Ten Years Ago…

Phillip Johnson (and never Phil, Philly, or any other butchering of his name, thank you… it was Phillip, had always been Phillip, and would forever be Phillip) was going over a contract that Gozaburo had brought him concerning the sale of weapons to a military force in Eastern Europe that was looking to expand its borders. He wanted to make sure that no one would be complaining too heavily about the sale, angered by whatever loss of life might come about when the military began to actually USE those weapons. Because despite the fact that weapons were meant to be used and cause violence people always acted so surprised when they did exactly that.

It was late at night but Johnson didn't mind. He was kept on retainer and while there were some that would have complained about such later hours he understood that was just the way the business was. Tomorrow he might have such a light workload that it would be like a relaxing vacation. And the day after he might have to work 24 hours straight. Thus was life.

Gozaburo was seated across from him, looking over some of the documents that Johnson had already approved of. The contract was rather well put together but that didn't mean that his job was any easier. In fact it was made harder that it was so well done, as it meant that there were more sinister little spots for the military's lawyers to hide secret little clauses and the like. They would want be covered, to be able to find some way to pass a touch of the hatred that would be coming upon them when they decided to begin bombing villages and the like.

The office was brightly lit, nothing like how the movies and tv shows portrayed late night work. They would have had him working under soft lighting, muted and fuzzy… which would have left him squinting at the pages and developing a massive headache. It was a nice office but not the grand thing that would have been seen in some film where the high priced attorney worked to help his wealthy clients avoid the law. Phillip didn't need such things… he could find the loopholes and the wiggle room amongst the rules and procedures just fine without rich leather chairs, ornate tables, and an unwieldy desk.

"Might I ask you something?" Gozaburo said as he took a sip of his scotch. Phillip, for his part, was drinking water as he didn't want his head muddled as he went through the contract.

"I think you just did," Phillip stated though he didn't get why Gozaburo chuckled at that.

Once he settled down the man spoke calmly and crisply, making sure very word left his lips properly and without a slur or the like as one might have expected after his drinking. "I have been thinking about you and the rest of the Big 5," he stated.

"I hope we have pleased you, sir," Phillip said. 'It isn't as if you have pleased us,' he mentally added. Recently Gozaburo seemed to have taken his eyes off the prize. He was showing the signs all rich men did of suddenly becoming obsessed with the strangest of notions. They were a weapons maker primarily, though there were other areas where they were gaining ground in the markets. Technology was the closest one to their weapons creation but that did tend to go hand in hand. Missiles didn't fire themselves and they certainly didn't target things on their own. But suddenly Gozaburo was interested in some rather… strange segments of KaibaCorp. Nezbitt had mentioned that Gozaburo had been asking questions about his work with their artificial training program…

'Empires die when their emperors become more concerned about their carnal desires and the obsession with fetishes and the like than the good of empire,' Phillip thought darkly. 'I will have to watch him carefully…'

Gozaburo let out a chuckle at that. "We are rich and we keep getting richer. Why would I not be pleased with all of you?"

'And that wasn't an answer,' Phillip thought to himself.

"No… I was thinking of how the six of us came together. Leichter and I are of course old friends…" He chuckled again at that and Phillip wondered what the joke was that amused him so much. "Nezbitt tried to trick me and I was impressed. Of course I had already heard of him attempting such things with much more success which is why I asked him to meet with me in the first place. Gangsley was a rival that I turned to my side. Crump I found toiling away in an office and it was like discovering a rare diamond mixed in with costume jewelry."

Phillip set the page he had been studying back down on the desk and looked his boss right in the eye. He knew that Gozaburo was gearing up to finally reach the point and he wanted to give him his full attention… or rather not have his attention yanked from his work by some idle chattered. Which, sadly, the conversation seemed to be heading towards.

Another sign that, at long last, age was catching up with Gozaburo Kaiba.

"But you… you merely applied for the job. I didn't scout you out, I didn't poach you from another company. You came… to me."

"Yes…" Phillip said slowly, wondering what he was getting at.

"So it made me wonder… why did you apply? What attracted you to KaibaCorp? To me?"

