Chapter Four
Atem was the one standing at the counter, idly toying with the cards in his deck, when Yugi came downstairs and found him later that evening.
"Hey," he greeted. "What's going on?"
Atem continued gazing off at the door. "I'm just thinking," he said. "That conversation with the Thief King made me ponder on the oddity of remembering living in two time periods. Now I recall everything that happened in ancient Egypt in addition to my knowledge of the present day."
Yugi leaned on the counter too. "Do you miss ancient Egypt?"
Atem looked thoughtful. "That's a hard question to answer. In some ways I miss it a little bit, but more the people than the place. It seems so long ago. Domino City is my home now. And honestly, the present has many advantages over the past."
"I can't disagree with that," Yugi smiled and chuckled.
"It was easy to get used to the present when that was all I really remembered," Atem said. "And yet, even after regaining all of my memories, I still feel more comfortable here. Of course, that's mostly because I became so close to you and the others, but I also just prefer the technology and fashion of the present." He paused. "In the afterlife, it was mostly tailored to what the others of that era were comfortable with. I felt somewhat out of place."
"So . . ." Yugi looked down. "When you do have to go back—which had better not be for a long time!—what kind of afterlife will you have then?"
"They told me I would be allowed to be with whomever I wanted to be with," Atem said. "You and the others, or my friends and family from ancient Egypt. Or everyone. They said I would be able to travel back and forth visiting all of my loved ones. Had I stayed in the afterlife now, there wouldn't have been anyone in the more modern part that I knew. And yes, that had better not be the case for many years to come!"
Yugi smiled. "It's nice to know that we'll all be able to be together after death, though." He hesitated now. "Actually . . . what Joey was wondering about Yami Bakura . . . I've kind of been wondering about us, too. Um . . . were you married, Atem?"
Atem looked to him in surprise. "Yes, I was," he said. "After my death, she married my successor."
"You mean, Seto Kaiba's ancestor?" Yugi blinked.
"Yes," Atem said, amused by Yugi's expression. Sobering, he said, "She was pregnant with our child when I sacrificed myself to seal Zorc away. I never met him . . . until I crossed into the afterlife."
"I'm glad you finally got to meet him," Yugi smiled.
"So am I," Atem said. "He grew up well. But naturally, I was mainly a legend to him. Seto was the one who raised him as a father would and the one whom he really saw as his father."
Yugi hesitated. "And . . . your wife?"
"She was very happy to see me, of course," Atem said. "But not in a romantic sense. We really hadn't had much time together, and she grew so close to Seto during all their time together, both on Earth and in the afterlife." He shook his head. "It was nothing I hadn't really expected, once my memories were restored."
"Still . . ." Yugi looked down, biting his lip. "It must have been kind of hard, realizing they'd moved on without you. . . ."
"What else could they do?" Atem quietly asked. "It's alright, Yugi. It's no different than my becoming closer to all of you than I am to my family and friends from ancient times."
"Yeah, I guess. . . ." Yugi didn't want to push it, but he still felt sad for his friend. He fell silent for a moment. "You know, in the Memory World it seemed like everything was moving so fast. It was like you were only Pharaoh for a few days."
"Well, I was a forgotten Pharaoh in history for more reasons than one," Atem said. "Although I had quite a few adventures as prince before that."
"That's sad, though, that you were forgotten," Yugi frowned. "You protected all of Egypt! Probably the whole world!"
"It needed to be that way," Atem said. "Since my name was the seal on Zorc, no one could speak it."
"I know," Yugi sighed. Brightening, he said, "But that's all over now! You have your rightful place in history."
"Yes," Atem mused. "And it's going to be a little odd reading about myself in future history books."
Yugi laughed. But the sight of the newspaper on the counter sobered him again. "I wish we could have got hold of Kaiba," he said. "Not that he would've wanted to talk about that article in there, but it would have been nice to let him know we knew it wasn't true that he deliberately trapped the Big Five in his virtual reality world."
"Kaiba is apparently readying his new augmented reality game for the public," Atem said, "and didn't want to be disturbed."
"Yeah, that's what Roland said when we dropped by," Yugi acknowledged. "And Mokuba and Marik are with him. I hope everything will go okay. . . ."
"Do you think it won't?" Atem asked.
