Okay. I have put Raphael, Alister, and Valon in this. Dartz and Pegasus, too. Just think of how they look.
Chapter 16- Strike Against the Palace part 2
Yugi, Honda, and Otogi stood in front of the three men who had invaded the palace.
"Who are you, and what are you doing in my palace?" Yugi demanded.
"We have no quarrel with you, Emperor." the first said.
"Yeah. We're only ding what our employer told us to do." a second added.
"Oh. Would you be referring to Pegasus or Dartz, or maybe both." Yugi said.
The shock was written all over their faces.
"How did you-" the third started.
"Know? Pegasus and Dartz were both exiled because they sought to overthrow the Emperor, my father, and were banished from the kingdom for their treachery. They must have convinced you to commit high treason in coming here." Yugi said.
"You know nothing about us or our reasons." the first said.
"I don't? I must be mistaken then, Raphael." Yugi said.
"What?!" the first exclaimed, surprised at the use of his name.
"I know who all of you are. Valon." Yugi said, looking at the second who had spoken. "And then, of, Alister." Yugi said, looking at the third.
"How could you know us?" Alister demanded.
"let's just say that there's a lot more to me than you know." Yugi said.
"Look. We all didn't come here to face you. We were told to get the children of slaves and a slave, and that's it. Children? Slave? Perhaps I need to remind that just by attacking her, you have committed high treason. The children, I suppose, are three young ones who are no older than three. One has brown hair and blue eyes. He's a boy. The other boy had platinum blonde hair and lavender eyes. The girl has snow white hair and chocolate brown eyes. The slave you were sent after looks a great deal like me only his eyes are crimson, he's taller, and he has tanned skin." Yugi said.
The looks on the three attackers' faces clearly said that Yugi had said it correctly.
"They are not children of slaves. My cousins, Jou, Ryou, and Malik, are the fathers of those children. The slave is not a slave. He is my brother's husband." Yugi said.
"You're lying! There's no way that's true." Alister snarled.
"Think what you want, but you will survive this if you insist upon going after them. Those children may only be cousins, but as far as I'm concerned, they are my nephews and niece. And the reason that he wants Atemu, my brother's husband, is because he is pregnant." Yugi said.
"Well, I guess lying is something you are good at." Alister said.
"Let's quit talking and start killing." Valon said.
"As I said before, our quarrel is not with you. Stand aside and won't fight you." Raphael said.
"I cannot do that." Yugi said.
"Then die." Raphael said.
"Honda. Otogi. Be ready." Yugi said.
The three attacked them.
Yugi blocked Raphael's sword. He pushed Raphael back before he jumped up to avoid being hit with the blade of the sword and flipped over Raphael landing, behind him. Yugi rammed backwards into Raphael, knocking him off balance. Yugi turned and brought his sword at Raphael, but Raphael moved backwards. Raphael formed a ball of magic in his hand and threw it at Yugi. Yugi formed a ball of fire in his hand and threw it. The attack collided with Raphael's and caused an explosion.
Alister swung his sword at Honda, who easily blocked it. Honda moved back and ducked to avoid another swipe of the sword. Honda jumped up and struck out with his sword. Alister blocked the sword. Alister moved back and brought hiss word down diagonally, but Honda blocked the sword again. Alister moved back and formed a ball of magic in his hand before he threw it at Honda. Honda formed a ball of brown magic and threw it at Alister. The two attacks collided and caused an explosion.
Valon and Otogi both swung their swords back and forth, causing the sound of metal and metal to fill the room. Valon moved forward and tried to strike Otogi, but Otogi blocked it. Otogi rammed into him and knocked Valon backwards. Valon jumped up and brought his sword down vertically, but Otogi blocked the sword with his horizontal one. Valon jumped back and formed a ball of magic in his hand, which he threw at Otogi. Otogi formed a grey ball in his hand that collided with Valon's and caused an explosion.
All three fighting pairs charged back at each other.
"I don't understand. Who are they, and who are Dartz and Pegasus?" Yami asked.
"Tell them about Dartz and Pegasus. I'll find out what I can about these three." Ryou said, already working at the computer.
"Pegasus was a man who started out loyal to the kingdom. When we were young, he came to our father asking that he heal his wife, who was dying of a disease. You see, Yugi has an ability to heal injuries. It's a gift that he was born with. Pegasus' wife had an incurable disease. Yugi couldn't heal her. One because he was five and had no control over his powers. Two, whole he could heal injuries, he could not heal diseases." Heba said.
"I don't understand." Amara said.
The confusion was on all their faces.
"Okay. Say I was in battle and I was injured to a point that I was literally at death's door. Yugi could me, and I would be fine. If I was dying from a disease, which is something considered natural, he couldn't." Jou said.
"So, the injury has to be a result of an outside force. Even a child simply falling and scrapping their knee could be healed, but a cold couldn't." Seto said.
"Exactly. Pegasus' wife died as a result. He blamed my father for not helping her." Heba said.
"Then there's Dartz. Dartz is just a power hungry man who doesn't give a damn about authority or people. He wanted the throne for himself and convinced Pegasus that if they gained the throne, they could stop this from happening to anyone else. Pegasus agreed." Malik said.
