Finally got this chapter to work for me.
Hope you like it.
Chapter 17- The Confrontation part 1
"Okay. So, what exactly are we going to do?" Heba asked.
"Simple. We're going to go where Pegasus and Dartz are and deal with this. I'm not going to allow them to come after us anymore." Yugi said.
"We'll show you where they are." Raphael said.
"Do you think that you'll be able to pull this off?" Bakura asked.
"I know that we can." Yugi said.
"You all need to go and end this then." Atemu said.
"Honda. Otogi." Yugi said.
"Sir." the two named said.
"I want you both to remain here. You're not to leave any of them alone for any reason for any length of time." Yugi said.
"What?!" was the collective response from those named to be protected.
"As you command, sire." Otogi said.
"Hold on. We don't need to be protected." Seto protested.
"Yes, you do. Chances are that Raphael, Alister, and Valon are not the only people that Pegasus and Dartz have conned into this as well. They might try to send someone else after them, and I don't want them to be alone if anything happens." Yugi said.
"Better safe than sorry?" Malik asked.
"Exactly." Yugi answered.
"There is no need for that. We will be fine." Yami protested.
"Not one of you are getting out of this. Honda and Otogi are staying here, and that's that." Yugi said.
Everyone knew that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Thought you were getting him to take his duties less seriously." Marik muttered.
"Not less seriously, Marik. He was getting me to give myself a little more free time." Yugi said.
"He's right about that." Yami agreed.
"The rest of us will go with Raphael, Alister, and Valon to where Pegasus and Dartz are. Otogi. Honda. Keep your communicators on at all times. We'll try to keep in contact as much as possible." Yugi said.
"Right." Honda said.
"One other thing. Don't try to contact us under any circumstances." Yugi said.
Honda and Otogi both nodded.
"They should go with you. You need all the help that you can get to deal with this." Yami said.
"He makes a point. We'll all be fine." Atemu agreed.
"How many languages do I need to say that you need protection before you get that you're going to be protected?" Yugi asked.
"How many can you say it in?" Bakura asked.
"Ten." Yugi answered.
"Look. I know you hate to be watched like hawks, but this is for your own safety, especially the kids and Atemu. They're the ones that Pegasus and Dartz want to hurt." Jou added.
"My king, we won't let you down." Otogi promised.
"I know you won't, Otogi. One other thing. Do not let anyone near them. The only person I will allow you to let near them is Rishid. Even if they have been at the palace for years, do not let anyone other than Rishid near them." Yugi said.
Otogi and Honda nodded.
"Maybe they should stay in the underground safe zone. It'll be for the best." Malik said.
"What?!" Marik shouted.
"Look. You'll be safest there. It's not like it'll be forever." Ryou said.
"You want to keep us holed up." Bakura said.
"Until this is over, yes, At least we will know that you are safe." Heba said.
"You might should listen to them. They are only looking out for your best interest. After all, we won't be locked up for eternity. Just until this dilemma is resolved." Aknankanon said.
"Go." Yugi pretty much ordered.
Grudgingly, the group made their way to the safe zone with Otogi and Honda.
Yugi turned to Raphael, Alister, and Valon. "I have every right not to let you off easy with what you tried to do. I am giving you a warning. If you attempt to betray us, if you are not killed on the spot, you will have no mercy from me. Understood?" Yugi asked.
"Yes, Emperor. Your suspicion is understandable. We have no plans to betray you." Valon said.
"All right. We're following you. Lead us to where Dartz and Pegasus are." Yugi said.
"Well, by now, I am certain that those three little brats and that slave-husband are captured and about to be ours." Dartz said, drinking some of his wine.
"Indeed. I believe that our little scheme has worked. It's too bad that those innocent slaves had to get caught up in this, but that just shows their poor judgment in who they marry." Pegasus said.
"Agreed, my friend. I am certain that we will hear any time now that we have them. Oh, what a joy it will be to kill those little brats." Dartz said.
"What of the pregnant one? How will be dispose of him?" Pegasus asked.
"The same way we will the brats. If he wasn't pregnant with the damn Emperor's brother's child, we wouldn't even have to have him, but there was no choice. After all, the Emperor and his relatives will now know the pain that you suffered when you lost your wife." Dartz said.
"Yes. If the former Emperor had just had his damn son heal my dear Cecilia, then I would be happy with her now, and there would be no need for all this bloodshed." Pegasus said.
"Soon, the Emperor will have all their bodies, and he will know what true pain is." Dartz said, finishing his glass of wine.
"Indeed. Our pain will be his pain." Pegasus said, downing his glass of wine in one gulp.
Yugi, Heba, Jou, Ryou, and Malik followed Raphael, Valon, and Alister through the forest that resided on the outskirts of the kingdom.
"How much further is it to them?" Yugi asked.
"Not too much longer. We should be there in about fifteen minutes." Alsiter explained.
"Good. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can stop this whole mess and get back to our families." Jou said.
"If you don't mind my asking, why did you three agree to help Dartz and Pegasus, anyway?" Yugi asked.
