Chapter 3) Back from the future

One Moment Yami, Bakura and Ishtar were meandering along a Cardiff street and the next…they were somewhere…else.

Yami and Yugi found themselves in a futuristic looking city with tall gleaming sky scrapers and roads built on supports as far as the eye could see. They were stood at the top of an extremely tall sky scraper affording a breath taking view of the city. It was late at night and the city was illuminated by millions of lights, so bright it simply had to be visible from space.

"Where am I?" Yami asks out loud as he looked down and across at the city before him "how did I get here?"

A voice speaks up answering his questions "I have no idea" Yami turns around to find a tall guy with blond hair in a suit which reminded him of Kaiba's battle City Trench coat. A large belt buckle engraved with the letter A was fashioned around his middle, a long and sharp looking duel disk was attached to his left arm while in his right hand he held a Duel Monsters card he apparently had been musing over.

"I couldn't help but notice" he speaks up again, his down under accent contrasting with his prideful manner "that you have a duel disk an old one" practically an antique he thought "tell you what if it still works how about you and me throw down right here, right now?"

Yami's eye's narrowed as he folded his arms resting his right hand upon his duel Disk protectively "who are you?" he asks him not entirely sure what was going on but not about to back down from a challenge.

The blond smiles almost ironically "Jack atlas" he replies "and you…?"

"Yami" Yami decides against giving the stranger Yugi's name "call me Yami"

Meanwhile Bakura also found himself alone and in a dilapidated run down section of a city at night, not the best nor safest place to find yourself he thinks. From the few tantalizing glimpses he caught of the rest of the city as he ran along the run down roof tops jumping from building to building the rest of the city looked really nice, shiny even.

Ryo was just as clueless about what just happened to them and where they were however (and Bakura derived a deep sense of satisfaction from this although he'd never admit it) that Ryo felt so long as Bakura was in control nothing bad could happen to him, or if it did Bakura would simply banish it to the shadow realm (if anything bad was lucky and he was feeling particully merciful of course)

//I think I know what happened or rather what caused it to happen// Bakura tells Ryo through the mind link //bloody Cardiff weird shit like this is a dime a dozen in that blasted city//

//When you were in Cardiff before did something like this happen to you?// Ryo asks his dark side worried.

//Not exactly like this no// Bakura replied //there was a man…a Captain…and a tarot card girl, I gave some tips to her…//

//What happened?// a curious Ryo asks.

//Can't remember specifically// admits Bakura //my memories blurred something in the drink// he replies distractedly before crouching down and peering below into an alley //a commotion, people are here//

//Maybe they can tell us where we are, and how to get back// Ryo suggests optimistically.

//Doubtful if they weren't already here in which case they wouldn't know a thing then their probably in the same boat as us// Bakura ever the realist replies.

//Maybe it's Yugi or Marik// Ryo suggests hopefully.

A guy with black spiky hair and yellow highlights in a dark blue jacket with shoulder pads and grey gloves appears and runs past them through the under city while been chased by two goons in dark blue uniforms.

//Or not// states Bakura.

Ishtar didn't know where he was, how he got there or who was responsible for all of it, nor did he care. It was dark, it was night time and there were plenty of new victims for him to terrorize.

Everything was going great until Marik caught sight of…it.

Some kind of fancy futuristic looking bikes and a couple of duelists dueling on 'em while riding said bikes at high speeds along a track. He took over immediately and began drooling over them he'd always had a thing for a good motorbike and these things were hotter than hot! "Cool!" he grinned a grin reminiscent of Ishtar "me wants" and that was how Marik came to be riding at about 240 MPH doing bunny hops and other dangerous stunts which shouldn't be attempted at even a quarter of the speed on a stolen D-Wheel.

The speed! The adrenaline! The freedom! It was exhilarating Marik would have killed someone for a duel right there and then but as it happened he didn't have to, simple theft had been enough to attract the attention of a Security D-Wheel which appeared in pursuit of him.

"Citizen you are ordered to power down the stolen D-Wheel and submit yourself for questioning" the security Agent calls out to Marik basically telling him to surrender and come quietly…Big Mistake!

"As if!" scoffs Marik revving the engine "eat my dust" he roars of with the security agent in pursuit.

Torchwood present day

The rift manipulator was in full swing to track and find the three lost teens. As everyone worked away at their appointed tasks Gwen and Tosh share glances, Ianto nods at Gwen and Owen gives her a look of encouragement, or maybe he was just telling her to hurry up and get on with it, who can tell? Gwen steals herself before approaching Jack.

"Jack that Gold pendant thing what does it mean?" she asks him "what is it about a piece of jewelry that's got you so rattled?"