"Well . . ." Yugi looked down. "I don't know. It could just be paranoia, but I've had a funny feeling ever since reading that article. At one point it even felt like someone was watching me. That only lasted a minute, but what was really creepy was that it felt . . . familiar, like it was someone I knew. It felt like Gansley of the Big Five."
"That is disturbing," Atem frowned. "It could be nothing, but on the other hand, we don't know what happened to them."
"And with Kaiba debuting new technology, they might try to get into the act if they're still around," Yugi worried. "We could all be in serious trouble."
"If the Big Five are around, we certainly will be," Atem proclaimed.
xxxx
It was indeed very late at night when Seto and company finished their journey through the final stage of the augmented reality game. The simulation ended and the room returned to its bare state.
"And that's a wrap!" Mokuba grinned, pumping the air.
Marik looked around in amazement. It had been so easy to forget that they had been in the same space all that time. "Incredible," he breathed, shaking his head. "I'm sure this game will go far. There's never been anything like it!"
"I know," Seto smiled, clearly pleased. He headed for the door. "Tomorrow we'll open the game to the public."
"Yeah!" Mokuba cheered as he followed.
It was after they had all left that the computer blinked, beeped, and came online again. The Big Five's laughter filled the room as Nesbitt operated the system and reprogrammed it for their benefit.
"Domino City is going to have an unpleasant surprise tomorrow morning," Gansley crowed. "And no one moreso than Seto Kaiba!"
xxxx
Ishizu had experienced many strange and unusual mornings in her short life. But with everything back to normal, she hadn't thought this morning would be one of them. A strange shriek from some type of animal sent her flying upright in bed. "What on Earth?!"
She got up and hurried to the window. The sight of a giant penguin with a sword looking in at her was enough to make her fall back in shock. That, and the fact that the world outside her window looked like Antarctica, complete with snow, ice, and glaciers.
"Ishizu?"
She turned. Rishid was standing in the doorway, looking bewildered.
"Rishid, something is clearly wrong," she exclaimed.
Rishid gawked at the sight. "This is . . . not possible," he gasped.
"We need to let the Pharaoh know," Ishizu decided, rushing to the hall phone.
xxxx
Yami Bakura abhorred getting woke up. Bakura knew he abhorred it. So when the boy suddenly flew into their room, calling for him in a panic, his first instinct was to snarl. But as he rose up, his hair wild and his eyes bloodshot, the sheer alarm on Bakura's face made him stop and rethink his reaction. "What is it?" he growled instead.
"Yami, I don't know how to explain it!" Bakura cried. "Outside the window; it's not Domino City at all!"
"What?" Yami Bakura snorted.
"Just look!" Bakura pulled the curtains back, revealing a huge tree branch draped with Spanish moss right outside.
That got the thief's attention. He stumbled up, stiff from sleeping in odd positions, and half-limped to the window. Outside in the yard, it looked like a bayou. Mossy trees mostly kept the yard in shadow, while a river ran through the middle of what had been grass and strange birds called far and near. He rocked back, staring in disbelief.
"Yami, what on Earth could be causing this?!" Bakura yelped.
"Obviously nothing good," Yami Bakura growled. "Where's your father?"
"I think he flew to Rome," Bakura sighed. "At least, he left a note downstairs saying that was his plan."
"Well, nevermind him." Yami Bakura stormed toward the door. "Let's go outside and see how far this madness stretches."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Bakura gulped as he followed.
"No, but how else are we going to learn anything?!" Yami Bakura countered.
Bakura couldn't argue with that logic.
Downstairs, Yami Bakura threw open the front door and stayed in the doorway. The Infinity Ring glowed and blinked around his neck. "Ring, shed some light on this mystery," he commanded. "Why does our street look like New Orleans?"
After another moment of blinking and glowing, the Ring projected a beam of light in front of them. Within it, ones and zeros typed themselves out over and over in various combinations.
"What is this gibberish?!" Yami Bakura boomed. "I can't read that!"
Bakura stared at it. "It . . . looks like binary code," he realized. "That has to do with computers. . . ."
"So this mess has something to do with computers?" Yami Bakura shot back.
An Alligator's Sword wandered down the street, glanced at them, and kept going.
