Chapter Six

Tristan parked his motorcycle in front of Duke's apartment building and got out with a scowl. He had traveled into Nesbitt's section of the city, apparently; he felt like he was inside a computer. And by now, Duke might not even be here. As soon as he woke up and saw this mess, Tristan was sure he would run off to get Serenity.

Of course, he had a perfect right to, both because he would be worried about Serenity's well-being and because Serenity had chosen to get closer to him. The latter still frustrated Tristan. But at least he had to admit that Duke hadn't done anything out of line and Serenity seemed to be happy with him. Tristan still hoped that he would have a chance with Serenity, since they were all still young, yet he knew that she saw him as a brother figure and not as a possible romantic interest.

Tristan jogged up the walkway and through the door. It was one of the nicest apartment buildings in Domino City. Duke could certainly afford it. He could also afford a house, for that matter, but for reasons none of them knew, he preferred his apartment.

Well, Tristan amended, Serenity might know. She would never tell, if Duke didn't want her to. And Duke's store manager David probably knew too. Duke was closer to him than he had ever been to Yugi or any of the rest of them.

Then again, that was probably at least partially their own fault. As much as Tristan had hated David's chewing them out, he had to admit that the guy had a point about how they had never invited Duke along on their adventures. Maybe Duke really hadn't ever really felt welcome. Certainly he had never felt like opening up about himself.

Tristan reached the third floor and Duke's door. "Duke!" he called. He was just moving to knock when the door flew open.

"Oh. Hey, Tristan," Duke greeted. "I guess you saw what's outside."

"Yeah, and I know why it's there," Tristan said.

"Then you also know that Serenity shouldn't be left alone." Duke stepped into the corridor and pulled the door shut after him. "I was just going to get her and David."

"Really? And here I thought you didn't think Serenity should be sheltered," Tristan said, even though he had figured himself that Duke would go get her.

"There's a difference between not sheltering and just being stupid," Duke retorted. "Leaving her unprotected while some old creepy guy with a grudge against her is at large is stupid."

"Well, at least we agree on something," Tristan shot back. He followed Duke down the stairs and out to the parking lot.

Duke dug his keys out of his pocket as he reached his turquoise convertible. "Are you coming with me?" he asked in some surprise.

"I think I'll go get my motorcycle and park it in your spot while we're gone," Tristan said. "It'd make more sense to just take one vehicle."

"Are you sure that's your only reason, and not that you just want to be on hand to keep things from getting too lovey-dovey?" Duke smirked, flipping his hair.

Tristan flamed red. "Of course that's not it!" he snapped.

"I really don't think we'd be snuggling up under the circumstances anyway," Duke said. "Not to mention that David will be along too."

"Oh. Yeah." Tristan backed off, frowning more. He had to admit he wasn't crazy about sharing a car with David. "Well, maybe I'll just follow behind you on my bike after all."

"Suit yourself." Duke hopped in the car and revved the engine.

He was just pulling out of the lot and starting off down the street when he caught sight of Tristan in his rear-view mirror, trailing behind him on his red motorcycle. Duke couldn't say he was surprised that Tristan had been serious, but he still shook his head anyway.

They had always had a certain amount of problems getting along, especially after Serenity had entered the picture. And after Serenity had chosen him, it had of course escalated. Duke also wasn't sure that Tristan had forgiven him for faking his own death to escape murderers or reversing time to bring David back from a real death. They hadn't really had any kind of heart-to-heart talks after those problems had happened. Not that they had ever had heart-to-heart talks to begin with. Things just cooled down between them and then Duke had to feel and hope that Tristan was feeling better towards him. But the Serenity problem was always there.

Duke had been thrilled and even amazed and awed when Serenity had chosen him. Despite whatever air of confidence he had passed himself off as having, he had known that Serenity had seemed more comfortable around Tristan and he hadn't expected her to choose otherwise. But Serenity had decided to be daring instead of choosing to continue being sheltered. Duke would always be thankful that he had been given a chance. But he wondered if Tristan would ever forgive him for it.

He hoped Tristan would be more willing to trust him now than he had been in Noa's world. Had Tristan not thought the worst of Duke, he might not have lost the duel against Nesbitt. And now, according to Nesbitt, the stakes for this game would be even higher. They couldn't risk actual death. They would have to work together, if that was what it took.