Jack seems to come out of a trance he blinks twice before smiling disarmingly "rattled?" he asks in mock outrage "the fifth and greatest iron legion of the Neo Roman Empire couldn't rattle me, believe it they've tried" he looks around at his team "I'm certain it's just a coincidence, just a couple of school kids in deadly anger, but we'll bring them back" his eye's bore holes into Gwen's "I promise you we'll save them"

"Speaking of" a chuffed Owen calls over "I know who were looking for, it might not be entirely accurate but since their famous it'll give us the highlights of their lives at least"

"Famous?" Ianto queries.

"Yeah I'm no Tosh and it would have helped if we could pull data out of Japan severs but I found an English fan site which listed practically every detail possible about them"

"Japan?" Gwen asks Owen who smirks.

"That's where their from well more or less" Owen reads out the data he'd obtained "Yugi Motou the one with the funky gold pyramid thing, really weird hair and apparently according to an interview he once gave it's natural! Can you believe that?" he asks cynically.

The others knew exactly what he meant the lead teen Yugi had black, gold and scarlet hair, tri coloured hair? That simply couldn't be natural.

"Why is he famous?" Jack attempts to keep Owen focused on the matter at hand.

"I'm getting there" Owen claims "he's sixteen apparently although according to this he barely looks a day over ten"

"He looked about seventeen to me" Ianto comments from his post by the coffee machine.

"Well they do say he looks taller on TV or in this case security camera's" Owen adds "his school grades, damned if I know how the fan's got that information let alone how they translated it from Japanese are below average, but then he and several of his friends have regally skipped school for gaming tournaments, he lives in Domino City Japan and is world famous for been the best player of a card game called Duel Monsters"

"Never heard of it" comments Ianto.

"You've probably never heard of Jeremy Clarkson" snorts Owen "besides it's not as big in Europe as it is America and Asia, he even has an official title the 'King of Games' he also has a rival Seto Kaiba the ex world champ and owner of Kaiba Corp, and a reported history of bullying the receiving end not the giving"

"Isn't Seto Kaiba a child genius who created working holographic projectors and refuses to sell them to the military?" Tosh asks out loud "instead he uses it in conjunction with a card game his corporation endorses"

"Duel Monsters yeah" Owen agrees with her.

"Holograms?" Jack frowns "they shouldn't be officially invented for another fifty/sixty years" he shakes his head.

"Marik Ishtar the tanned one, and a strange one, he has a following on the fan sites as a duelist and holds a present rank of third place after Yugi and Kaiba, apparently he just appeared and attended Kaiba corps Battle City tournament where he finished second after losing to Yugi" he scowls at the screen "I get the feeling something screwy happened in that tournament" he claims "according to this Kaiba and Yugi's semi final match was broadcast live and halfway through it for no apparent reason all the TV screens broadcasting it…exploded"

Jack whistled "out of our jurisdiction" he reminds the team "and it doesn't necessarily mean anything 'phantasmagorias' as they used to say in the old days"

"What's really strange about this guy is that he doesn't exist" explains Owen "he's Egyptian and certainly looks it but there are no records on him no date of birth, no school, fair enough he is from Africa but he's traveled to Japan several times and now he's flown from Domino to Cardiff and…nothing, the passports a fake, a really good one but fake none the less"

"And the albino…he's British isn't he?" Jack hazards a guess.

"Yes" Owen replies wondering how the hell Jack knew stuff like that "although he's not a true albino, he has brown eyes, he was born in Britain but emigrated to Japan at the age of ten, he's lived there the rest of his life, mother and sister both deceased, a car accident, his fathers alive and currently in south America, an archeologist"

"Got a name to accompany that description?" Gwen asks him.

"Reeooh Bakura"

"Ryo" Tosh pronounces it perfectly "I had a great uncle Ryo" she explains "and…" types a few commands into her station "were almost ready to try and bring them back, I just need a few more minutes to finish some calculations, I believe there still on Earth some time in the near future, well within a century at least…Jack?"

Jack Heartness has turned white, he'd frozen still as though trapped in time, ever since Owen had said the name Bakura, he slowly straightens up "Bakura" he whispers under his breath 'either it's just another 'co-incidence' or…he's back! The phantom thief, demon of the shadows…Bakura stealer of souls, king of thieves…Jack swallows a painful lump in his throat how he wished he could pay the seer girl a visit right now, maybe it would be best if he didn't bring them back…no he couldn't let them run riot around the future, it's best to deal with the enemy you know now and not worry about him for the next fifty years.

