Hi again! Wow, these chapters are coming out fast...oh well, good for me, since I want to get as much as I can in before school starts! Enjoy Chapter 4!

Team One: Embodiment of Black-White Balance

"What?!" Melody said in shock, looking at Enzan's body before looking at Yami Bakura with cold, hard resolve. "You know what?" she said, her voice filled with anger at the loss of a friend, "I was going to let you off the hook, but change of plans: I'll make you suffer for what you've done!"

Yugi winked, as he knew exactly what was coming. "Looks like someone just messed up…"

The Thief King ignored him, replying, "Oh really, Hakurei-san? If you make me suffer, I'll make certain that your precious Enzan suffers as well."

"You won't have the chance," the former shrine maiden said in an icy tone. Summoning her staff, she pointed the blade at Bakura, quoting: "In a matter of minutes, you'll be nothing but a mist of atoms."

"Oh, that's what you think, Hakurei," Florence growled, the Millennium Ring flaring with light once more.

Melody smirked; she'd seen this coming. A wave of her hand, and a barrier came around her teammates, blocking off any chance of the Ring's magic succeeding in its objective. "Sorry," she said, "but you're nothing to me. That Ring is useless. Especially when I bring out this…"

And so the match began. The Thief King's manipulative Shadow Magic clashed with the beautiful yet dangerous bullets of the dimension traveler's Gensokyo spell cards. Naturally, there were a lot of explosions. Neither force would back down.

A bit into the battle however, Yugi noticed something, and brought it up with his darkness. "Mou Hitori no Boku…I think Melody-chan's losing."

"Aibou…" Yami said in response, "What makes you say that?"

"It's just that…she's hesitating. She's worried about Enzan, and that's what's distracting her. If...if we found where Bakura stashed Enzan's soul and freed it, she'd be able to blast him to a pulp without worry."

Yami pondered this for a moment. "I see. But where would Bakura hide Enzan's soul? Enzan has no favorite Duel Monster card—"

"And we made sure to destroy his figurine collection," Yugi finished.

"Exactly. Where else would he hide it?"

Deep in Melody's mind, she knew they were right. 'What can I do…?' she wondered.

Suddenly, she noticed that a charm on her bracelet was glowing with light rapidly, as if it had traced a small amount of spiritual magic in the air. "Wait a minute…" she said, a hint of hope creeping in, "I know this signature! It's Enzan!"

"Ha, bad time to point that out!" Florence yelled, coming in for a sword swipe as Melody was distracted. The girl shouted in surprise and raised her arms up in hopes of defense.

"Mou Hitori no Boku…!" Yugi began.

"I heard what she said!" Yami answered back, the Millennium Puzzle around his neck beginning to glow with a warm light, "All we need to do now is pinpoint Enzan's location!"

No one knew what exactly happened next, but a somewhat chilly breeze went through, followed by a loud CLANG, definitely not the sound of Melody's wrists being chopped off.

"What?!" the Thief King hissed. "This can't be possible!"

"What happened…?" Melody asked as she slowly opened an eye to see the situation. She had felt the wind, and had a small theory about what happened, as that breeze had occurred when not a single window had been opened. There was only one explanation, the presence of a ghost. "Enzan!" She said in shock.

The black and white-haired, in spirit form no less, was holding back Florence's sword with one of his own. He turned around to face the girl, shouting, "Don't worry about me, take out this guy first!"

Yami Bakura though had other plans. He smirked as the Millennium Ring lit up again and black energy began spiraling around the boy's soulless body. "Ha, you want to protect her?!" he scoffed. "Let's see what happens when she has to fight YOU, Enzan!" The boy's body began to move on its own, eyes completely black.

Of course, Florence had forgotten about who else was witnessing the battle. "Not if I can help it!" Yami shouted, whipping out a danmaku spell card from his deck. ""Yang Sign ~ Shadow's Purification"! Sorry Bakura, but the Puzzle overrides the Ring!" With that, Enzan's body went slack once more, the dark magic immediately expelled.

"Thanks, Yami!" Melody said in gratitude. Now that the threat of a hostage was no longer hanging over her, she was free to obliterate the Thief King into utter nothingness. Drawing the amulet that held the key to complete victory, the one she had threatened to use earlier to shut up Jounouchi and Netto, she smirked. "Get ready Bakura, because you're in for a world of hurt!" She held up the amulet, a malicious gleam in her eye. "Do you know what this is?"