Nesbitt was probably watching them right now, Duke grimly realized. And if he had any thought that he could successfully turn them against each other, he would probably try to do it. The Big Five had been desperate enough before. Now that they had even bigger plans, they would be even less likely to allow screw-ups. Duke didn't want to know all that their enemies were capable of, but he knew that whether they liked it or not, they were going to find out.

xxxx

Ishizu was worried as she and Rishid entered the museum and made their way to the exhibit depicting what definitely seemed to be the Infinity Ring in use. It hadn't been disturbed that they could tell, but Ishizu was not willing to leave it unguarded for long.

Rishid frowned at it. "Do you suppose there really could be some sort of clue within this image that we have simply not uncovered yet?" he mused.

"It's certainly possible," Ishizu said. "There may be some hint to the Ring's true power or what has to be done to bring it out. That information could be invaluable!"

"The Thief King and Ryou Bakura have been over and over it without success," Rishid said. "Not even the Pharaoh could find a clue hidden within it."

"But that doesn't mean there isn't one." Ishizu walked away from the tablet and over to the window. "And I'm worried about Marik, Rishid. We haven't heard from him for a while. And it must be dangerous out there!"

"I know." Rishid came over to look too. "I didn't want to let him go off alone, but I didn't want you to be alone either." He averted his gaze. "I have always felt terrible that we left you alone those years ago when Marik started his quest to find the Pharaoh."

"You had to stay with him, Rishid," Ishizu told him. "You were the only one who could control Yami Marik. And even if it hadn't been for that, Marik was only 11. He couldn't have been left on his own. I, on the other hand, was 15, quite an adult by ancient Egyptian standards. And at least there were others in the city. Had I truly been the only other person there, I can't believe you would have left me."

"Yes, that is all true," Rishid agreed.

"And it's all over now." Ishizu smiled at him, laying a hand on his arm. "So let's keep it in the past and focus on the present."

Rishid nodded. "I will try calling Marik again."

xxxx

As it was, Marik heard his phone ringing, but he could hardly stop to answer it. He was still barreling after the rampaging underwater tornado, frantic to keep it in sight. Then, just as suddenly, it went out and its victims flew in all directions before floating down through the fake water to hit the ground.

Marik winced, bringing his motorcycle to a halt. Almost everyone had been pulled away from each other during the whirling, but somehow Atem and Yami Bakura had managed to hold on to their descendants. Everyone looked dazed, if not outright unconscious, and Marik wasted no time in hurrying to the nearest victims. "Are you alright?!" he cried, bending down to touch their shoulders.

Bakura groaned. "Oh. . . . I'm not sure. . . ." He started, snapping fully awake. "Yami?!" He looked down at the thief. Both arms were firmly around Bakura's waist, but Yami Bakura was not conscious. He growled low, but otherwise didn't answer.

Marik touched his neck. "He should be alright," he said.

"He took the worst of the impact to protect me," Bakura said softly. "Oh Yami. . . ." He tried to pry the other's hands loose, to no avail.

Marik had to smile a bit. "He won't let go until he wakes up and sees you're safe."

"Yes, but . . . I can't help him like this . . ." Bakura exclaimed.

Nearby, Joey groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. "So, did anyone get the number of that twister?"

"Ugh . . . it was all I could do to try to keep hold of Atem, and I still failed," Téa sighed.

Atem slowly sat up, releasing Yugi from his grasp. "Yugi, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think so," Yugi smiled. "Especially since you refused to let go. Are you okay?"

"I'm just fine," Atem assured him.

Marik, meanwhile, had finally spotted the Kaiba brothers and was rushing over to them. "Mokuba! Kaiba!"

Underneath Seto's protective arm, Mokuba stirred. "Huh? . . . Seto!" He turned to face his brother. "Seto, are you okay?! Please answer me!"

Seto groaned, slowly opening his eyes. "Mokuba . . . ?" He snapped awake. "Are you hurt?!"

"No, I don't think so. . . ." Mokuba knelt on the ground. "But wow, that was just crazy!"

By now Yami Bakura was reviving as well. He stirred, blinking, and loosened his grip on Bakura when it processed that they were no longer spinning through the air. "Are you alright?" he gruffly asked.

Bakura turned to face him in relief. "Oh yes, I'm fine!" he smiled. "I'm so glad you are, Yami."

Joey looked around. "So where's Red Eyes?!"

Yami Bakura started, frowning. "And Dark Necrofear?"

Red Eyes soon roared from his position on the ground and got up, walking over to Joey. Dark Necrofear picked up her doll and the axe and half-limped over to Yami Bakura.