"Well, he used the pain we felt at losing the people we cared about to get to us. They offered us a place to live, food to eat, and the chance to be a part of a family. We all had been without any of those things for years, so we jumped at the chance to have what we had long since missed." Raphael said.
"As a part of living there, we trained to be assassins. We were trained to sue the magic that we have a way to destroy anything that was in our path. They taught us how to fight and how to use our magic in the most destructive way possible." Alister added.
"We were raised on the idea that the Emperor was a heartless and cruel man that cared nothing for anything but power. We were told that he had the power to save Pegasus' wife, but chose to let her die. We were also told that Dartz lost his family because of actions that the Emperor took." Valon said.
"If I could have helped Pegasus' wife, I would have. I was too young to attempt something like that at the time, and I couldn't have healed her even if I had wanted to, though. Natural diseases such as the one Pegasus' wife had is not something that I have the ability to heal." Yugi said.
"What about what Dartz said, Emperor?" Valon asked.
"Dartz's family was killed during a typhoon. The people who lived in the area that Dartz did were given the warning to leave and take shelter in the palace because it was far too dangerous for them to remain where they were. They were warned of the chance that they could die form the typhoon. Dartz and his family chose to ignore the warnings and remain in their home, which was right at the coast line." Yugi answered.
"That's not your fault, though." Alister said.
"I know, and so does Dartz. Unfortunately, Dartz and Pegasus are human, as we are." Yugi said.
"What do you mean?" Raphael asked.
"Humans have the natural urge to need an explanation as to why certain things happened. For Pegasus, the cause of his wife's death was the disease that she had. But Pegasus needed a reason that he could fight back against so that he could have revenge, so he decided that since my father wouldn't have me heal her that I was the cause of her death. For Dartz, the cause of his family's death was that they did not leave and were caught in the typhoon. Dartz believed that he survived the typhoon for the sole purpose of getting revenge on the Royal family for his family's death. Humans want an explanation to why they lose those they love, so they made the reason that they lost their loved ones the fault of the Royal family so that they could have revenge for the loss of their families." Yugi said.
"Yeah, but in reality, we had nothing to do with those things. I mean, we were only kids when Pegasus' wife died and Dartz lost his family before we were even born." Jou said.
"So, he made something your fault just because they needed a physical reason for their deaths?" Alister asked.
"Pretty much." Heba said.
"That doesn't make a lot of sense." Valon said.
"But they had us starting to believe the exact same thing." Raphael said.
"Yes, but you didn't come to those conclusions on your own. They tricked you into believing those things." Malik said.
"It doesn't change what we did." Alister said.
"No, but at least you are trying to make up for what you did." Ryou said.
"I can't believe that we are stuck down here." Yami said, sitting in a chair.
"Well, it's not like we're able to do anything about it, and when you think about it rationally, Yugi's right. We need to be here, protected." Atemu said, resting a hand on his enlarged abdomen.
"Yeah, but we don't have to like. It feels like we're prisoners." Marik said.
"We're not. We'll be free once this over." Amara said.
The group heard laughing and looked over to where the three toddlers were playing together.
The entire group started to smile.
"Than again, I guess it's a good thing that they did force this on us. We know the kids will be safe." Marik said.
"I think that's what Yugi was thinking about when he did this. He only wants us to be safe." Seto said.
"He's thinking of our safety as well as the children's. I think that his actions are not only admirable, but correct. This was the best way to do this." Aknankanon said.
"We know. We just hate being cooped up." Bakura said.
"Yes. We know. We had a hard time keeping all of you indoors when it was storming because you hated being inside all of the time." Amara said.
All five blushed at that.
In the corner, Otogi and Honda were watching the group.
"Do you think that the Emperor and the others will be able to stop Pegasus and Dartz?" Honda asked.
"I honestly don't know, love. The Emperor is a very powerful and skillful warrior. If anyone can bring an end to this nightmare that those traitors have brought upon us, it is him." Otogi said.
"I'm not sure that Raphael, Valon, and Alister should have been trusted." Honda said.
"Now, love, you know that the Emperor would not have trusted them if he did not believe them trustworthy. He has the uncanny ability to read people like books." Otogi looked at the group they were protecting. "Everyone was skeptical of all of them, but they have turned out to be very loyal. The Emperor is an excellent judge of character. He wouldn't have trusted those three had he not thought that they would not betray them." Otogi said.
Honda sighed. "I hope so. I really don't like the idea of anything happening to any of them." Honda said.
"It won't. I know that much. The Emperor is too smart for that." Otogi said.
The group climbed to the top of a cliff.
"Stay down." Raphael warned.
The group remained on their stomachs as they crawled forward to the edge of the cliff and looked down.
Below was a black castle that was surrounded by a moat.
"That's where they are." Raphael said.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go." Jou said, starting to get up.
Yugi reached out and pulled Jou back down. "Stay where you are until I say otherwise." Yugi said to his teammates. Turning to Raphael, Valon, and Alister, Yugi said, "What do we need to know from here?"