Team Two: Enchanters, Warriors, Assassins

Rockman was not amused by his twin's answer. "Which I will lock up so that you will never get to them," he hissed in Netto's ear. Hey, he had done it before. The last time he had locked up all of Netto's video games until the younger Hikari gave in and finished his homework.

The brunette retaliated in a whisper, saying, "Aw, you're no fun, Rockman! We have so much blackmail material at our fingertips!"

"What was that, Hikari?" Blues asked in a menacing tone. He had apparently listened in to the conversation.

"Nothing I can't take care of, Blues..." Rockman replied.

All three of them were then interrupted by Seto Kaiba, him yelling: "Can we please get back to the Children's Card Games?!"

"Sure, sure, like Card Games is Serious Business..." Netto said sarcastically, obviously trying to annoy the KaibaCorp CEO. It worked.

"Oh, shut up!" Kaiba said with spite, pointing accusingly at the Net Savior's PET. "You guys play Children's Video Games!"

Netto decided to use logic to win this battle, laced with withering insults. "Video games are made for children! At least I don't sound like Brock from Pokémon!"

Kaiba's face flared red. "W-well! At least I don't...sound like a girl because I've got a female voice actor!"

"It's not like grown men can imitate a young boy's voice that well..." Rockman muttered, inadvertently helping his twin win the argument.

"Besides," Netto added, "at least I don't have a dragon fetish either!" This particular remark made Kaiba feel like a Burst Stream was being shot in his face, the heat burning into his skin.

"Oh, he's got you there, Kaiba!" Pearl said with glee, thoroughly enjoying the whole scene.

"Shut up, Pearl!" Kaiba yelled back. "It's not like you were rooting for me anyway!" Glaring at Netto, he then added, "And at least I'm not notorious for being extremely dense!"

The brunette grinned, and then dealt the finishing blow: "Screw density, I'm brilliant but lazy!"

Team One: Embodiment of Black-White Balance

Yami Bakura knew that challenging the instance of four-to-one was pushing his luck over the line. To even the scales, he first attempted to rid the opposing party one soul at a time, and his initial choice was to pluck the weak souls that had absolutely no resistances to the Millennium Ring's powers. Check. Enzan, the only specimen able to keep the first requirement, was already out of commission. Step two, eradicate the Pharaoh, his soul vessel, and proceed to take over the world. Those two stages, Yami Bakura realized, would need a few hundred phases in between if he ever wanted to create a successful world domination plan. At the very least, he'd have to contrive a third step for destroying the dimensional interloper, who took the liberty of bequeathing insanely powerful spell cards that the Thief King had no recognition of.

The Pharaoh then obliged to withdraw a cryptic glyph-ridden medallion from his pocket and held it in front of Bakura's face, reciting a bemused question which challenged the Thief King to state the name of said amulet. Of course, the Thief King suspected the article came from the Hakurei girl, as he never recalled seeing the medallion's lacy pattern back in the days when he had raided the Pharaohs' tombs.

"No," he snarled, "What is it?"

Yugi smirked at Bakura, as if mocking the Thief King's naïvety, and whispered to Yami, with a dark, excited glee: "I think we should show him, Mou Hitori no Boku. What do you think?"

A psychotic grin curled on Yami's lip, and he nodded, his ruby-like, fiery-danced eyes gleaming with deathly satisfaction, clearly savoring the idea. Melody, accepting the suggested option, also stated her approval of it: "Let's go then!" She then proceeded to snatch the amulet from Yami's hand and eagerly tossed it into the air, reciting her chant, each word invigorating the spell itself: "When two different kinds of magic combine with the emotions of strong-willed hearts, the ancient power that comes out is overwhelming! Start the Spell: Unity, Passion, Chaos, Meltdown!"

Those words themselves acted as the trigger; Bakura's sight blurred, as explosions clashed around him, erupting with the psychotic colors of hellish flares. Melody shouted in disbelief, her voice stating something about the explosive collision happening too early, though Bakura couldn't hear exactly what she was saying over the roaring force whirling against his ears. The Millennium Ring flickered with a feeble defense, and its guiding power was the only force that prodded Bakura to stay erect. Luckily, the sudden explosive spell died down, though with the matters at hand Bakura knew he would not be receiving any current mercy, especially judging from the expressions of his foes.

