Hey guys! I'm back with another update! *cricket cricket * Umm…anyway! So the High School Musical movies are seriously the best at making me write. There was a marathon on Disney channel and I sat down with Oscar (my laptop) and popped out this chapter in a couple hours. That's pretty good time for me considering I'm such a procrastinator. Anyhoo! I'm babbling as usual. Onwards with the chapter!
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Alissa cracked open her eyes slowly. She blinked a couple times and shook her head to get rid of the ringing in her ears.
"Alissa!" Alissa sat up to see Tea and Tristan running towards her.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah Tea I'm fine." Tea offered her hand and Alissa took it, using it as leverage to pull herself to her feet. When she noticed that Seto wasn't standing with Tea and Tristan she frowned.
"Where's Seto? Please tell me it worked."
"Relax Alissa." Her head shot up in the direction of Seto's voice. Both Kaiba brothers now stood behind Tea and Tristan.
"Seto!" She flung her arms around the CEO, causing him to stumble backwards a bit in surprise.
"I thought you wanted me dead. Why the sudden change in nature?"
"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking-."
"Clearly."
"Alright, I'm stupid. Thanks for reminding me. I'm sorry Seto. I don't know what happened. My memories must've been manipulated somehow."
"I bet Dartz used the magic of the Orichalcos to mess with your memories to turn you against Kaiba."
"Hmph please, again with the bull about magic? Don't be stupid. This is all a mind trick."
"How can you say that after everything you've seen Kaiba? You think everyone losing their soul is just a mind trick?"
"Just because you dorks choose to believe in this junk doesn't mean I have to."
"It doesn't matter what it is!" Alissa snapped, growing irritated with Tristan and Seto's bickering. "All that matters is that whatever is going on is getting people hurt. We lost Yugi and now we lost Joey too." She paused to look at Joey's unconscious body that was draped over Tristan's shoulder. "Whether or not all this stuff is real magic or some hoax isn't important right now."
"Alissa is right," Tea chimed in. "We need to find Yami so we can figure out a way to stop Dartz."
"Well then let's not waste time just standing here. Let's go man!" Tea nodded and followed behind Tristan; who had decided to take the lead and started walking in the opposite direction.
"Seto."
"Hm?"
"Thanks for trusting me back there."
"I didn't exactly have much of a choice. In case you haven't noticed yet, I don't lose and there was no way I was going to let you lose. Regardless of what your little friends think, everything that's been going on is an illusion, but the fact that it's just an illusion doesn't make it any less dangerous."
"You had plenty of chances to attack me. Is that why you didn't?"
"It's good to know that you have the ability to problem solve."
"You didn't have to do that. You should've attacked me."
"Hmph. There's a lot of things I should've done, but I prefer not to waste my time fixating on something that's in the past."
"I'm sorry."
"Like I just said, the past is in the past. There is nothing we can do to change it now. Let's go. I have a company to save."
"Seto."
"Hm?"
"Who is Tony?" Her question made him freeze in place.
"What?"
"Who is Tony? During our duel I started remembering things. I remember someone named Tony." Of all the times for her to start remembering Tony, now was probably one of the worst. The doctor had told him not to bring up traumatic events too soon, but did that mean that if she asked about them he wasn't supposed to tell her?
"We'll talk about this later."
"You swear?"
"Yes."
xxx
"There it is!" Tea called, pointing towards the headquarters of Doma.
"Let's go. We've gotta help the Pharaoh!"
"Hopefully we aren't too late. I kind of held you guys up for a while," Alissa replied as they entered the building.
"Don't worry about it Alissa. I'm sure the Pharaoh is fine."
"Do you think he'll be able to save everyone?" She asked, resting her gaze on the unconscious Joey.
"Of course he will. He isn't called the King of Games for nothing." Seto scoffed loudly at this.
"In case you dorks forgot, Yugi lost his title to one of those punks." Before Tea or Tristan could utter a retort to Seto's rude remark, Alissa let out a small scream. The group's gaze rested on the unconscious blonde that was resting against the wall next to the elevator.
