In case you didn't read my profile, I'm back from vacation. This means I won't be updating as frequently as I usually do. If anything, I might end up updating one story and not this one. The good news is that I have internet at home, so I can post this right after I'm finished with editing and junk. Review please!
Atem had finished placing the three remaining chips on his glove. Him and his friends decided to find a duelist to gain all the star chips back. Though, from how it seemed, Atem wasn't going anywhere. After the duel with Seto, Atem seemed more angry and distant. The sun was also on its way down west. Everyone felt bad for Atem.
Joey knew that Atem wasn't looking so great and it was because of Seto. He just put his life on the line, taking advantage of Atem's kindness, then threw the star chips into the distance. There was also the idea of looking for the star chips that Seto threw out, but it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Though, finding a duelist was like that too.
"Atem, forget about Kaiba. He's nothing but an ass," Joey told Atem, trying to cheer him up. He still looked the same as before. "Listen, I'm sorry he took away your star chips, man. I..."
"I don't f***ing care about some damn star chips!" Atem said plainly with angry eyes. He sighed before staring blankly at the ground. "Just can it, Joey."
Joey stared at his friend with worry. He had never seen Atem in pain like this. It was like he didn't care if the world was coming to an end. Something told Joey that even if Atem was to duel, he wouldn't be dueling with the right mind. The sun was also on its way down.
"Looks like you all are disqualified!" Kimo smirked mockingly.
"Listen pal! How 'bout you..." Joey glared as Atem put his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Forget it, Joey!" Atem said as Joey turned his head. "You still have your star chips. I know you can win the money for Serena and rescue my Grandpa and Mokuba." A soft smile came on his face.
"Atem," Joey muttered as Atem shook his head and turned to walk on his way to the boat that would lead him back home.
"Atem," Hanaski muttered before he ran after his friend. He didn't want Atem to travel alone if he was going back to Japan. They walked far enough to where they were close enough to the boat.
"HEY!" Joey called as Atem slowly turned his head as his friend showed his glove. "You can have my star chips. You've got the key to Kaiba Corp. and you're the only one who actually cares about the asshole. You take them and win."
"Joey, I... I can't..." Atem muttered before everyone heard something.
"HEY YA!" Mai called, waving her hand. Everyone ran to the blond woman, who had all her star chips. "Where are you guys going?"
"I'm about to go home," Atem replied, showing his glove that was three star chips.
"Three star chips?"
"Yeah, Kaiba marched his ass back and threw all, but three star chips, off the building," Tristan explained with folded arms and an angry look.
"I won't allow that!" Mai glared as she dug into her pocket and showed eight star chips. "Here's my payment for the other eight star chips you won for me from Panik."
"DAMN! EIGHTEEN STAR CHIPS?" Joey responded, almost yelling.
"She knows her stuff," Ryan smirked with folded arms.
"Well, I'm not going in without my duel with Atem," Mai smirked, still handing her star chips.
"I... I don't know," Atem muttered with furrowed eyebrows.
"You should take them, brother," Yugi suggested next to Atem.
'Yugi, I shouldn't accept them. I didn't win the star chips, Mai did,' Atem explained.
"Didn't you do the same with Mai?"
'Yes, but...'
"NO BUTS! Besides, you technically won ten star chips to the kingdom. Seto just threw them away."
'Seto...' Atem muttered in his head as his eyes narrowed. 'I can never forgive him for taking advantage of me like that. I thought he had respect, when playing. That's why I loved playing with him.'
"You know he has Mokuba on the line and I'm sure there more than that. Pegasus stole Grandpa's soul and sealed it into your computer. Maybe Mokuba and and his company weren't the only things on the line."
"Com'on Atem! You can't let Kaiba hold you down like this, even if he was an ass back there. When life brings you down, you need to get back up," Joey said with crossed arms.
"Well, Yugi wants me to take them, so... fine," Atem finally agreed as Mai gave him the eight star chips. He had one extra, but he still had ten star chips and that was enough.