The twin silhouettes of Yugi and Yami still beheld their dark grins, but it appeared that their outfits had changed. They still had a base of the Domino High school uniform, but there were minor variations, such as Yugi's having rounded shoulder pads and Yami's having what looked like rolled up sleeves. The color scheme had faded to the iconic template of black and white, representing a concept the duo was often paired up with, the concept of true balance, Light and Dark, Yin and Yang. When they spoke, it was if they knew what each other was going to say beforehand, their voices soft-spoken yet sadistic and malicious. Their eyes were filled with red and blue flames, together the colors of insanity. "Hey, Bakura. . ."

"Let's play, shall we?"

The Thief King gasped for desperate breath, and stuttered, still in shock, "S-since when could a mere spell be so powerful. . .?"

"It'll only get worse from here," Yugi informed him, in a befitting icy tone. The golden Eye of Anubis spread forth on both his and Yami's foreheads, like twin irises preparing a union attack, as the two source-pupils soared together in lit harmony.

'They're preparing a combo spell...?' Bakura thought. 'Ha. Every combo has one flaw...'

The Millennium Ring blazed with light once more. Bakura didn't know what prodded him to activate its soul-stealing powers at this point, as Yugi and Yami already knew how to negate it; he was literally pushing the only option left to him now. That first spell had such staggering impact it could've destroyed him in one blow. The guarantee that the circumstances would only plunge more downhill was a mortifying thought, and the fact that these spells were skills inherited from dimensions Bakura had no knowledge of pitted him at an even worse disadvantage. Maybe, as he secretly hoped, Yugi and Yami were weakened from summoning that amulet spell. Maybe the Millennium Ring would succeed in its route this time around...

The light faded into mist, signifying the moment of truth.

And Yugi's body went rigid. His eyes emptied like Enzan's had, and the vacant shell tightened its stance, in perfect imitation of a rigid stone statue. Bakura triumphed, and hastily proclaimed, in answer to his own mind's statement: "When you take out one part of the combo...the entire thing becomes disabled!"

He wanted to rub it in the Pharaoh's face, to declare his victory in an infuriating monologue that would only mock Yami's inadequateness in preventing the two souls from being stolen; Melody's timely intervention was the only thing that stopped him from doing so, as she held out another cryptic spell card.

"Or not," she said arrogantly. "I forgot I had this! "Spirit Capture ~ Soul Recovery"!" She paused and scanned the previous amulet's picture, before resuming, "I believe the chant to activate their power says this: There are two different magic types used in Meltdown. They support and defend each other, meaning there are no weaknesses! Return to the state you were meant to be, Enzan and Yugi!"

Bakura could almost feel the souls of his recent victims cry a response to that spell, and as Melody continued her chant, he could feel Enzan's and Yugi's presence thickening, swishing past the Ring's dominance and back to their discarded vessels. Enzan quickly stood up, and Yugi happily flexed his arms.

"And to make sure this doesn't happen again," Yami said, his voice resembling the tone in which he used to hand out Penalties, "Items Hierarchy ~ Puzzle Domination"!

The Millennium Ring sparked helplessly, and its power flow froze. The five surrounding blades no longer levitated in the Ring's dominant glow, and slackened, flapping feebly like mini-sized wind chimes.

"Hurting us with such flawed power is useless now, Bakura," Yami said further.

"You play by our rules now," Yugi imputed in a cold, monotone, lifeless voice. "Resistance is futile."

Bakura had to concede they were right; his most trusted weapon was reduced to dead iron by a mere spell, rather than by the Shadow Games used previously to silence it. And the obvious anger gleaming in Yugi and Yami's eyes said all too clearly that the Shadow Games would pale in comparison to the pain they would administer to the Thief King via spells.

He cursed under his breath, then upped his tone to an angry roar, "I know when I'm through!"

Using the speed befitting his status as a thief, Bakura turned heel and fled. From behind, he heard Yugi's high-pitched voice shout back at him, "Oh no you don't!" though Bakura paid him no attention and kept running.