"Nothing," Phillip stated.

"Pardon?"

Phillip reached up and adjusted his glasses. "You did nothing to make me want to work for you. I would have taken this job had it been anyone running KaibaCorp."

"Then what drew you to us?"

"…the money," Phillip said simply.

Gozaburo threw back his head and burst out into a deep peel of laughter.

"Well… I can live with that!"

~Present Day~

Phillip Johnson watched as Tristan drew his hand. He had considered setting something up that would allow him to see his hand but, unfortunately, Noah had thought of such tactics and made it that the AI Duelists couldn't communicate in any way but normal vocal levels with the Big Five or Noah himself. He had stated that there would be no honor in claiming bodies through underhanded methods which made Phillip shake his head.

'We are stealing their physical forms… there is no 'honor' in that.' He scoffed. 'Honor. What a unusual thing to be concerned with. Honor is a construct created by the weak to try and justify their cowardice and their lack of nerve.'

So he was forced to watch, having no idea what Tristan was planning. It was annoying to no end; Phillip hated being in the dark about things.

"I'll start by selecting as my Deck Master Commander Covington." It was a stately mechanical warrior that appeared beside him, one who had seen a thousand battles and knew how to win a war while maintaining his honor and dignity. "And next I'll activate Machina Redeployment!" Tristan held up a card. "I will discard this card and since it is a Machina monster I can then select two cards from my deck." He took out his deck and looked it over for several long moments.

'Is he unsure of himself?' Phillip thought to himself. 'Is he nervous and wondering already what he can do about Caesar?' he leaned forward, pressing the tips of his fingers together. 'Or is it the reverse? Is he so sure of himself that he is trying to determine just which combo to use against my puppet?'

He hated not knowing.

"And now I will summon Machina Soldier to the field."

It was a basic green machine warrior, with a blade for its right hand. The kind quickly mass produced for war. It honestly reminded Phillip of some of the designs the futurists had been drawing up for KaibaCorp. They were always presenting new potential clients with "This will be War in 10 Years" designs. Flying tanks. Laser Cannons on satellites. Robot Soldiers. Things to convince someone to sign with them because if they didn't then KaibaCorp would simply go work with their enemies.

"And now," Tristan said, "because this is on my field I can summon directly from my hand my Machina Citadel!"

Phillip' eyes went wide as, next to the small soldier, a truly massive monster appeared. It was the ultimate weapon of war. A great pale blue machine with multiple tread legs, one hand a huge chain saw-like device, the other a cannon. Something designed not merely to engage in battle but to terrify its foes.

That was something people didn't understand when it came to war: sometimes it was all about getting your enemy to surrender before you even fired the first bullet. To terrify them and horrify them. It was why Gozaburo loved to do weapon tests, showing off their bombs taking out mountains or how quickly their planes could arrive at the site of a battle. It made their buyers tremble… and then he would present the generals with a tape to send their enemies. 'Here is what you will face.'

"But I'm not done yet!" Tristan declared, much to Phillip' surprise. He had assumed, with such a large monster of the field, that he would be moving to attack! "I discard my Machina Gearframe in order to summon Machina Irradiator!"

"So," Phillip said, leaning forwards as the large base-like machine, with a massive double barrel canon upon the top of its back and its little green head made to look all the smaller thanks to the weapons it had, appeared, "that is how you duel. You like to flood your field your machines." That would make things tricky, for that was Caesar's strategy as well. "Both of you are going to be working to take full control of the field… but only one of you will hold it in the end."

"Now then, I will use my Machina Irradiator's effect to destroy my Machina Citadel!"

That caused Caesar to frown, watching as the one Machina Monster turned its weapons onto the other. "You know… you play this game by-" he let out a yawn, "-destroying your opponent's monsters, not your own."

"But in this case I needed to destroy my Machina Citadel… as it allows me to then summon a monster from my deck with a lower level. And I choose Machina Fortress."