"There's aren't any security measures on the outside, but there are on the inside. The gate can only be lowered from the inside." Raphael said.
"They'll let you three in, though. Right?" Yugi asked.
The three nodded.
"All right. You'll go up to the gate so that they'll let you in. We'll be right behind you. We'll hide to the sides so that they won't see us on their cameras. We'll get in quickly while the gate is down. Point out the security cameras so that we can avoid them. I'd like for us to take them by surprise if at all possible." Yugi said.
Raphael nodded, and the group started down toward the castle.
There was a loud beeping noise from the computer console behind where Pegasus and Dartz were sitting.
"Hmm. I wonder who has come to see us." Dartz said. He got up and walked over to the console. "Well, it would seem out little assassins have returned." Dartz said.
Pegasus also got up to look. "Yes, but they've come back empty handed." Pegasus said, frowning.
"They had better have a good explanation for why they do not have those damn brats and that whore of a slave." Dartz said.
Pegasus pressed a button to allow the three to get into the palace.
The gates were lowered.
Raphael, Valon, and Alister walked into the castle with Yugi, Heba, Jou, Ryou, and Malik quickly making their way into the castle without being spotted by Pegasus and Darts on the security monitors. The five Elementals barely got inside before the gates closed.
Raphael looked at the security cameras that were lined up.
Yugi noticed them and nodded to the other four so that they would see them.
"Can they hear us on them?" Yugi mouthed.
"No." Alister said, making it seem like he was speaking to the other two.
"They saw no need for that." Valon added.
"All right, guys. I don't think that the security cameras reach the walls. We'll stay against the walls as much as possible. At least until we reach where those two are." Yugi said.
Pressing their backs against the walls, the group followed Raphael, Valon, and Alister as they walked down the halls.
"Let us know when we get to the doors that lead to where they are." Yugi said.
"We will." Raphael assured him.
"Do you know what to do?" Heba asked.
"Yes. We'll make sure that we do what you told us." Alister said.
"Good. We're depending on you for this to work." Heba said.
"We won't let you down." Valon assured them.
When they reached the doors, the doors slid open, and Raphael, Valon, and Alister walked in.
Yugi and the others remained outside for the moment.
"Well, it seems that you have returned empty-handed." Dartz said.
"Forgive our failure, master Dartz. We were overwhelmed by the strength that the Emperor and his team have. We were unprepared." Raphael's aid.
"Then you were not able to get close." Pegasus said.
"We got close, Master Pegasus. When we were about to grab the children, the Emperor and the two Elementals of thunder and wind stopped us from getting them." Alister said.
"Then you will just have to train harder in order to get them the next time that you are faced with them." Dartz said.
"It will take some time before we are ready to face them again." Valon said.
"Don't be ridiculous. You will be ready in no time. All we have to do is double up your training schedule." Dartz said.
"Master Dartz. Master Pegasus. I hope I am not being impudent by asking this, but why do you want the children and the slave so badly?" Raphael asked.
"The Emperor and his kin have no idea what it feels like to lose someone that you love dearly. It is time for them to know what it feels like." Pegasus said.
"When we get our hands on the children and slave, they will all die." Dartz said.
'They did lie before.' Raphael said.
'Taking the lives of children is sick.' Alister thought.
'We were tricked, but they will get theirs soon.' Valon thought.
There was a loud explosion and the doors were blasted open.
Raphael, Valon, and Alister dove out of the way.
"What is this?!" Pegasus screamed.
Yugi, Heba, Jou, Ryou, and Malik walked out to stand in front of their enemy.
"Remember us?" Jou asked.
"It can't be!" Dartz shouted.
"How did you find us?" Pegasus demanded.
"We told them." Raphael said as the three joined them.
"You betrayed us?!" Dartz exclaimed.
"You lied to us. You tricked us into believing that Emperor was responsible for the loss of our families when they did nothing wrong." Alister said.
"You wanted to kill innocent children all in the name of revenge. You never once told us the real reason for your actions." Raphael said.
"We know why you want to destroy them. You blame them for the loss of your families, but they did nothing to you." Valon said.
"They killed our families. The Emperor could have saved my Cecelia." Pegasus said.
"And the Water warrior could have saved my family." Dartz said.
"I cannot heal diseases, Pegasus. I couldn't have saved her." Yugi said.
"And I don't have the power to control the water. I might have been able to manipulate it, but I couldn't have controlled it." Heba said.
"You made the choice to stay. We had nothing to do with that decision." Ryou said.
"All lies! You could have done more than you did!" Pegasus screamed.
"No. We couldn't." Yugi said.
"You'll die this day. The entire kingdom will be ours to save." Dartz said.
Ninjas appeared in front of them.
"Raphael. Valon. Alister. Fight them if you can. Watch each other. We will handle the majority of them. Leave Pegasus and Dartz to us." Yugi said.
"Right." Alsiter said.
The ninjas attacked.
So did the Elementals and their new allies.
That's the first part of the last battle.
The next chapter will be where the battle starts.
R&R.