Everyone walked together on their way to the castle. They walked up the stairs, which took almost forever, before they finally made it to the door. Kimo watched with furrowed eyebrows and a slight smirk as the duelists showed their duel glove with ten star chips. Mai was to go first before she flipped her hair and walked inside. Kimo looked completely blank when he saw ten star chips on Atem's duel glove.
"Wha..." Kimo stuttered.
"I'm qualified, bitch," Atem smirked before Joey showed his star chips and followed his friend inside.
"Hey, you can't come in!" Kimo glared.
"Oh, we're just friends," Hanaski explained.
"Sorry, but unless you've got ten star chips, you are not..." Kimo smirked before he heard a gunshot and felt pain on his right leg that made him fall on his leg. He gasped and looked blankly at Atem who had a pistol in his hand. "How did you..."
"A souvenir from Panik," Atem smirked. "That's payback for yesterday."
"You son of a bitch!"
"Atem two, you one. Pretty sad record," Tristan smirked while passing Kimo. Ryan also happened to flip off Kimo before passing through.
After everyone entered inside the castle, they ended up on a walkway that circled the huge room that was probably twenty feet. It had red carpet and white walls on the sides with fancy patterns. This was no surprise since the gang was inside a mansion, and one owned by a billionaire on top of that. Once the gang was inside, they noticed the staircase that led to the first floor. Next to the staircase, was Bandit Keith.
Joey immediately shook his fists and growled in anger. Atem couldn't blame his blond friend. After all, Bandit Keith did trap them inside a cave. The American psycho was grinning happily as Joey walked to him.
"HEY! You son of a bitch, I'll make you pay for trapping us in that cave!" Joey glared.
"F*** you! I'm about to watch a real show happening," Bandit Keith smirked as Joey rose his eyebrows.
"You all must be the final four!" One of Pegasus' employers announced from behind the four final contestants. He noticed Atem's friends. "I see we have extra guests. Luckily, we've prepared extra rooms for all of you."
"Glad to hear," Atem smirked with folded arms. "By the way, one of your friends is bleeding at the front."
"All is taken care of. Pegasus hopes you understand that if that incident happens again, you will automatically be disqualified."
"Oh, I understand as long as he understands that I plan on having my friends tag along to watch me kick his ass."
"DAMN, KID! You shot that basterd?" Bandit Keith gawked up laughing. "You shoulda showed that when dueling that rich ass mother f***er!"
"I'll shoot, but I don't kill," Atem said plainly to Bandit Keith as he shrugged.
"Whatev. I just say f*** 'em and send 'em straight to hell."
"You mean just like you did with Joey before your zombie friend got his ass kicked?"
"Before we begin, we have a special event for all of you," Pegasus' employee announced as he pointed his hand toward the bottom of the stairwell where Pegasus and Seto Kaiba were meeting.
Atem looked down from the stop of the walkway that was ten feet from where Seto and Pegasus were standing. Seto looked up and his eyes narrowed even more. Pegasus looked up at the four remaining contestants and smiled in amusement. He knew that Atem would show up, even if Seto threw all of his star chips away. Seto knew it too, but he had to try to find some way to prevent Atem from showing. The only subject on his mind, at this moment, was defeating Pegasus.
Seto stared hardly at Pegasus with an unforgiving glare. He said, "you know the deal. I win, you get your fancy ass out of my company and return Mokuba!"
"Agreed. We will duel in the duel box," Pegasus agreed.
"No, actually," Seto smirked as he opened his brief case and took out his duel disk prototype. "We'll be using these to duel with."
"Hm, fancy technology," Pegasus responded as he took the duel disk. He put on the glove on his left hand and made a funny throwing position. "Do I throw like this?" He looked at the duel disk with question on his face. He then shrugged, "sorry, I simply don't know how to throw this. I'll just have to have someone else throw it for me." Seto glared even deeper. "We'll still be playing won't we?"
Two employees came side by side. The first one said, "Mr. Pegasus, we have Mokuba."
"Excellent," Pegasus smirked as Atem immediately ran down the stairs. When Mokuba was brought in, he was in cuffs, but he seemed hollow.