Bad move, as Yami withdrew the card that would mark as the finisher, and Yugi had successfully summoned a light barrier, stopping the Thief King in his tracks and ensuring he would be around to take the full force of their final trump card spell.

Team Two: Enchanters, Warriors, Assassins

For some odd reason, Pearl found the entire debate amusing. That same unknown force prompted her to act as the judge and she stated a verdict in biased favor: "Kaiba, I think Netto wins in terms of debate."

Kaiba, already in an angry mood given the day's earlier events, did not take all that kindly to Pearl's verdict. Frustrated, he swatted Netto's arm and the propelling force of said strike caused the net-savor's PET to be sent flying in an awkward arc, until it plopped down into the grip of the child-sized figure that had soared into the room.

Literally, soared, as the child glided straight into the air with the wings attached to her back, wings that resembled a laundry line with widespread rainbow-patterned diamonds individually clipped along the gray-colored seam. She caught the thrown PET with ease, and murmured with the high-pitched phase of a childish laugh, "Kyuu, kyuu, this looks important..."

"ACK!" Netto scrambled to wrench his PET from the child's grasp. Thankfully, the device lacked any sign of harm, despite being momentarily held by the world's most devastating vessel of destruction. Netto released a quick sigh in relief, and his alleviation was visible in tone: "Phew, no damage. . ." He paused, and then addressed the destructive child, "Flandre, what are you doing here?"

"Plus, where did the explosions go?" Jounochi added, as he gave the area's walls a cursory glance that served as a check for visible damage. "I don't see anything wrong here. . ."

Pearl, however, could've sworn she heard a faint explosion on the upper floors, where Melody's team had gone to face Yami Bakura. She silently prayed for her friend's safety, hoping that Flan's explosions hadn't harmed Black-White Balance.

"Kyuu, kyuu!" Flandre beamed. "The white-haired man promised he'd play with me!"

This was an obvious response to Netto's question. However, it spawned confusion, in which Netto blurted out, "'White-haired'?! Not...Enzan!? Flandre-chan, was his hair partially black?"

Flandre shook her head. Her psychotic eyes gleamed in joyful anticipation, her resulting smirk baring her blade-like vampire fangs. "No. It was really, really frizzy. Like a bat."

The description of a bat was befitting for a vampire, and just the answer of the culprit's hair already implied who he was.

Sarcastically, Kaiba, who needed no more description other than the specified bat-hair, muttered, "Oh, goody. She wants to play with Florence. . ."

"Kyuu, kyuu, so that's his name?" Flandre cackled. "I thought it was Melvin."

Coming from the world's most prominent destroyer, that mere statement was more than enough to provoke suspicion. Cautiously, Jounochi piped in, "Let me guess, you ran into Melvin, didn't you?"

Flandre giggled with the psychotic laughter befitting one of her status. "Yup! I think I broke him, though..."

Pearl herself, however, found the thought of a psychotic vampire obliterating a psychotic anyone-hugger humorous, and applauded Flandre for her claimed actions.

"Well, that's one less worry on our hands," she announced to the rest of AWE, "Anybody know where Melody's team went?"

Pearl had no idea what made her blurt out that last question so randomly; perhaps it was because she was concerned over Melody's welfare before, when Flandre had first incited her overpowering explosions. Maybe she was worried about Yami Bakura's capabilities with the Millennium Ring, fearing how many empty shells the team would find if they stepped onto what remained of the battle field. Whatever the reason, Pearl knew the two teams would have to reunite soon.

Team AWE trekked on. In response to Pearl's previous question, Katsuya Jounochi spoke forth once again, pointing out the obvious answer before their very eyes.

"I can guess," Jounochi whispered, as he pointed to the outer rims of a casted light barrier. Pearl's eyes widened. A complete dome of transparent energy had closed around the area, a clear-marked boundary. She felt tremendous pressure building up in the dome, its reach so vast it even affected the outer air, hardening the winds into layered walls. Streaks of power whirled from all sides, converging together into one cortex, though Pearl couldn't imagine what insanity had summoned them all at once. As Jounochi had clearly stated, she could only guess.

Oooh, cliffhanger! That'll keep all of you readers anticipating for more! Thank you for reading, and don't forget to fave and review! Chapter 5 is up next!