"You're hurt," Yami Bakura noted. He hadn't thought a computer program could be hurt.

"Oh dear." Bakura bit his lip. "What can we do?"

"Look for any magic or trap cards that can restore lifepoints," Marik suggested. "In this world, they work on Duel Monsters."

"Well, that's awesome," Téa said.

"Of course, the downside is that they don't work on real injuries to the human players," Seto flatly pointed out, "since there weren't supposed to be real injuries. But yes, they'll help Duel Monsters that are hurt. And in the normal game, they restore the human players' lifepoints."

"Unfortunately, this is no longer a normal game," Yami Bakura said sardonically. "So it might not work. And even if it does, I'm sure the Big Five will create many real disasters that could kill us. They won't stop at simple in-game misadventures that won't really injure anyone."

Bakura nodded. "That tornado certainly could have been fatal!"

"Wait, so we have lifepoints?" Téa gulped. "And the Big Five are playing for keeps. . . ."

Yugi nodded. "So when someone's lifepoints drop to zero . . ." He looked down. "I guess that's really it. . . ."

"No way!" Téa moaned.

Everyone fell silent, shaken by this deduction.

"Well, nevermind that!" Joey boomed at last. "No matter what the crazy rules are in this place, we're gonna beat them!"

"Yes," Atem said quietly. "We must."

"Here's some Red Medicine," Mokuba called after a moment. He hurried over with a pitcher, which Dark Necrofear took and drank. "Is that better?"

She looked at him and nodded.

"Awesome!" Mokuba grinned. "So we're all okay. Now what?"

"Now I'd better call my siblings," Marik said as he stared at his phone. "They've been calling me and I couldn't stop to answer."

Seto got up. "I'm going to find the Big Five and put a stop to their twisted plan," he snarled. "They are not going to ruin this game that I've worked so hard to create!"

"But Kaiba, how do you plan to stop it?" Atem frowned.

"My guess is that each one of them has set himself up as a boss for their section of the city," Seto said. "We go through the area, fight the Duel Monsters, and find the boss. Then we defeat him and move on."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Joey said.

"Somehow I've got the feeling that it's not going to be as simple as Kaiba makes it sound," Téa groaned.

xxxx

The Royal Hotel was one of the fanciest hotels in Domino. With enough levels to turn it into a skyscraper, it was all too easy for someone who wasn't sure she wanted to be found to duck into a room and stay quite out of sight from all except the staff. This particular someone had arrived late the previous night, shortly before the Big Five had started their tampering of Seto's game, and was just now waking up to the bizarre world around her. She crossed to the balcony doors, brushing the curtain aside just enough to see the world of Nesbitt's section of the city. Off in the distance, Crump's ice section was visible.

"What . . . ?!" she gasped. But in a moment she shook her head. "I guess this is just par for the course in Domino City. Of course, Joey's going to be right in the thick of this. Valon too, maybe."

She turned away, letting the curtain fall back into place. She would get dressed and go downstairs to find out what was going on. Then, she supposed, she would have to take the plunge and get involved. She had apparently come in right in the middle of a new disaster, and this time she didn't want to abandon Joey or any of the others. But . . . would her arrival on the scene only make an already stressful scene even worse?

She stopped walking in the middle of the room and quietly clenched her fists. She had been running for so long, feeling that she had to become a better Duelist before returning to the people she had betrayed. Some of those friends had talked to her when their paths had crossed in Germany, telling her how ridiculous that was and that no one cared how good a Duelist she was; they just wanted her back. They had almost convinced her. But then her insecurities and fears and guilt took over again and she had run away once more. She had just kept running . . . until at last a chance meeting with someone in Los Angeles had struck her with a vital epiphany. Everyone had been right; it was foolish to think that becoming a better Duelist would take away what she had done or somehow make her more worthy to come back. That was so shallow. What did it matter?

And so she had come back. She had rehearsed over and over what she would say and how she would respond to different possible reactions. Joey, she was sure, would really be overjoyed and just welcome her back, not caring about the past and just wanting to move forward. Yugi would probably be friendly and welcoming. Téa and Tristan she wasn't sure of.

Joey's reaction was the most important, she supposed. He was the one she had hurt so deeply. But if she wasn't welcomed by all of them—and she was sure she wouldn't be—how would she feel like staying around? Her self-esteem was still very low. On the other hand, if Joey wanted her to stay, it would be cruel to leave again. Yet, part of her wondered how he could really want that. How could anyone want her back after what she did? Even though she had been under the influence of an evil force and her mind hadn't been clear, it wasn't an excuse. It didn't change what she had done.