"MOKUBA!" Atem cried as Pegasus laughed.
"I'm afraid Mokuba's not there, Atem-boy. You see, when he found out what I was planning for this tournament, he immediately challenged me to Duel Monsters, hoping to free you. Of course..." Pegasus explained with a shrug before he showed the duel monster card with Mokuba on it. "... there's not much left of him now, so it was easy to mess with his mind room."
"Mokuba," Atem whispered before showing a glare while Pegasus was laughing. "This is unforgivable!"
"Remember, Atem-boy, Kaiba-boy and I are dueling. Our duel will start as soon as you beat all four contestants, which I'm sure you will," Pegasus said with a slight smile. He giggled slightly. "As I was saying about having my volunteer..."
"I'LL DO IT!" Atem declared angrily as Pegasus looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Well? You did say I technically won't be dueling Seto, right? You'll be the one playing and all I have to do is place your monster in whatever position you want, and then throw it." Pegasus smiled in amusement.
"It seems you've predicted I would use Mokuba-boy as my volunteer and you're willing to handicap me on one little scenario in his place," Pegasus smirked as Atem glared even deeper. "Very well. You have used it before, I suppose there's nothing against having you as my volunteer."
Atem carried the duel disk while looking away from Seto. Seto knew his rival was still mad, because of what he did. Atem clutched onto the duel disk and continually stared at it. Pegasus and Seto drew five cards. Seto changed the feature on the duel disk to Excellent Duelist mode, so Pegasus wouldn't look at his cards. Seto stuck his cards inside his glove.
"You place your hand inside the glove," Seto explained as Pegasus did the same. "And since this is on Excellent Duelist Mode, we will play this just like regular duel monsters, except we use our glove to tell us which card it is." Seto showed the back of the glove on the compartment where the duel monster cards were to be placed in. There was a screen where it showed the information on the cards. "Now, it will be unreadable. I want to try out this feature on you."
"Ah, you're trying to see if this could prevent my mind reading abilities," Pegasus smirked with a slight chuckle. "Very well. I'll take that challenge. Let's duel!" He smirked and gave a monster card to Atem. "I place Toon Alligator in defense mode." Atem placed Toon Alligator in a defense position on the duel disk before throwing it out to the field. "Then, I place one card face-down." Pegasus pressed something on his glove, pressing the Trap and Spell Card Zone before a holographic face-down card was shown in front of Pegasus.
"I place one card face-down," Seto announced as a holographic face-down card was also shown in front of him. "I also play Rude Kaiser!" Rude Kaiser was placed on the disk before being thrown and showed the monster in attack mode. "Attack Toon Monster!" Rude Kaiser punched right through Toon Alligator and destroyed it.
"Oh no!" Pegasus said in a fake manner after his toon was destroyed. "1800 life points, what do I do?"
"Let me do the insulting," Atem glared before showing a slight smirk. "You're apparently not good at it."
"If you say so Atem..."
"Call me Atem-boy and I'll kick your f***ing ass!"
"Then I'll summon Parrot Dragon," Pegasus smirked as Seto flipped his card.
"I'll use my spell card, Mesmeric Control," Seto before his monster punched Parrot Dragon, having Pegasus to be left with only 1400 life points. Pegasus seemed to be faking his bad play and Atem knew it. In fact, he could sense that Pegasus was still able to read Seto's cards.
"You should tell, Seto! I don't think he knows yet," Yugi said, but Atem furrowed his eyebrows and just stood there by Pegasus.
Seto drew his next card, but before he could play it, Pegasus yelled, "STOP!" Atem kept his glare, knowing what Pegasus was planning. "Before you show me that card, I have a trap against it." Pegasus activated his trap card, whose holographic card flipped and the title read 'Prophecy.' "With this, I can guess rather your monster card is more, equal, or less than 2000 and if my hunch is correct, it's more." Seto's eyes widened and sweat was pouring down his face. "I also predict you were about to play Blue-Eyes White Dragon."
"You son of a bitch!" Seto glared as Atem kept his face.