"What are you planning?" Phillip muttered to himself as Machina Fortress appeared on the field. It was clearly an earlier design of citadel… the first draft of the great war machine, not quite perfected. "Hmm… but it could have a different effect…" Because while it was a lesser version of the Citadel that didn't mean it was weaker. After all, it was not as nimble and certainly not able to cause as much destruction that didn't mean there weren't features that would make it work better. That was also something Gozaburo and KaibaCorp had been forced to deal with when it came to buyers. They all wanted to new experimental gadgets when sometimes a solidly built tank was the answer.

"You might also have noticed that none of my monsters are in defense mode, despite some of their attacks being lower than you monster's attack. The reason for that is that I think I'm going to end this duel right here, right now!"

Caesar though merely gave a bored shrug, not worried at all about the taunt. "Yeah… sure you are. And how is that?"

"With this: Limiter Removal!" Tristan flashed the spell card and suddenly smoke began to pour from the Machina monsters. "With this card I double the attack of every machine monster on my side of the field. And I will be combining that with my Deck Master's ability, Network Connection, which increases each Machina monster's attack by 100 for every machine monster on my field or in the graveyard. Yes, Limiter Removal means that they will be destroyed at the end of my turn. But that's okay because I will have already won!"

That though made Caesar chuckle. "If you wanted to destroy your monsters you could have just asked me. I'll activate my Deck Master's ability: Rains of Destruction. This allows me to destroy all the monsters on one side of the field and then give the owner of those cards 500 lifepoints for each monster destroyed. So I will eliminate all your Machina Monsters, giving you 1500 lifepoints… but leaving your field empty for Sacred-"

He stopped.

Behind the Machina Monsters… there was a set of glowing eyes.

"Thanks," Tristan said as Caesar's deck master launched the magma geyser that rained down destruction on Tristan's side of the field, destroying his monsters. "See, I had a feeling you would be pulling something like that, so I set it up that I could still have a monster at the ready. When a Machina Monster is destroyed I can resurrect my Machina Citadel from the Graveyard!" The massive war machine appeared. "And Network Connection increases his attack to 3400… while you also gave me some extra life points to play with. All that is left is to destroy your Sacred Fire King Garunix! Machina Barrage!"

Citadel opened fire, unleashing its payload on the great burning phoenix. Sacred Fire King Garunix let out a screeching cry before it exploded. (Tristan-5500, Caesar- 3100)

'Hmm… a good counter to my representative's opening moves,' Phillip thought to himself. 'but it won't be enough… you are still going to fall here. I know Caesar's deck and it is designed to bounce back quick. You haven't done anything but delay your fall. It was decided the moment you entered here that you were doomed.'

Phillip smirked to himself.

'It only remains to be seen how much punishment you force on yourself before you realize just how hopeless this all is.'

~MC~MC~MC~

"And what do you plan to do to Noah, once we are able to get our hands on him?" Selene asked as we continued to walk down the path.

"Well, considering how your mind works?" I told her. "I'm willing to bet it isn't as violent as you are hoping."

She scoffed at that. "Oh, there are other ways to deal with pesky little annoyances."

'Yeah, like take over the bodies of their girlfriends,' I mentally thought even as I kept my face utterly neutral. "Noah needs to answer for what he has done but if you are expecting me to go full on violent attack on him you're mistaken. I'm not going to slaughter him."

"I would never expect that!" she said in faux outrage.

"Anyone believe that bullshit? Raise your hands!"

None of our traveling companions so much as twitched.

"Oh, you wound me love," she said, pressing her hand to her chest. "But… you are still wrong. I would never just out and out kill him." Her smile became sharp. "Death is far too quick."

"Right. Greek God. I forget you guys are real big on torture."

Selene just shrugged. "It has its benefits. Teaches the world not to mess with us. I believe you once claimed that you should never leave a knife that might stab you in the back?"

I frowned; I had written that for one story and must have mentioned it to Selene. "The point," I said, refusing to acknowledge her comment, "is that if someone truly deserves punishment… then you have to have a strong hand and give it to them."

It was, of all people, Joey who spoke up first. "And ya mean ta say that Noah don't deserve ta be punished?"

"He never stood a chance," I said. "His father poisoned his mind."

"Come on man," Joey complained.

But I shook my head. "Think about what would have happened if you never had Yugi to turn you around, Joey? What would you be like 10 years from now? 20? 30?"