"It's Mai! Her soul must've been taken too!"
"Uh I don't mean to sound insensitive, but who is gonna carry her?"
"We're going to have to come back for her. Right now we need to find the Pharaoh," Tea said, pressing the 'up' button of the elevator. As soon as the elevator reached the bottom floor, the group piled into the elevator and headed towards the top floor. When the group reached the top floor, they found the Pharaoh in the middle of a duel with Rafael. To the group's horror, Rafael had just activated the Seal of Orichalcos.
"Rafael no!" Pharaoh yelled as the familiar green dome surrounded him and Rafael.
"Oh no! Pharaoh!"
"We're too late!"
"Ah, that's more like it. Now let's continue this duel Pharaoh." Rafael raised his head to smirk maliciously at Yami. The Seal was on his forehead and his eyes glowed a deep red color.
"Rafael what have you done? Now one of us is going to lose his soul."
"That's the whole point Pharaoh. The Great Leviathan needs power and once I rid you of your soul, that legendary creature will finally have the strength it needs to awaken."
"We'll see Rafael."
"That's the same guy that beat Yugi last time!" Tristan's announcement made the rest of the group gasp.
"What?" Seto asked with a deep frown.
"I'm about to show you what the Seal of Orichalcos can really do Pharaoh!" Rafael turned his attention to his Guardian Grarl." Guardian Grarl attack!" The brown beast attacked Yami's Kuribabylon, destroying it and leaving Yami with 1000 life points.
"You activated my trap, Rope of Life! It brings back the monster that you just destroyed, after I discard my hand. Now Kuribabylon return to me!" The green puffball that had just been destroyed returned to the field with 800 more attack points, bringing its attack strength to 2300.
"I place this card face down and end my turn," Rafael said in an icy tone.
"Now what?"
"Yugi needs help! He only has 1000 life points left!"
"Who are you kidding Mokuba? He's won duels before with way fewer life points!"
"Now it's my turn! I'll transform my Kuribabylon back into the five Kuriboh brothers! Now fuse together again, this time to form Kuribandit!" Yami's play caused Rafael to chuckle darkly.
"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you Rafael. I activate the card Dark Magic Curtain. This card allows me to summon my ultimate monster, my Dark Magician!"
"Alright! What did I tell ya? He's got this under control!"
"But he just gave up half of his life points!" Alissa frowned. Mokuba is right. I hope Yami knows what he's doing.
"Now Dark Magician attack his Guardian Elma!"
"Reveal trap card, Guardian Formation! My Guardian Elma is safe!"
"But how?"
"The Seal of Orichalcos gives me an extra row of monsters. My trap card allowed me to move her to the back row, so now she can't be destroyed without destroying my front row of monsters first!"
"Stop being a coward and fight!" Tristan yelled.
"Now I can call forth my ultimate monster, but first I play Celestial Sword Eatos!" A bolt of lightning cracked through the sky and touched the ground inside the Seal. A sword was left in the place where the lightning struck. Shit, this can't be good.
"Now I'll draw two cards!" Rafael drew two cards and smirked. "The time has come Pharaoh, to play the card that beat you last time. It's my Guardian Eatos!" Several bolts of lightning cracked through the sky, creating an evil glow. A blonde woman with white wings appeared on Rafael's side of the field. The creature let out a scream as her wings turned black and the Seal formed on her forehead.
"Look what you've done to your Guardian, Rafael. It's been consumed by darkness." Rafael smirked.
"Exactly. Now it's more powerful than ever!" The group outside the Seal watched as Yami sacrificed his Kuribandit in order to draw five cards. He quickly discarded three into his graveyard.
"Yugi don't! That'll make Eatos more powerful!"
"That's true Mokuba, but it could've been worth the risk if Yugi drew the right card. I guess we're about to find out." The group watched, wide-eyed, as Rafael's Guardian's attack points increased to 7000.