"Oh my," Bakura blinked. "That was a Duel Monster. Yami, you don't suppose this is anything like when that horrible Yami Marik took over Seto Kaiba's augmented reality game and changed it so we were all trapped in it like a living nightmare?"
". . . Hmm." Yami Bakura frowned. "This could be one of his pranks. Kaiba was just about to put his invention on the market. Perhaps something went wrong."
"Then we need to let him know!" Bakura declared.
"That's one telephone call that won't be pleasant for either party," Yami Bakura grunted.
xxxx
As it turned out, Seto's phone had been ringing off the hook, both at home and at the office. At home, Velma had been trying to ward off all calls in order to let Seto get some sleep. It had worked for a while, but now, as she tried to talk into two different phones in Seto's home office, Mokuba sleepily wandered into the room.
"What's going on, Velma?" he mumbled.
The maid jumped a mile. "Oh! Mokuba!" She gripped both receivers as she half-turned to face him. "Well . . . I'm not sure exactly . . ."
"What the heck's going on outside?!" Mokuba yelped, cutting her off. He ran over to the window, tightly snatching the sill as he gawked at the ocean kingdom in the yard.
"I was hoping you and your brother wouldn't find out!" Velma wailed. "At least until I could try to figure out a solution. . . ."
"What solution?!" Mokuba retorted. "How did this happen?!" A new thought came to him and he spun around again. "This is Seto's augmented reality technology, isn't it?!"
"Well . . . that's what everyone's saying . . ." Velma said helplessly. "They think it's some kinda publicity stunt your brother came up with to promote Duel Monster Days."
"That's crazy!" Mokuba cried. "Seto wouldn't do something like this! We've got enough bad publicity as it is!" He stormed to the phones. "I bet one of Seto's enemies is doing this just to make him look bad! Give me the phones, Velma. I'll straighten this out!"
Feeling overwhelmed, Velma blankly handed over both receivers. "I wonder what happens if you go outside," she said.
"Nothing should happen, unless that Yami Marik creep's made everything real again!" Mokuba said. He started as someone yelled over the phone. "Oh. Hello? . . . No, this is Mokuba Kaiba, vice-president of KaibaCorp! Whatever you wanna ask my brother, you can ask me!"
Velma just slumped back and watched as a Flying Fish swam past the window. "This is a nightmare," she moaned. "A real and true, honest-to-goodness nightmare!"
And she hated to think what Seto was going to say about it.
xxxx
Seto happened to be upstairs, asleep in bed. When he heard a tapping on the window through his slumber, his first instinct was to roll over and put the pillow over his head. But when an all-too-familiar and unwelcome voice came to him next, he started awake.
"Rise and shine, Seto Kaiba, and face your doom."
He jumped a mile, throwing the pillow to the mattress as he looked to the window with daggers in his eyes. "Just what is the meaning of this?!"
He went completely pale at the sight of Gansley standing outside on his balcony. "Why, the meaning is a second chance for revenge, Mr. Kaiba," the old man sneered. "You see, we've all teamed up to help you celebrate the release of your first augmented reality game, by blanketing Domino City in the world of said game. After Nesbitt made a few critical modifications, of course."
Seto snarled. "Haven't you got it through your heads yet that you're never going to win and take KaibaCorp away from me?! You're not even solid . . ." But he trailed off as the realization hit him. "Or . . . are you?" He stared at the leader of the Big Five.
Gansley gave him a nasty grin. "Yes, Mr. Kaiba, you're right. We're using your game to give us solid bodies. As long as Domino City is covered in the technology powering your game, we can move freely throughout the city limits."
"Then I'll just have to put an end to your power," Seto snapped. He reached for a remote controller by the edge of his bed.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mr. Kaiba," Gansley taunted.
"And why not?" Seto demanded. "I can shut down your game with one flick of this button!"
"But then you'll be erasing your game, thanks to Nesbitt's modifications," Gansley smiled, "and we're all quite sure you don't want to do that."
Seto didn't let the remote control go. "I have other copies," he said coldly.
"True, but you have no way of knowing that we haven't also infected your entire system," Gansley said. "The moment you try to boot up one of those copies, you may receive a very nasty surprise in the form of a computer virus."
"Taking a page from Siegfried von Schroeder, are we?" Seto glowered. "Look, even if I don't erase the game, you don't have any hope of taking over KaibaCorp."