She gave a heavy sigh. Once she had been very confident, but maybe it had mostly been a mask for her loneliness. Now that her confidence was largely stripped away, she had very little other than her loneliness . . . and her guilt and self-hatred.

Still, she would put that aside for now. With the city looking the way it did today, obviously something was very weird and very wrong. She would focus on helping solve this mess, from the shadows if need be. And when it was over, she would apologize to Joey and to everyone else she had hurt. Sorry was just a word and it was never good enough, but if she sincerely meant it, and went about showing that she meant it, well, it would be a start.

"Look out, whoever's doing this," she vowed as she opened the closet to get dressed for the day. "Mai Valentine is back in town, and she's not going to stand for this."

xxxx

When David woke up and discovered the world outside his window, he nearly jumped out of his skin. "Penguins?" he gasped. "And an iceberg?!"

Indeed, a huge iceberg was sailing past his front window. The penguins riding it waved to him.

"Okay. Clearly I need to go back to bed." David started to turn away from the window, but stopped when he saw Duke pulling up out front, followed by Tristan's motorcycle. From Duke's expression, he could clearly see the iceberg and was staring after it.

David threw open the front door and hurried down the steps. "Duke! What's happening?!" he exclaimed.

Duke started and looked to him, completely serious. "It's the Big Five, just like I was afraid of," he said. "We have to go get Serenity and then try to find the others."

"Just give me a moment to get dressed for the day and I'll be right with you," David promised. He gave a quick nod to Tristan as he turned to run back inside. "Hello."

Tristan leaned on his motorcycle. "Hey."

Duke sighed when he and Tristan were alone again. "You guys should really try to patch up your problems."

Tristan scowled. "He's the one who blew up at us. He's never apologized for it either."

Now that was awkward territory. Especially since Duke's happiness was the reason David had lost his temper. But, not wanting to show any vulnerability, Duke twirled a piece of dark hair around his finger. "I guess because he still feels like he had a legitimate reason to be upset."

"Yeah? Well, maybe I feel like he didn't," Tristan countered.

Hurt flickered in Duke's eyes, and he averted his gaze from the rear-view mirror before it could be spotted. "Oh." He frowned. "Look, Tristan. Whatever grudge you still have against me, you'd better at least be more willing to trust me this time around. The Big Five are playing for keeps. We can't be fighting among ourselves."

"I know!" Tristan shot back. He frowned too. He hadn't seen the hurt, but he had heard it in Duke's voice, and now he felt bad. He really hadn't meant to say that, and he didn't even mean it, but it had just jumped out and now he couldn't take it back.

"Duke, I'm sorry, man," he said now. "Actually, even though I'm still kind of ticked off at David, I realize he probably had a point. I know we didn't include you as much as we could have, and that wasn't right. I'm sorry."

Duke perked up a bit. "You mean that?"

It actually hurt when Tristan heard the amazement and hope in Duke's voice. He hadn't thought it before, but Duke really had felt bad. "Yeah," he insisted. "I really mean it. And I do trust you, Duke, even though I'm still also upset about Serenity."

Duke finally smiled a bit. "Thanks, Tristan." He sobered. "Serenity made her own choice, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Tristan looked away.

David came back out then. "Alright, let's go," he said, leaping into the car next to Duke. "And just watch out for floating glaciers. We don't want your car to be the next Titanic."

"Not funny," Duke grunted, even though he knew David was serious.

xxxx

Alister had been up late with a chartered flight, so he had opted to sleep in. The last thing he expected was to be woke up by Valon yelping in the hall.

"Raph! You've gotta come look at this!"

Alister groaned and put the pillow over his head. Whatever Valon was shook up about, Raphael could tend to it. He wanted to sleep.

"Valon, what's all the racket? You're going to wake Alister! You know he's a light sleeper."

"Yeah, but just look at this!"

". . . What the . . . ?!"

Okay, now Raphael being rattled was something else again. Alister came out from under the pillow and the covers and went over to the window. The penguins playing on the ice-covered roof of the house behind them was more than enough to rattle him as well.

He ran out into the hall. "What's wrong with the town?!"

"I think we should find out." Raphael, not surprised at all to see Alister, went over to the hall telephone and picked it up.

"You're calling the Pharaoh?" Alister deduced.

"Who else?" Raphael quickly dialed and then waited for the phone to be picked up. When it was, it was by a worried Solomon Muto.