"Oh no! That thing has 7000 points!"
"You're about to become a two-time loser Pharaoh and this time your going to pay up with your own soul! Eatos attack now! It's game over!"
"No! Pharaoh!" Before the attack hit, Eatos's sword turned to stone and broke apart. Eatos's attack points dropped down to 3000.
"What's going on?"
"Allow me to clear things up. When I sent three of my monsters to the graveyard, one of them saved me. That card was my Electromagnetic Turtle. When this monster was destroyed, it formed an electromagnetic barrier around my Dark Magician, stopping your attack."
"You had that planned all along."
"In your face Meat Head!"
"Suck it Punk!"
"I end my turn!"
"You should've thought twice before poisoning your own monsters. I speak from experience, betraying your monsters only backfires in the end."
"Just make your move."
"I summon Big Shield Gardna in Defense Mode! Now I switch my Dark Magician into Defense Mode. Lastly, I'll place one card face down and end my turn."
"It's over! You can't win a duel by playing defense. All that does is stall for time and unfortunately for you, your time is just about up! Eatos destroy his Dark Magician!"
"Magical Hats activate!" Four magician hats suddenly appeared on the field, hiding Yami's two monsters. Rafael's attack hit one of the hats, destroying it, as well as the Big Shield Gardna that was hidden inside.
"Alright. One of the three remaining hats is hiding my monster. So go ahead Rafael! Hit me with your best shot!"
"Go Elma! Attack the middle hat!" Rafael's Guardian Elma threw her sword at the middle hat. The attack hit, destroying the empty hat.
"Guardian Grarl attack!" The monster attacked the hat on Yami's right. The hat was empty.
"Too bad. You picked the wrong hat."
"My turn isn't over yet Pharaoh! I activate my Rod of Silence! This allows me to play another Guardian monster! I summon my Guardian Kay'est! Now I end my turn." Te group's hope lifted when Yami was able to summon the Eye of Timaeus and fuse it together with his Dark Magician to form Amulet Dragon. Maybe he can do this. Maybe he will be able to save Yugi, and Joey, and everyone else who was captured. Alissa's smile widened when Yami's monster destroyed Rafael's Guardian Eatos. Her smile instantly dropped when the Seal began to pulse.
"What's going on?"
"Why is the Seal doing that?"
"My Guardian is a creature of light. When it's destroyed, it's replaced by a creature of darkness." The ground in front of Rafael suddenly opened up. A brown, bandaged claw shot out of the crevice and began to pull itself out of the chasm. The creature that pulled itself free had no face, except for a pair of glowing red eyes. Mats of thick hair fell into the creatures face.
"Ugh what is that?"
"Disgusting."
"Say hello to my Guardian Dreadscythe."
"It's no match for my dragon."
"It will be. First, I'll boost its strength with my Reaper Scythe magic card. Now, thanks to my magic card, my Guardian gains 500 life points for every monster in my graveyard. Now I sacrifice the rest of my monsters so they can boost my Dreadscythe's strength."
"Oh no! Now that thing is stronger than the Pharaoh's monster!" The group watched in fear Yami's dragon was destroyed.
"Looks like Yugi won't be regaining his championship status after all." Alissa glared at Seto and elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
"There are more important things than a gaming title. He'll be fine."
"How is he going to win without that dragon card?"
"He'll find a way." Alissa watched as Yami avoided another attack by changing his Dark Magician Girl into a pigeon. She smiled.
"See. He's got this handled."
"I play Underworld Circle! It's time for you to take responsibility for what you've done Rafael!" As soon as Yami played his card, a thick, purple coat of fog covered the Seal.
"What's happening?"
"We can't even see the duel now."
"Let's just hope that when that stuff clears, it'll be the Pharaoh who is left standing."
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I'm going to end it here for right now cause I'm exhausted and my brain is fried. BUT the good news is, I've already started drafting the next chapter, so it should be up by Tuesday. Anyhoo! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even though it wasn't my best. Until next time, R&R!