"Don't we?" Gansley smirked. "All we have to do is defeat you and anyone else who tries to stop us. With no one left to rule KaibaCorp, we'll be free to move right in."
Seto snarled. "You didn't have any luck defeating us before. What makes you think you will now?"
"Our failures have at least served the purpose of making us think harder about what we can do to succeed the next time," Gansley said. "Perhaps if you can beat our new and improved version of your game, you will defeat us at our own game."
Seto was not impressed. "That just sounds like your same old bag of tricks with a thin makeover."
"One thing we haven't changed from your design is that dueling is not the central focus of your game's plot," Gansley said. "The adventure is much broader than that."
"And I suppose you're planning to take down Yugi Muto and all of his cronies while you're at it," Seto guessed.
"The thought was certainly part of our careful plan," Gansley acknowledged. "We want to eliminate everyone who has had a part in our multiple defeats, plus those whom we haven't met who will no doubt join forces with the others to bring us down this time."
"So what happens if we fail your little game?" Seto asked. "Not that any of us will."
"We don't want your bodies this time around, Seto Kaiba," Gansley told him. "This time, we're playing for keeps. If you lose our game, you will die!"
xxxx
Seto was not the only one being greeted by a member of the Big Five and being told the new rules. As Yugi sleepily came downstairs to open up the shop for the day, Joey and Téa practically knocked the door down.
"Yug!" Joey wailed. "Have you seen the city lately?!"
Yugi blinked, looking beyond his friends to the street. Then he was wide awake. "Huh?! What?!"
"It looks like the inside of a computer," Joey nodded. "We know!"
"And it's the Big Five's fault!" Téa wailed. "I woke up with Crump looking in at me and telling me they've taken over the city and we have to beat their new game if we want to stay alive!"
"Same here!" Joey exclaimed. "Only it was Johnson talking to me!"
"Oh no!" Yugi gasped. "I knew I felt like Gansley was watching us yesterday! I was right!"
"And Nesbitt's probably visiting either Tristan or Duke!" Joey said indignantly. "Serenity was included in Johnson's visit to me. He said that they're all lookin' forward to taking us all out, permanently!"
"Well, they'll have to be stopped!" Yugi vowed, his eyes flashing. "We're not going to let them take over the city and kill all of us!"
"Man, these guys are sick," Joey snarled. "Imagine, having all these crazy grudges against teenagers!"
"I'm sure it's about more than just a grudge," Atem said as he appeared from the stairs. "They probably want to rule supreme in Domino City."
Joey started and looked to him. "You're right, Atem. Johnson said that too! They figure they have to get rid of all of us so they can. But so now what?! How do we even go about trying to beat their game?!"
"They're using Kaiba's technology against us," Téa said. "Maybe we should all go talk to Kaiba!"
"Good idea," Yugi agreed. "After we make sure Duke and Tristan are okay, let's do that!"
The phone rang before they could head out the door. Yugi quickly grabbed it up before it could wake Solomon or his mother and ended up in a short conversation with Ishizu. When he hung up, worry was flashing through his eyes all the more.
"What is it now?" Joey frowned.
"It looks like Antarctica where the Ishtars are," Yugi said. "It sounds like each member of the Big Five designed part of the city to look like something they like."
Téa shivered. "Yeah. Crump made sure my house was part of his section! Sicko."
"I wonder what Bakura's dealing with," Yugi mused. "He must be affected too; this seems to be a city-wide thing."
"And I just realized, Kaiba's probably taking the blame for it, just like when Duel Monsters were going wild all over because of the realms opening up!" Téa exclaimed.
Yugi winced. "He probably is. I'll bet a lot of people think this is a deliberate publicity stunt on his part."
"Unfortunately, they'll all know the truth soon enough," Atem said. "We should check on Bakura and Yami Bakura in addition to the others."
"We sure should," Yugi agreed. "Alright! Come on, everyone! Let's go!" He quickly scratched out a note for Solomon and his mother and hurried to the door.
Joey glanced at it. "You could've just written 'We're off to save the world again,'" he quipped. "That's what it's gonna turn into. It always does."
"Yeah, but I don't want to worry Mom too much," Yugi said. "Saying we know what's causing this and we're going off to fix it will worry her enough as it is."
