"Seto, what's wrong with Ryou?" Mokuba reached out to clasp his brother's hand, frightened confusion playing across his features.
"He's… not himself right now," Seto began, a little uncertain how best to phrase this.
"Someone else is controlling him," Ishizu interjected gently, giving Mokuba a look of sympathy. "Someone evil. But the real him is still there, deep inside."
"How can we make the evil one go away?" Mokuba asked quietly.
"By beating him at his own game." The answer was provided by Seto this time, whose expression was so serious that Mokuba could barely recall seeing him look like that before.
On Seto's other side, Duke was frowning, eyes fixed on the duel in concentration, but his eyes betrayed his dissatisfaction with Seto's explanation. He'd have to ask Seto for more details later.
Mai fought hard, but the duel was as good as lost the moment it became a Shadow Game. Part of her strategy was to fill her side of the field with monsters that supported each other through card effects, but when each monster was fueled through her own life energy, and she began to tire just from the effort of keeping them on the field for as long as she did. Not that they were doing her much good with Dark Door on her opponent's side of the field, limiting her ability to attack. Meanwhile, Bakura was filling his graveyard with Skull Servants and Wight monsters, boosting the strength of his King of the Skull Servants cards. Mai could destroy some of his monsters, but his clever strategy, which utilized card effects and spell cards more than anything else, allowed to cycle cards out of his deck to the graveyard to banishment to his hand to the field. His undead deck refused to be vanquished. When the Spirit of the Millennium Ring drew Dark Hole, it was truly over. Without Mai's Amazoness monsters to protect her, and without any of her trap cards remaining after he'd nullified and destroyed them all, she was left completely vulnerable to his attack.
Mai's piercing scream of pain rang in the spectators' ears. None of them would forget that sound anytime soon.
When the smoke and shadows from the duel arena were cleared, swept away by the wind, it was clear to all that Mai was laying unconscious on the floor, his life-point counter at zero.
"Ryou Bakura is the winner! Mai Kujaku has been eliminated!" Roland announced, the Spirit of the Millennium Ring standing cool and collected with his arms crossed, a misplaced smirk on his face.
"Mai!" Joey was the first one to recover himself enough to call her name. He rushed towards the platform and hauled himself onto it first, Marik, Yugi, and Anzu right behind him, Ishizu hanging back with a hand on Mokuba's shoulder. Marik had rushed forward too, but he'd approached Bakura, stopping a little ways in front of him. They didn't speak to each other as far as Seto could tell, but when Bakura turned around to return inside, Marik followed after him. Ishizu let out a quiet sigh beside the brunette, as if she'd expected that.
"Is this what you wanted, Noah?" Seto accused, glaring daggers at his adversary who'd watched the grim duel play out with apathetic curiosity at best and sadistic glee at worst.
"I wanted the strongest duelists in Japan to gather and compete to see who was the best," was Noah's snidely insincere response. "Anyone who loses isn't worthy of moving forward in the competition."
"You know that's not what I'm talking about," Seto muttered, his voice low and angry as Joey lifted Mai off the ground, holding her securely in his arms. The blond cast a venomous glare in the CEO's direction before turning to re-enter the blimp with his friends. First things first, they needed to take care of Mai. He'd kick Noah Kaiba's ass later.
"Duke, can you please take Mokuba inside with the others?" Seto asked his friend without breaking eye contact with Noah.
"Sure thing. C'mon kiddo." Duke used a purposefully cheerful tone for Mokuba's sake as they left the open-air arena, leaving Noah, Seto, and Ishizu behind.
"You need to land the blimp." Seto approached the executive, Ishizu shadowing him. He hadn't asked her to stay, but he was glad that she had. She seemed to understand the Millennium Items better than he did, and if Noah Kaiba had the Millennium Eye, he was infinitely more dangerous now than he'd been in the past.
"Why should I do that?" Noah retorted like the spoiled brat he was. "It would disrupt our schedule. We're on a set course that doesn't leave room for unnecessary stops."
"You're messing with human lives again, Noah." Seto stopped when he was a few meters in front of the other teen. "This isn't going to end well for you."
"Do you think you're going to stop me?"
"I know I will. I've beaten you before, and I'll beat you again."
"You cheated last time," Noah sneered, his mask of composure slipping to reveal his nasty nature. "This time, there won't be any way for you to cheat, and I'll be the champion again."
"What are you trying to gain from this?" Seto pressed. He needed to understand why Noah couldn't leave him alone.