"Hello?"

"Hello," Raphael greeted. "This is Raphael Laurent. Uh . . . is the Pharaoh there? Or Yugi?"

"I'm afraid not," Solomon said. "Yugi left a note saying they know what's causing this strangeness in town and they've gone off to fix it. Leaving me behind again," he grumbled.

"But he doesn't say in the note what's causing it?" Raphael frowned.

"No, he doesn't. I'm going to go out there and investigate for myself," Solomon declared.

In the background, a harried woman exclaimed, "Dad! You know you shouldn't!"

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine!" Solomon insisted. "I'm even still fit enough to go on expeditions!"

"And it worries me sick every time you do," the woman fretted.

Raphael smiled a bit. All family units were the same—worrying, caring, loving. . . .

"We're going to go check it out too," he said.

"Then we'll see who figures it out first," Solomon said.

"I'll go get my chopper warmed up," Valon grinned as Raphael hung up.

"When we don't know what's causing this, we should stick together," Raphael said. "Maybe we should take the car."

"Aww, Raph!" Valon sighed.

"Motorcycles and ice don't mix," Alister said flatly. "The car would stand a better chance."

Valon walked out on the porch. "It don't even feel cold out here."

"Eh?" Raphael came out too. "You're right." He touched the snow on the porch railing. "Neither does the snow. Even though it feels like snow."

"So everything's fake." Alister raised an eyebrow. "Like augmented reality."

"Oh yeah! Kaiba was makin' some new game!" Valon whirled to face him. "So you think he did this?!"

"I don't know," Alister frowned. When he had hated Seto Kaiba, he would have believed it easily. Seto still wasn't one of his favorite people, but he couldn't quite imagine him doing something like blanketing the city in his new augmented reality world. He needed good publicity, and a stunt like that wouldn't help. "Kaiba's a better businessman than to think something like this would give him good sales."

"Then we must be caught up in another weird plot," Raphael grunted. "Great."

"So let's get out there and see what there is to see!" Valon exclaimed, running for the garage. In a moment, the door lifted and a motor revved.

"Looks like we're taking the bikes," Alister said.

"Or Valon is, at least," Raphael said. He still wondered if the car would be a better option at this point. Whenever things got weird, people always seemed to get hurt. They might run into some of them. And they wouldn't be able to do a lot to help take them elsewhere without the car.

xxxx

Seto had been talking to Roland for the last five minutes, while Joey grew more and more impatient. When he finally hung up, he was greeted with, "So what was that all about?!"

"Roland was giving me some important information," Seto said. "First, the city is locked down. No one can go in or out."

"What?!" Joey yelped.

"But how is that possible?" Atem exclaimed.

"There's an electromagnetic barrier around the city like a bubble," Seto said.

"So that means no aircrafts either?" Téa moaned.

"Not at any great distance." Seto scowled, shoving the phone in his pocket. "They did get a drone up high enough to take some pictures. Gansley's part of the city is mostly the most expensive houses. Crump's is other residences. Johnson's is the woods and Domino Canyon. Nesbitt's is downtown. Lector's is the rest of the residential area, a few businesses, and the cemetery."

"So . . . where do we go from here?" Joey wondered.

"Johnson's area is the nearest to our location," Seto said. "Of course, we no doubt have to beat Gansley first. I don't know if we have to clear the zones in a specific order for it to count."

"Oh, you can clear them in any order you wish, Seto Kaiba," came Gansley's voice.

"You creep!" Mokuba yelled. "Why don't you come down here and face us?"

"As you wish," Gansley smirked, appearing in front of Seto. "You can also defeat me now or after you get through all the obstacles of this zone."

"Really?" Seto gave him a suspicious look. "You're not going to say that we won't be going any farther than you?"

"Oh, I suspect that you will clear all the zones," Gansley said with an even deeper smirk.

"Then that means the real boss battle comes after we do," Yugi realized. "You're probably all going to team up and face us at the end!"

"We'll see," Gansley smiled.

"Wait," Joey frowned. "So why didn't we have to face Nesbitt before we got out of his zone?"

"Or Crump," Téa shuddered. "Not that I'm complaining."

"We knew you would run to Seto Kaiba," Gansley said. "We were waiting for that before officially starting this game."

"Oh, well, gee, thanks," Joey scowled.

Gansley ignored him. "Now, Seto Kaiba, are you ready to duel?"

Seto pulled out his deck. "Bring it on."