked up at him. Before anyone could stop him, Joey had punched him right across the face.

"That is for what you did to my friend." He spat, before turning away and re-joining the others.

He didn't speak to them as he re-joined them, all of them were intent on getting their injured friend as far away from here as they could. Now, it was finally over.