"Why didn't you warn him?" Yugi glared at Atem as he stood with the same face. Yugi knew why, Atem was still mad at Seto.
"That card is mine, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus smirked as Seto gave him the card with fear in his eyes. "Looks like you just lost your very soul card."
Seto glared deeply. Nobody ever took his card and he was to make sure that rich billionaire paid for that. Atem seemed to just be standing there as if he was just a robot. Pegasus drew one card and ended his turn. Seto drew his next card, but couldn't help giving a glance at Atem. The way he was standing, the way he was looking at Seto's direction made Seto feel nauseated. Why was he feeling this way? It wasn't like he was sick or something.
Seto decided to ignore it and announced, "I place Rude Kaiser in defense mode and end my turn."
Pegasus smiled casually and Atem noticed a glowing tent to the millennium eye. He knew Pegasus was going through Seto's mind. Still, Atem never made any comments against it. He just stood there and waited for Pegasus to ask for the teen to help him summon a monster. A smile appeared on Pegasus's lips and Atem could still hear his brother telling him to warn Seto. Still, Atem just stood there like a robot.
"I place one card face-down," Pegasus declared before handing Atem another card. "I place Dark Rabbit in defense mode." Atem placed Dark Rabbit in a defense position before throwing the disk out on the field and the holographic rabbit appeared in a defensive position.
"MY TURN!" Seto announced while drawing two more cards. "I sacrifice Saggi the Dark Clown to activate my Crush Card!"
"Then I activate my face-down card," Pegasus smirked as he revealed his spell card. "Negative Energy. This doubles your dark monsters, including..."
"Saggie the Dark Clown," Atem finished in a robot-like fashion.
"It seems you knew this situation would occur," Pegasus smirked while Atem made no response, besides just standing there. "You knew I planned on killing his Crush Card." Seto glared at Pegasus and stared at Atem. The more Seto stared at his rival, the more nauseated he became. He didn't even pay attention to the fact that Dark Rabbit wiped out Saggi the Dark Clown and he remained with 1000 life points. "What is this I see on your face, Kaiba-boy?"
Seto faced Pegasus again with a glare and asked, "are you asking me if I'm afraid? Then maybe your mind scanning abilities are as whack as they say."
"Not fear, Kaiba-boy. I can sense a guilty conscience inside your heart. You seem very guilty about something," Pegasus smirked before eying at Atem. He decided to have a little fun by reading Atem's mind. It became clear of the situation. "I see. I didn't think my little threat would put such a lovely friendship at risk." Atem turned his eyes toward Pegasus. "Ah well, Kaiba-boy didn't have to make things complicated. It was his doing after all. Let's continue the game, shall we?"
"I will!" Seto glared before placing Battle Ox in defense mode. "That ends my turn."
"Then it's mine," Pegasus smirked as he drew his next card. "Let me ask you this, do you like cartoons?" Seto showed a deep glare. "I'll take that as a 'no.' I love cartoons..."
"Why do we want to know about your stupid childhood?" Atem asked while rolling his eyes. "Just play a damn card!"
"Very well. I'll take you to my world," Pegasus said, smiling happily as he showed his spell card. "TOON WORLD!"
"You have got to be f***ing kidding me!"
"It seems you're not a big cartoon fan."
"Not when you room with someone who watches them EVERY F***ING DAY OF THE WEEK!"
"So, Yugi-boy's a cartoon fan."
"And of the Muppets."
"With this, all of my cards become toon cards," Pegasus smiled happily. A book opened like a pop-up book. "Now, Dark Rabbit, attack Battle Ox!" Toon Dark Rabbit popped out of the pop-up book and punched Battle Ox as the monster smashed into pieces.
"Surprisingly, this is better than the Kuribohs," Seto responded before Toon Dark Rabbit jumped back into the book and it closed, protecting the toon. Seto glared and growled under his teeth in annoyance. "I place one card face-down and end my turn."