I could practically see the moment Joey saw himself as a fat old drunk, hurling insults at people until he was hauled yet again back to jail. He gave a violent shudder at that, ducking his head.

"And that means he's forgiven?" Selene asked. "Is this like you deciding to forgive that blasphemous bitch Ishizu?" And I was startled at how angry Selene sounded. "You said you forgave her, did you not? That you were going to save her. She killed you, my love."

I shook my head. "She isn't in her right mind-"

"She killed you!" Selene roared and she suddenly grabbed me and gave me a shake.

But this wasn't the real world, where Selene could snap me like a twig if she wanted. In the Virtual World her powers were non-existent while I had learned how to tap into my own. As such my eyes BLAZED with power as I grabbed her wrists and forced her to release me.

I opened my mouth to shout her down, to tell her that what I chose to do… who I chose to forgive… was my choice and mine alone. That she had no right to ever grab hold of me like she just had and that she would respect me.

But then I stared at her terror-filled eyes and the words died in my throat.

"You weren't there," she whispered as she took a step closer to me, jaw trembling and eyes shimmering with tears. "You didn't see what it was like… your body growing colder by the second. The sound of your bones breaking as Yuri tried to bring you back. The gods refusing to listen to me as demanded your return. She… she tried to take you from me." She moved in another step, our noses almost touching as she reached out with her left hand and began to rub my check. "You… have no idea…"

"I can't believe I'm sayin' dis, Ed but… she's right." I glanced at Joey who looked down and scuffed his shoe against the ground. "Hey, I ain't no fan of Selene. I ain't forgotten how she tricked me inta attackin' ya."

I had. I had forgotten. Mostly because, thanks to us dealing with Wyatt, for me such things felt like they had happened hundreds of years ago. I knew they had happened… maybe it was anime logic but my mind, when it came to remembering events in my life, was a lot crisper than it should have been. So perhaps it wasn't that I had forgotten but rather that the memories had become faded, the hard edges blunted away and leaving only the softness rather than the cuts and pain.

"But Ishizu… she killed ya man. I had ta watch Tea hold ya and sob her eyes out and I couldn't do anything ta comfort her because Ishizu was coming at us ta kill me and Yug and Tristan and we had ta fight back. She wants ta kill us right now. Marik wants ta kill us right now. He took Serenity and was going kill her and Gramps…"

Serenity rubbed her arms. "I didn't even meet Marik until we arrived on the blimp… but I remember the words his Rare Hunters said. How they were so sure that I was going to be the one to die. They taunted me about it… only Odion was nice, assuring me I was safe. The others though…"

Selene stared at me and a bit of hardness returned to her eyes once more. "Those are the two you want to save? Just like you want to save Noah? Who locked you in that dome in the hopes of driving you mad? You think HE is worth saving?" She pressed her palm a touch harder to my cheek but it was less of a move of dominance and more of her needing reassurance that I was standing there. That I was alive and whole and sane. "You once told me that you didn't believe in second chances. That was the kind of man you were. What changed?"

"…a lot of things," I told her honestly. "I'm not saying that everyone gets a second chance. Or that they get more than one. But I have to try. I have to prove at least to myself that it isn't hopeless. And until then I will believe that everyone is worth saving. Even them."

And, mentally, I added, much to my own surprise, because it scuttled many of the plans I had made…

'Even you.'

~MC~MC~MC~

Tristan knew he should have been feeling rather good about where he was at the moment, when it came to where he was at in the duel. He had managed to take down Caesar's powerful monster, deal some nice damage to his lifepoints, and tricked him into giving him more LP.

'But I don't feel good about this at all,' he thought to himself. 'All that time with Yugi, Joey, Edwin, and Mai has shown me that duels can turn at once. You can't believe that you are going to win just because you had a single good turn.' He looked over his side of the field. 'And I don't have any facedowns to protect me if he begins going wild with his own spells. That means that if he is able to take down Machina Citadel I could be in for a lot of trouble.' He took a calming breath. 'But… with my lifepoints as high as they are he'd have to assemble a massive field in order to eliminate me this turn. That means I'll get at least one more turn where I can set myself up for some protection. The only question is how much damage will he do before that?'