"Their plans were foiled by the former Elemental warriors. It was that battle that killed my father and Malik and Ryou's father. All but the Emperor died. The Emperor did not wish to kill them. Instead, he exiled them. A year later, there was an attempt made on our lives. It was to hurt our father. When we gained our powers, the attacks stopped. They're going after the children to hurt us." Jou said.
"How can you stop it?" Atemu asked.
"The easiest thing to do would be to go after Pegasus and Dartz and stop the source of the attacks, but we don't know where they are." Heba said.
"Here it is." Ryou said.
"What does it say?" Malik asked.
"Raphael was orphaned when his parents and siblings were killed in a storm while on a cruise. Valon was orphaned as a child and left on the streets. Alister lost his parents young and then lost his brother in a battle when he was young." Ryou said.
"That explains it." Heba said.
"It does?" Yami asked.
"Yes." Heba said.
"Okay. What does it explain?" Bakura asked.
"Dartz is a rather devious and deceitful man. He probably somehow turned everything around so that it seemed like everything that they went through was Yugi's fault." Heba said.
"Thus making them want to bring harm to Yugi through his family." Aknankanon said.
"Right." Jou said.
"Okay. What do we do?" Malik asked.
"I have an idea, but it is dangerous." Heba said.
"What is it?" Ryou asked.
Yugi ducked and then turned to kick Raphael in the chest. Raphael stumbled backwards and barely managed to stay on his feet. He sucked to avoid being hit by Yugi's sword. Yugi then threw a bal of fire at Raphael that sent him crashing into the wall. Raphael struggled to get back up.
Honda blocked another attack from Alister and then rammed into him, knocking Alister back a little. Alister charged at Honda and tried to strike him again. Honda formed a ball of brown magic and then threw it at Alister. Alister was hit in the chest and was sent crashing beside Raphael.
Otogi and Valon attacked each other at the exact same time. Their swords and clashed and they both jumped back. Otogi went at Valon and brought his sword down at him. Valon pushed him back. Otogi formed a ball of grey magic in his hand and threw it at Valon, hitting him and throwing him back with Raphael and Alister.
"We are not going to lose that easily." Raphael said.
"Maybe if you weren't trying to murder children, you wouldn't have to." Otogi spat.
"We never said that we were going to kill the brats. we're just taking them." Alister said.
"Why do you think Pegasus and Dartz want the children?" Yugi asked.
"To give them a better life than they would have here." Valon said.
"Dartz and Pegasus have a grudge against the Royal family. They don't want you to kidnap the children and Atemu because they want to raise the children. They want them so that they can kill them." Yugi said.
"You're lying! They would never do that!" Raphael said.
"But they didn't say they wouldn't, did they?" Yugi asked.
Their silence was a confirmation.
"Great. You want to send three kids who aren't even three yet to their deaths, and you want to send an innocent man and an unborn child to their deaths." Honda said.
Heba led the group put of the safe area while looking around to make sure that everything was clear.
"I still think that this is a bad idea." Jou said.
"I know it is, and I'm beginning to regret mentioning it in the first place." Heba said.
"Look. You said yourself that it might be the only way. We need to give it a try." Atemu said.
"Still, we're placing a lot on those three attackers. They could easily kill us." Malik said.
"It'll be fine. You guys will be there to look after us." Marik said, holding Inchan.
"Besides, it's not like we have much of a choice." Seto added, holing Seth.
"We made the choice, now deal with it." Bakura stated, holding Crystal.
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, and a part of the palace started to collapse.
"That's the throne room!" Heba exclaimed.
"Yugi!" Yami shouted.
"Honda!" Jou yelled.
"Otogi!" Ryou exclaimed.
There were four blasts that came out and hit Heba, Jou, Ryou, and Malik, knocking them backwards into the ground unconscious.
"Oh-no!" Amara exclaimed, rushing over to her sons-in-law.
"Well, well. Look who we found."
They all looked to see Raphael, Alister, and Valon walking toward them.
"Stay away." Bakura growled.
"We have orders, and we're not about to break them." Raphael said.
"Let's get them." Valon said.
"You'll have to kill us first." Seto said.
"That can be arranged although I really don't want to take an innocent person's life." Raphael said.
"You don't want to take an innocent person's life, but you don't have a problem with raking an innocent child from their parents." Aknankanon spat.
"We're just taking them somewhere that they will be able to live a better life." Alister said.
"No, you're not. You're taking them to their grave." Bakura snarled.
"Like hell we're letting you take our children from us!" Marik shouted.
"Why would you want to keep children around? You got pregnant through rape." Raphael said.
"rape? What the hell have Pegasus and Dartz been telling you? None of us were raped. We slept willing with them. We got pregnant willing. No one forced anything on us." Seto said.
"You must really be brainwashed." Raphael said.
A sudden blast knocked Seto and all the others down.
Seth, Crystal, and Inchan were thrown away from them.
"Let's get the kids. We'll come back for the slave." Raphael said.
The three started for Seth, Inchan, and Crystal.
"Seth!" Seto shouted.
"Crystal!" Bakura screamed.
"Inchan!" Marik yelled.