"Let me show you something interesting, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus smirked as he showed Seto's Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "This is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon I got from you. Now, see what happens when I play it. Atem..." Pegasus gave Atem the card. Seto stared at Atem with cold blue eyes. Atem took his eyes away from Seto, which made him feel more sick than he's ever been in his life. Atem placed Blue-Eyes White Dragon in attack mode before throwing it as a cartoon version of Seto's soul card appeared. "It is Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon! What do you think, Kaiba-boy or are you too busy feeling sorry for yourself?" Seto glared at Pegasus angrily.
"You'll pay for this, Pegasus! How dare you turn my Blue-Eyes into a freak show!" Seto shouted as Pegasus laughed in amusement.
"Toon Blue-Eyes, attack Rude Kaiser!" Pegasus declared as Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon destroyed Rude Kaiser.
"Then I'll discard my entire hand!" Seto declared in a yell as he placed all his cards in the discard pile. "And before I do anything else. I want you to know something Pegasus, you listening?"
"All ears, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus said smilingly.
"I won't forgive you," Seto said coldly, clutching his fists. "I won't forgive you for toying with me, with Mokuba. I don't care how you plan to gain my company!" A smirk laid across his lips. "You can take Atem's soul for all I care."
Atem's eyebrows rose. Pegasus was trying to take his soul? Pegasus chuckled, "It's not just Atem's soul, you know. You forget out his little Yugi-boy."
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Atem cried at Pegasus with anger. "You used me to threaten Seto?" Pegasus smiled and a dark chuckle escaped his nose. Atem turned his head back at Seto. "I have one question, Seto."
"What?" Seto asked with folded arms.
"Do you trust me with your key?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"That doesn't answer my question."
Seto rolled his eyes and replied, "yes."
"Then you can trust me?" Atem said as Seto started seeing what his friend was trying to tell him. Seto needed to trust that Atem can duel and win against Pegasus. Seto smirked and nodded.
Seto closed his and thought, 'I'll have to trust my deck just like I trust Atem.' He closed his eyes and drew his next card, automatically placing it in attack mode and declaring, "I place this in attack mode!" Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared. "Glad to see you back."
"Thank you, Seto. As long as your faith and trust still holds, I will always fight by you side," Kisara promised as Seto smirked.
"It's time you felt my wrath, Pegasus!" Seto declared, pointing his index finger at Pegasus. "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR TURNING KISARA INTO A JOKE! BLUE-EYES, ATTACK!" Blue-Eyes White Dragon attacked with lightning balls before Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon stretched and dodged the attacks. "WHAT THE..."
Atem gawked up laughing and said, "sorry Seto, but the look on your face it too hilarious!" He laughed even louder as Seto glared even deeper. "As long as the cards are cartoons, they can never be destroyed. Have you ever seen Tom and Jerry?"
"SHUT THE F*** UP!" Seto shouted, though, he was surprisingly glad that Atem was acting like himself again. Though, his stomach was still a little achy.
"My turn!" Pegasus declared as he drew two cards.
"Be careful," Atem warned with serious eyes. "Pegasus knows every card in your deck now."
Seto nodded his head. Pegasus declared, "I use my spell card Shining Palace. This increases my light monsters to 500 points and opens a new page to Toon World." The pop-up book turned pages and showed a pop-up white castle that was shining bright and white. "Now, my Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon attacks!" Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon attacked Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"TRAP! ATTACK NEGATE!" Seto declared as the attack was sucked into a worm hole and Pegasus kept his smile. Atem looked at Seto with faith and determination. "MY TURN!" The CEO President drew his next card. "I play Shadow Spell!" Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon was wrapped in chains with no ability to move whatsoever. "Now, Kisara can get rid of you joke for a dragon!" Blue-Eyes White Dragon obliterated Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon and Pegasus' life points stooped down to 1200.
"Thank you, Seto. Now that imposter is destroyed," Kisara said with confidence.
"You are a good duelist, Kaiba-boy. Just now, I felt your great bond and love for Blue-Eyes White Dragon. As a game designer, that's the greatest compliment ever," Pegasus said with a soft smile. He drew his next card. "Unfortunately, that love will be the cause of your defeat. I play Dragon Capture Jar." A huge jar appeared and captured the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"SEEETOOOOO!" Kisara screamed before the dragon was captured inside the jar.