Caesar let out another yawn. Tristan had gotten the sense that the duplicate wasn't actually tired but rather bored with… well… everything. That all of existence was just tiresome for him. He hadn't spent much time with the real Caesar but remembered the man was ex-military and always alert so this sleepy-eyed version of him was rather startling.

"Alright… I guess its my turn. I'll return Legendary Fire King Ponix back to my hand, thanks to its effect. But it won't be staying there for long as Fire King Island allows me to destroy him in order to add a Fire King card to my hand."

'That's his strategy,' Tristan thought. 'He can use keep using Ponix as a way to find whatever card he wants from his deck! That's going to make it real hard to catch him on the backfoot, as he can always ensure that each turn he has at least one card that will help him out!'

"Next I think…" he let out a sigh suddenly, "do I really need to explain what I am doing?" He placed a card on the field only for… nothing to happen. "Hmmm, I guess Master Noah has made it that we do have to declare what cards we are playing. Alright… that's dumb but fine. Waste of time… I summon Fire King Avatar Barong."

The muscular cat-like humanoid appeared, throwing around two swords as blue fires burning around him with every step he took.

"Next I'll activate Circle of the Fire Kings, which allows me to destroy Fire King Avatar Barong in order to bring back my Sacred Fire King Garunix." Barong began to dance madly about, throwing his swords in the air and catching them as he spun and moved about in a circle. Finally he leapt into the center of the burning ring and let out a roar as the ritual was completed, his body bursting into flames that were so hot that it was impossible to see his body after a few moments. Tristan could feel the heat and shielded himself as the flames turned into the Sacred Fire King Garunix, who cried out upon its revival.

"But it won't be staying there for long," Caesar replied in a bored tone. "I will now Xyz Summon, using Sacred Fire King Garunix and Fire King High Avatar Kirin-"

Fire King High Avatar Kirin's flames exploded out of its body, its form consumed much like Barong's. But its flames rushed to Sacred Fire King Garunix, swirling and joining with it until the bird was completely consumed by flames. But as it was reduced to ashes the flames flickered and the ashes joined with the inferno to turn into a great bird of living flame, golden in color but with other fires burning around it.

"-to bring out Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings. And when this monster is summoned I can destroy your Machina Citadel… which is great because honestly I'm just not feeling a battle right now." The fires rushed out and Machina Citadel let out a screeching cry, like metal being torn to shreds, as its form began to melt until all that was left on Tristan's side of the field was a puddle of melted slag.

"And now I can attack directly," Caesar said and Tristan shielded himself as Caesar's fire bird unleashes a gut of flames. For a moment he felt of a rush of searing pain… and then it was gone.

Along with a large chunk of his lifepoints. (Tristan-1500)

'Just like I thought,' Tristan thought to himself bitterly, 'he was able to counter me and wipe out my field. And while I was able to survive that turn I don't know if I'll be able to survive the next one. Which means I need to make my draw count.' But Tristan looked down at his deck and frowned. 'But the problem with my deck is it burns through my hand quickly. If I'm constantly forced to replenish my field I'm forced to deal with only having a single card in my hand. I need to find some way to make sure that he doesn't keep wiping out everything I play. That way I can build back up my hand and then go on the offensive.'

Tristan drew and grimaced.

"I activate Pot of Greed!" he declared as he set the card on the field. 'Okay… that bought me two cards instead of one… but that isn't much. I need this draw to give me something real special…'

He slid the cards from the top of his deck…

…and sighed in relief.

'Not the best things I could have drawn but they help,' he thought to himself before holding out a card. "I'll start by activating Swords of Revealing Light!" The glowing swords appeared, slamming down around Caesar's monster, forcing it to take a step back. "For the next three of your turns you can't attack." He grabbed another card. 'But just in case… I think I'll set up some defenses.' Outloud he declared, "I will now summon in defense mode. Machina Possesstorage.