Before Raphael, Valon, and Alister could get to the children, three blasts hit them and knocked them away from the three kids.
Yugi picked up Seth, Otogi picked up Crystal, and Honda picked up Inchan. Quickly, the group ran over to where Seto, Bakura, and Marik were, who quickly took their children.
Yugi turned to look angrily at where Raphael, Valon, and Alister were starting tog et up.
"Otogi. Honda. Stay put and guard them." Yugi said.
"What about them?" Otogi asked, referring to their enemy.
"Leave them to me." Yugi said, walking toward them.
"Uh-oh." Honda said.
"He is beyond pissed." Otogi said.
"Is that bad?" Yami asked.
"For those three, yes." Otogi replied.
Raphael lunged at Yugi, but Yugi side-stepped him and rammed his fist into Raphael's face, knocking him backwards into the wall. Valon and Alister both went at him. Yugi ducked and rammed his fist into Alistair's stomach and his foot into Valon's stomach. Both went to their knees, clutching their aching stomachs. Yugi grabbed them both by the arm and threw them into the wall with Raphael.
Yugi pulled out sword word and said, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you three now. You attacked my palace, you tried to kidnap three children, you claim that my cousins and brother raped them when that isn't the case, and you try to kill members of the Royal family. Give me a reason why I shouldn't." Yugi said.
"Then go ahead. Why should we care?' Raphael said.
"Yeah. Go ahead and kill us. You already destroyed our lives." Alister said.
"I did nothing. Raphael, that tornado on that cruise was a natural disaster. It couldn't have been stopped." Yugi said.
"Your brother controls water. He could have." Raphael said.
"While we have the power to manipulate the elements, we cannot control them nor can we stop natural disasters." Yugi said.
"My parents were kill, though." Valon said.
"Yes, they were, and the murderer was put to death for his crimes. In fact, he was put to death a week after their deaths. I couldn't have stopped that." Yugi said.
"My brother died in a military action." Alister said.
"Yes, he did, but you were in an independent area. One not under my control." Yugi said.
All three realized that he had done nothing to them.
"Yugi, there's something else." Ryou said.
Yugi glanced back to see Ryou, Malik, Heba, and Jou standing behind him.
Ryou held out a holographic imaging ball.
"Ryou?' Yugi asked.
"Let me show them." Ryou said.
Yugi nodded.
Ryou activated it.
The ball showed three men.
"Pegasus." Raphael said.
"Dartz." Alister said.
"Father." Yugi said.
The image played.
"What you have done is inexcusable." the Emperor said.
"If you had saved me wife, we wouldn't be in this mess." Pegasus said.
"I could do nothing for her. My son has no control, and he wouldn't have saved her. He cannot heal disease." the Emperor said.
"That is a lie." Pegasus snapped.
"You don't deserve to be Emperor." Dartz said.
"Your reason was that you wanted power." the Emperor said.
"You'll pay for all this." Pegasus snarled.
"You are both exiled for high treason." the Emperor said.
"You'll pay, and we'll start with those brats." Pegasus said.
"You would kill children to get revenge." the Emperor said, shocked.
"Yeah. After all, what better way to hurt a person than to take their children from them. Permanently." Dartz said.
Ryou turned off the image.
"That was the interrogation after they tried to overthrow the Emperor." Malik said.
"They said they were exiled because they were idealists." Raphael said.
"They lied. They were exiled for trying to overthrow my father and for the attempted assassination of him. Later, they tried to have the five of us killed because we were the Emperor's relatives." Yugi said.
"You were lied to." Heba said.
"What have we done?" Alister asked.
Everyone could see that they were remorseful.
"I know you were tricked, but it doesn't change the fact that you did attack the palace with the intention of kidnapping three children." Yugi said.
"We know. There is nothing we can do to change that." Valon said.
"Isn't there some other way?" Atemu asked.
"Yeah. They didn't technically do anything wrong." Amara said.
"No, we may have been tricked, but we did commit wrong." Alister said.
"It might not help at all, but we are sorry." Raphael said.
"Real sorry." Valon said.
"Nothing can make up for what we've done." Alister said.
Yugi sighed. "Stand up." Yugi said.
The three did as they were told.
"I can't let you off, but I might be able to reduce the sentence." Yugi said.
"Emperor, we are also sorry about the fact that we destroyed your palace." Raphael said.
They all looked at the apparent.
"And that's not all the damage." Jou said.
"Don't worry about it. I have considered remodeling the palace lately. This forces me to." Yugi said.
"Are you serious?" Jou asked.
"He is. He has really thought about remodeling the palace." Heba said.
"So, just out of curiosity, what now?" Ryou asked.
"Would you three be willing to do something else to help us?" Yugi asked.
"Anything." Raphael said.
"Just name it." Alister added.
"Anything we can do to help." Valon said.
"Take us to where Pegasus and Dartz are hiding." Yugi said.
"Why?' Honda asked.
"The only way this will end is to stop them. It's time to end this. Once and for all." Yugi said.
That's the fight at the palace.
The next chapter will have the confrontaton between the Elementals and Pegasus and Dartz. Don't know if it will be one part or two yet.
R&R.