"KISARA!" Seto cried, sweat was pouring on his face as he drew his next card. "I play Swordstalker in defense mode!"
"Seto, hang in there!" Atem cried as Pegasus drew his next card.
"I place one card face-down, then summon Dragon Piper in defense mode," Pegasus declared before ending his turn. Seto knew what was going to happen and so did Atem. Seto declared to himself that he would never let that happen and drew his next card.
"Swordstalker, attack Pegasus' Dragon Piper!" Seto declared.
"Then I'll play this spell card Doppelganger," Pegasus replied as Atem eyed the card and his face turned pale.
"It can change into any card throughout the whole game," Atem muttered, thinking of what Pegasus was going to use.
"I chose your Crush Card," Pegasus smirked as he placed Crush Card and equipped it to Dragon Piper. Seto gasped and Atem's heart was beating faster than his blinking eyes.
"SETO NO!" Atem cried, tears leaking out. He couldn't lose Seto again, not like this!
Seto drew his last card that he had in his deck. He muttered, "I... put this in defense mode." Atem couldn't take this anymore! He shoved Pegasus the duel disk and ran by Seto's side. Seto looked into those violet eyes sadly.
"Now, I summon Bickuribox!" Pegasus declared and struck and destroyed Seto's monster before a red light flashed, declaring that Seto ran out of cards. He stared down at the ground in defeat before those blue eyes came up at Atem. "It looks like you lost. That was a good show, but you know that losers lose things most precious to them, even their own soul."
"NO!" Atem cried, standing in front of Seto. "YOU CHEATING SON OF A BITCH! IF YOU WANT TO TRAP SOMEONE'S SOUL, TAKE..."
"NO!" Seto glared, grabbing Atem by each arm and staring directly into those dark eyes. "I knew this was going to happen, Atem. Don't let my sacrifice be in vein! You have my key, I don't! At our duel, I was the one who lost, because I was afraid!"
"Seto," Atem muttered, his lips quivering.
"You showed me true courage by putting your trust in me and surrendering, while I couldn't have the balls to trust you. I know you will defeat Pegasus just like you defeated me in Death-T. I... I trust you and I'm sorry I never did before."
If Atem didn't fear of this moment being the last chance he had of seeing his friend, he would've seen the shocked looks on his friends' faces. Seto had just apologized, and to his rival no doubt. Seto showed a soft smile that was only seen around Mokuba and Atem. He looked at Pegasus with angry eyes as the white-haired billionaire chuckled in amusement. Two friends making up and saying their heartwarming goodbyes.
"Do it, Pegasus!" Seto said boldly as Pegasus' millennium eye glowed and Seto's soul was sealed into Pegasus' soul card. It showed Seto's face on the side as the rest of Seto's body fell into Atem's arms.
"Such a touching reunion," Pegasus smirked, holding Seto's soul card and Mokuba's soul card. "So close and yet so far apart."
Atem burst into tears while holding Seto's limped body in his arms. He yelled, "I WON'T FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS, PEGASUS!"
"Hmmmm, your angst for your lost friend amuses me," Pegasus mocked before flipping his hair and leaving the room.
Atem turned his head back to his fallen friend and closed his eyelids. Atem didn't hold back from shedding more tears and burying his face on the back of Seto's neck. Atem took Seto's deck and placed it in his pocket. Here was Seto, yet again, fallen in a never-ending sleep. Atem wept so bitterly, he never noticed his friends slowly walking behind him, trying to find a way to calm their friend. Not even Joey knew what to say that would make Atem feel better. There were no words for this.
Hanaski leaned next to Atem and put a hand on his shoulder. He glanced at Hanaski, who showed a pitied face. Atem furrowed his eyebrows and stared at Seto's limped body. He crawled under Seto and had his body over Atem's shoulder before being carried to a guest room. After laying the body on the guest bed, Atem brushed his fingers through Seto's hair as a sigh escaped his mouth. Everyone was standing by the doorway.
"Seto put his trust in me. Now... the true battle begins," Atem said coldly as his friends nodded.