~Ari~
The building shakes, but I am still able to walk to the working elevator and get to the roof. The doors open and I find Yami, Tea, Tristan, Kaiba, Mokuba, an unconscious Joey, and Rafael there. I guess Rafael and Yami dueled, but their souls haven't been taken. "What are you guys doing here?" I ask walking up to them.
They look over their shoulders and look at me, "Sabrina, where were you?" Tea says.
"I was dueling Lucas." I say.
The building then rumbles louder and shakes more. I look at the floor to see some cracks in it, "The building's collapsing!" Tea says.
"We've got to get to the elevator!" Yami says.
We turn around to run to the elevator, but then a huge crack forms between us and the elevator, making it impossible to reach it. "We're trapped here!" Mokuba says.
"Mister Kaiba, up here!" we look up to see Roland in a Kaiba Corp. Helicopter. It goes and lands on a landing platform just up a staircase.
We run up the staircase and reach the helicopter. I look back to see Yami helping Rafael climb the stairs and they're only about halfway up. Just then, the bolts go loose and then stairs begin to collapse. "Yami!" I yell.
There's no way we can help them, we have no way to reach them. I watch in horror as I think that they're going to die, but then Rafael grabs onto Yami and throws him up onto the platform. Rafael then throws Yami some kind of flash drive before the stairs collapse.
I run to Yami to make sure he's alright. I look down to see that Rafael is still holding onto a ledge. "Take my hand!" Yami yells.
Rafael then reaches into his jacket and pulls out what looks like a flash drive, "Take this, it's the only way you'll find Dartz." He says.
Yami takes the device and puts it in his pocket, "Just grab my hand Rafael!" he says.
Rafael shakes his head and then let's go of the ledge. Yami and I watch in horror as he drops into the plume of smoke below. I look back to the helicopter to see it lifting into the sky already. It hovers above us, "C'mon guys, jump!" Tea yells.
We jump up onto the slanted platform and I watch as the building caves in. A thought then comes to my head, "Wait, what about Lucas! His body is still there!" I say.
"We can't go back for him now." Yami says placing a hand on my shoulder.
I curse myself for leaving his body there. Why didn't I think about bringing him in the elevator? Now it's my fault he's dead. Even if Dartz is defeated and we get his soul back, he'll have no body to return to. Yami then takes the flash drive out of his pocket, "Here Kaiba." He says.
"What's that?" Kaiba says in more of an annoyed tone then a questioning one.
"It's some kind of flash drive. I don't know what's on it."
Kaiba takes it and then inserts it into a small computer tablet. The screen lights up and Kaiba goes wide-eyed, "It's some sort of map." He says.
Yami leans over and looks at the screen, "It must be where Dartz' secret lair is." He says.
"Roland, take us to this location." Kaiba says tossing Roland the tablet.
"Um, yes sir, Mister Kaiba." He says.
"Wait, who are they?" I say pointing. Surrounding the helicopter are at least four jets.
"Oh great, does Dartz have his own air force?" Tristan says.
Mokuba looks out the window, "I think they're telling us to follow them." He says.
"Should we Mister Kaiba?" Roland says.
"If they are part of Dartz' group of nerds, then I'd be happy to follow them to their lair." He says.
"Yes sir."
We follow the jets out to the ocean and they seem to be leading us to an air force carrier. The helicopter lands on the carrier and we exit it. Waiting is a man that looks like a commander standing outside the copter. "I would like to welcome you to the United States air force carrier." He says.
"Um, you're the good guys right? You're not possessed or anything?" Tristan says.
"We'd like to think of ourselves as the good guys. After all, our job is to protect our country and serve our people. Our country's police have been possessed by some sort of threat and we have no orders to strike this threat. We guided you people here in hopes that you could help us. We're probably crazy, but we believe that this threat is based around a card game."
"You're right." Yami says, "This threat is an organization called Doma and they use the game Duel Monsters to take people's souls."
"Yes, and who better to solve this problem than the Duel Monsters champions."
"So basically, you're asking us to do your job." Kaiba says.
It sounds kind of true at this point. "Well, we've been tracking this organization for months, but we have no evidence on them, so we're completely helpless to this situation. We'd be happy to bring you near the hide-out, and we'll refuel your helicopter."
"Thank you." Yami says.
We don't have to travel long before we get in range of Dartz' hide-out. "This is as far as we'll go. You all are doing a great service for the world." The commander says.
"I'm doing this to save my company." Kaiba snaps.
"Either way, you're saving more than just a company."
"Hmph, Roland, ready the helicopter."
All of us head inside the helicopter and wait a moment to take off. Dartz' island looks really stormy, with typhoons and lightning surrounding it. Obviously there to keep away any intruders. The helicopter sways from side to side due to this weather and I feel like eventually I'm going to fall over. Yami pulls me close to him and holds onto me to prevent that from happening though.
The helicopter finally lands on the island and we exit. The entire island is just a spiraling tower with Dartz' temple at the top. "Ari, maybe you should stay out here." Yami says.
"No. Everyone else is going inside, so why can't I? I can handle myself Yami, don't worry about it." I say.
"Fine. Just stay close." He says kissing me.
We enter the temple and the first room we come into is like a ritual area. There are torches along the walls, serpent carvings everywhere, and an aura of sadness. "Anyone else feel that?" I ask.
"I feel it too. But this can't be the only room in the temple, there's got to be some kind of passage." Yami says.
"Hey, look over here, it's some sort of doorway!" Mokuba says from one of the dark corners of the room.
We walk up to him and open the door to see a hallway, "Good work Mokuba." Kaiba says walking through it.
The hallway is rather dark, but I can still see hints of serpent carvings around the pillars. At the end of the hallway is a light, which turns out to be a room full of carvings on the back wall. They're carvings of people though. "This must be where Dartz keeps his souls." Tristan says.
"Yeah," I say, "Look on the back wall; Pegasus, Lucas, Mai, and-"
"Yugi!" Yami finishes.
Yami goes to approach the wall, but two torches near the back wall light up and then Dartz appears in a fit of flames in between them. "Well if it isn't the chosen duelists. I would like to welcome you to my temple, of course. And I even have a spot picked out for you all on my wall." He says.
"Can it. We've already defeated all of your stupid henchmen, so now we're here for you. So give me back my company!" Kaiba says.
Dartz seems unfazed, "Hm, well I always knew those idiots would be taken. Actually, I had planned that the whole time. I've taken millions of souls and my henchmen just added fuel to the fire."
"Enough Dartz, just release our friends." Yami says.
"The only way you'll get them back is if you can defeat me. But look around you."
All of the torches along the walls then light up and now we can see the entire room. Every single wall, including the floor, has hundreds of carvings across each one. "Ten thousand years worth of souls, in fact. So, would you like to accept my offer? Win the duel and you get your friend's souls back, lose and yours belong to me." Dartz says as a Duel Disk forms on his arm.
"I'll duel you! Anything to get my company back!" Kaiba says.
"No Kaiba, you can't do it alone." Yami says.
"Then why don't you both just duel me? It'll make little difference on the outcome." Dartz says.
"Very well, Dartz. Let's duel!"
Ended it there or else this chapter would be crazy LONG because the duel is freaking six parts long. And there's nothing better than writing a chapter and drinking a chocolate milkshake, is there? My goal is to finish season 4 before Labor Day because I have to go back to school the next day, so hopefully I can accomplish that.