"Power." Noah stepped forward now, until they were standing face to face and Seto could see the Millennium Eye glinting between the strands of hair covering one side of the teen's face. Now there was no doubt about his powers. "That's always what this has been about, Seto."
The brunette could feel Seth stirring in his mind, throwing up a shield of memories as he'd done with Pegasus. Seth had been on high alert this whole time, but only now was he actively defending Seto's mind. He must have sensed an imminent attack, then. If Noah thought he could read Seto's mind so easily, then he was in for a surprise.
"You're never going to get over the fact that I'm better than you. How childish." Seto had barely finished the last word when Ishizu's hand was on his back, grabbing his coat and jerking him backwards just as Noah swung a fist in his direction—and missed. Seto stumbled a little, but quickly regained his footing, Ishizu's hand pressing flat between his shoulder blades to help steady him, then staying there.
"You!" Noah pointed to Ishizu accusitorily, even as she stood half behind Seto. "What are you—" Then it dawned on him just who this woman was. "You're that girl from Egypt, aren't you?"
"She has a name!" Seto snapped, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "Not that it's any of your business." Seto felt Ishizu's hand on his fist, her touch light but firm. She didn't want him to fight. "Tch. There's no reasoning with you. Let's get out of here."
As Seto turned away from Noah, he felt Ishizu's hands release him. She followed him closely, though, as they left him behind and entered the elevator. When the door closed, Seto could feel some of the tension leave his shoulders. Seth settled down too, residing in Seto's mind like a powerful serpent patrolling the perimeters of his mind, ready to strike at any perceived threat. He was restless, and understandably so.
"There are doctors on board," Ishizu told him calmly. "If the others haven't asked the crew about medical attention yet, then we could probably find them ourselves."
Seto nodded slightly to acknowledge her statement, still staring at the closed elevator doors as the carriage descended.
"Why did Marik follow the Spirit of the Ring?"
"Because Marik is loyal to Ryou. He wants to protect his friend's body because he doesn't trust the Spirit to care for it." Ishizu bowed her head a little, something Seto saw out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look at her and saw the concern creasing his forehead as she worried for her little brother.
"Marik will be alright," Seto assured, his tone cool but kind. "He's not alone; he has all of us to look out for him." Ishizu lifted her head to smile gratefully. "You're not alone either, you know." Seto hesitated, looking away awkwardly as he tried to find the right words. "Yugi and Joey and the others... when they make a new friend, they don't ever let you go. They'll always be there to help you, whether you want it or not." He knew that from experience. "So, trust them. They won't let you down." He was speaking in the third person, separating himself from them because he still didn't perceive himself to be part of a group. But everything he attributed to them, he meant for himself, too.
"Thank you, Seto." Ishizu reached out and gave his hand a soft, momentary squeeze. "I really appreciate that." She released his hand before Seto could properly reciprocate the hold.
"More people are going to get hurt, won't they?" he asked quietly as the elevator slowed to a stop.
"It's unavoidable, as far as I can tell," she answered soberly. They doors opened and they left the small compartment, heading in the direction of the infirmary. There they find Mai, everyone else with her except for Marik and the Spirit. Yugi was in the process of explaining to Duke about the Shadow Game and the Millennium Items.
"So that's how Pegasus was able to beat me in a duel," Duke mused, just having learned about the powers of the Millennium Eye.
"Noah Kaiba has the Eye now," Seto informed them with an air of authority.
"Does he just have it, or is he, you know... using it?" Anzu asked hesitantly, disgusted by the idea of someone shoving a foreign object into their eye socket for the sole purpose of gaining magical powers.
"He's using it alright. I saw it just now." Ishizu nodded in affirmation as Anzu shuddered.
"I don't know how much he knows about the Eye's powers," Ishizu said. "But I think it's safe to assume that he doesn't know the full extent of what it's capable of."
"How's Mai?" Seto asked, aiming his question at Joey, who hadn't looked up from the unconscious duelist since the brunette had entered the room.
"The doctor said there isn't anything they can do," Joey answered, more serious than most people ever heard him. "She's in a coma, so all we can do is wait."
"That's not all we can do," Yugi reminded Joey with a reassuring smile. "We'll duel our best so that we can defeat the Spirit of the Millennium Ring and free her soul from the Shadow Realm."
Joey nodded, though he still seemed dissatisfied. Seto exchanged a look with Ishizu, a clear question in his eyes.
Where is Marik?