". . . You've got a point, Yug," Joey cringed.
xxxx
Bakura was tense as he and Yami Bakura wandered down the street. Seto had been unreachable at both home and office, with other upset city goers jamming the phone lines. Yugi's line had also been busy. Finally, in irritation, Yami Bakura had just stormed down the porch steps and said they would have to go to one or the other of them in person. Worried, Bakura had of course followed.
The scenery was bizarre. While residential areas often looked like a bayou, more commercial areas were designed to look like various parts of downtown New Orleans. Up on the hill, the cemetery even looked different.
"It looks like all the graves are aboveground," Bakura blinked in surprise. "I know that's how it's done back there because of the water table, but we have higher ground here!"
"I guess they couldn't alter a hill to look like flat ground," Yami Bakura grunted, "but they still wanted to give the appearance of a New Orleans cemetery."
"Who on Earth could be doing this?!" Bakura exclaimed. "If it isn't Yami Marik, I mean."
"I'm sure we'll find out," Yami Bakura growled in disgust. "If it isn't him, it's most likely another of Seto Kaiba's enemies. And now we'll all be dragged into some new mess with him."
Bakura sighed. "Poor Kaiba. It seems that every time he turns around, some vindictive person is trying to use his inventions for evil."
"You could say it serves him right after using so many people to get to the top," Yami Bakura said. "Some of them are turning around and striking back. But then they should have the courtesy to leave the rest of us out of it." He spoke with dripping sarcasm.
"Hate-filled plots always seem to involve everybody sooner or later," Bakura said.
"Mine certainly did," Yami Bakura muttered.
When a tall man stepped into their path without warning, they both jumped. "Good morning," the stranger drawled in a Southern accent.
"Um . . . good morning," Bakura said slowly. "Don't you find the state of the city rather odd today?"
"I find it just like home sweet home," was the reply.
Yami Bakura's eyes narrowed. "I remember you," he said. "You're one of Seto Kaiba's former board of directors."
Both Bakura and the Southerner looked to him in surprise. "That's right," the man said. "My name is Lector."
"How did you know, Yami?" Bakura asked.
"I'll keep my secrets for now." Yami Bakura imagined he would tell Bakura in private later, but he didn't want the Big Five to know anything more about him than they already might. He glowered at Lector. "Exactly what do you plan on doing with us in your new little world?"
"Well, if it wasn't that you're surely planning on stopping us, we really wouldn't care about you at all," Lector said matter-of-factly. "We believe in live and let live."
"As long as it doesn't interfere with you, eh?" Yami Bakura gave him a dark and unimpressed look. "You're right that we will most likely be trying to stop you. Whatever vision you have for the city, I doubt it's anything we will want to participate in."
"We're planning on turning Domino City into the weapons capital of the world!" Lector exclaimed. "Gozaburo Kaiba always had a vision of KaibaCorp as a weapons manufacturer, and we were the best in the business! But then his ungrateful stepson Seto decided to take control of the company and turn it into the manufacturer of silly children's games!"
"Which you quite willingly played to try to overthrow him," Yami Bakura pointed out. "You must have a certain liking for the game, even if only as the means to an end. All five of you understand it quite well . . . even if you have very little success at actually winning." He wasn't about to point out that it had often been the same for him. He was a good player, but Atem and Yami Marik had beat him in the past. Of course, of late he had turned the tables on Yami Marik, at least.
"And Seto Kaiba wasn't ungrateful!" Bakura interjected. "Gozaburo was completely abusive! Seto Kaiba had a right to fight back!"
"Naturally that's the way you'd see it," Lector said. "But no matter. The point is, we're changing KaibaCorp back to what it was years ago, in its glory days."
"And who will run this reformed KaibaCorp?" Yami Bakura asked. "All of you want the position, but you can't all have it."
"We'll run it as a board," Lector insisted. "There won't be one man to be the president."
"Perhaps that's what you think," Yami Bakura said, "but when the time actually comes, do you honestly believe your associates will feel the same way?"
"You're not going to divide and conquer us," Lector snapped. "You just wait! There's going to be all manner of horrors in store for both of you and all of your little friends in our world! And when you lose, you'll all be dead!" With that, he teleported out.