"I'm fine" Jack tells the team "it's just I knew a Bakura once" sort of true if they'd taken turns to kill each other counted as friendship…but he was dead, the necklace had vanished which had always worried him, but the host was definitely dead, shot through the heart which continued to beat even with one of the golden spikes embedded in it, he had to be dead…but he wasn't was he? The thief King wasn't flesh and blood, like jack he couldn't be killed, he could only be delayed.

Back to the future

Jack and Yami square of in a duel on top of a Domino City skyscraper "I'll start us of" declares Jack drawing a card he chooses a machine type monster and plays it face down in defense mode "I play a face down card and call it a turn" he decides.

"My move" Yami draws a card "and I'll start by summoning Queen's Knight in Atk mode!" a female warrior clutching a shield and sword "I attack your face down monster" Yami's monster attacks and destroys Jacks which is revealed as a Mecha Bunny but not before Jack activates his trap card the continues trap Space Gate "now whenever you call an attack I get to add a counter to my Spacegate" Jack explains "and that isn't the end either since my Mecha bunny was flipped up I can select one card on the field and deal 500 points of damage to it's owners life pints and I choose Queen's Knight" Yami's life points decrease to 3500 "it only gets worse when Mecha Bunny is sent to the graveyard I can search my deck and if I have another I can set it on the field in defense mode" Jack replaces his destroyed Mecha Bunny with another one face down.

Spacegate: 1 counter

::Yami:: Yugi informs his Yami ::we don't know anything about our opponents cards, there effects are like nothing I've ever seen::

::Yes:: admits Yami ::his deck is a complete mystery to us but brave heart Yugi I'm not about to let a little thing like that stop me from achieving our victory::

"I also place a face down card and end my turn" announces Yami 'it's your move" he sets the Magicians Circle Trap card and ends his turn.

Jack draws a card "I play a monster in defense mode, set a card face down and end my turn" he announces.

Yami regards him curiously "are you going to defend for the entire duel?" he asks Jack who merely snorts and gestures at him to take his turn.

Yami draws a card Dark Magic Ritual but without Magician of Black Chaos it was useless "I summon King's Knight" a male warrior wearing a crown and hefting a sword "when King's Knight and Queen's Knight are together on the field they automatically summon Jack's Knight" a tall warrior with a shield and a sword.

Yami has King's Knight attack and destroy Jack's face down Mecha bunny which deals 500 points of damage to the owner of King's Knight before been replaced by another, Yami's life point's decrease to 3000.

Spacegate: 2 counters

Yami then has Queen's Knight attack and destroy Jack's last Mecha bunny which deals 500 points of damage to the owner of Queen's Knight, Yami's life point's decrease to 2500.

Spacegate: 3 counters

"Finally I attack your last line of defense with Jack's Knight" Yami's monster attacks Jack's monster which is revealed to be a ghost like warrior Ghost Gardna upon which Jack's Knights attack fails.

Spacegate: 4 counters

Yami looks at the Def 1900 monster in annoyance, and then at Jack's Knight with Atk 1900 and sighs "end turn it's your move"

"I draw" Jack draws a card and smiles coldly "summon Jutte Fighter in Atk mode" a glasses wearing karate man "I activate his ability and switch your Jack's Knight to defense mode" Jack's Knight switches to defense "now I switch my Ghost Gardna to Atk mode" Ghost Gardna switches to Atk.

"I attack Queen's Knight with my Ghost Gardna" Ghost Gardna is destroyed by Queen's Knight and Jack's life points decrease to 2500.

Spacegate: 5 counters

"Spacegate activates when your monsters attack or is attacked" explains Jack but that didn't explain why he sacrificed 1500 life points attacking with a monster with 0 Atk points.

"Since its been destroyed by battle it's effect kicks in so your Queen's Knight loses a thousand Atk points" declares Jack as Queen's Knight's Atk decreases to 500 "so now it's weaker than my Jutte Fighter" he gloats "attack with tuning fork chop" Jutte Fighter destroys Queen's Knight, Yami's life points decrease to 2300.

Spacegate: 6 counters

"Now I can send my Spacegate with six counters to the graveyard to special summon a level six monster like Prime Material Dragon" a large green dragon with high Atk "you took such a huge hit just to summon that?" he asks Jack who shakes his head "no I took such a huge hit to summon this!" he activates his face down trap Urgent Tuning the tuner Jutte Fighter and non-tuner Prime Material Dragon to summon a fiendish Dragon monster red all over and with terrible horns and fangs, it roars at Yami.

Jack smiles at his prize card "no one can defeat me and my Red Dragon Archfiend prepare for the end"