The new Machina monsters was different from the other ones in his deck. It was a Machina Soldier but one that had clearly been hacked and corrupted by something, leaving its armor black and its eyes glowing red. Augmented and upgraded but no longer following the original programing that had been placed within it.

"And next, I use Machina Citadel's special ability to summon it back from the graveyard in defense mode." As the giant machine monster appeared Tristan frowned. 'The problem is that its effect is negated, making it little more than a massive wall. I can use it for other things later on but right now its just more protection… and looking at Caesar's side of the field and the way he doesn't seemed bothered by the Swords of Revealing Light, I think I am going to need it!'

"Man… those swords are… really bright," Caesar complained, shielding his eyes. "And while normally I wouldn't mind having a break for three turns where I didn't have to do anything I really can't have those bugging me, you know? So I'll detach my Fire King High Avatar Kirin from my Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings in order to burn those swords down to nothing."

Tristan grit his teeth as the flames rushed around his Swords of Revealing Light, causing them to shatter into pieces. While he had suspected that Caesar would do something like that it didn't mean he was happy with it at all.

"And now Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings will burn your Machina Citadel down to cinders," Caesar said, his monster doing just that. There was little fanfare to the move, little dramatics. Just the massive phoenix firing off a lazy burst of flames that caused Machina Citadel to shatter into a million pieces.

'Great,' Tristan thought to himself. 'Just great. So now I can just keep playing this game with him… summoning Citadel and-'

Tristan stopped.

'Why didn't he use his Deck Master ability?' he thought to himself. 'Had he used Rains of Destruction he would have given me 2500 points but his Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings would have been able to attack directly and end the duel.' Tristan narrowed his eyes, staring at Caesar. 'He didn't do it though. He didn't go for the kill. I wonder…' His eyes went to his Machina Possesstorage, then to Caesar, and then to the hacked Machina Monster.

It was risky, the thing that was slowly bubbling up in his head. Insanely risky. It could very easily lose him the duel. But he was already in a dangerous position as it was. And when you were backed into a corner you had to try gambles.

'Lie. Cheat. Steel.' He reminded himself of Edwin's words before drawing his next card. 'Okay… time to see if I can pull this off.' As he drew Tristan said, as lazily as he could, "You know… I would have thought your heart would be more into this."

"Would do you mean?" Caesar said with a yawn, covering his mouth as he did so.

"Just that I figured Johnson would be chomping at the bit to take me down before anyone discovered what he was up to. Its clear he is playing an angle that's his own."

"Yeah, but that's Johnson, like you said. That ain't me. I just got dragged out here to duel you…"

"So what were you doing before that then? What did Johnson have you doing before he commanded you to duel me?" As he said that he summoned Machina Gearframe in defense mode and began to go through his deck to add a new Machina Monster from his deck to his hand.

"Man, I didn't have to do anything!" Caesar declared, sounding rather wistful. "I got to just… relax and do nothing. Didn't have to duel… or deliver Johnson's threats… didn't even have to think…"

"Right," Tristan said as he set his third and final Machina Possesstorage to the field. "That must be nice… not needing to bother with all the schemes."

"Yeah, not that I have much of a choice," Caesar said as Tristan equipped Gearframe to his Possesstorage. "I just… want to be left alone. Not bugged by all this. Not my thing."

"Yeah, I get that," Tristan said before asking, in his most casual tone, "hey, quick question about your Deck Monster."

"Yeah?"

"That Rains of Destruction… its pretty powerful. That only work once per duel?"

Caesar blinked before letting out an annoyed scoff. "Geez… I completely forgot about that. Rains of Destruction." The magma launched into the air and struck Tristan's monsters, shattering Citadel again but Gearframe protected Possesstorage, taking the blow and shattering instead. "And I guess destroy that other machine too with Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings." (Tristan-2500)

Tristan though didn't really pay attention to what had happened to his monsters. That wasn't what had mattered that turn.

It had been what Caesar, without even realizing it, had revealed to him.

'He has his own free will,' Tristan thought. 'He forgot about his Deck Master ability… he isn't focused on this duel at all! He wants it over, same as me. And Johnson isn't manipulating him like a puppet. Which means I have a chance. If I can distract him, keep him from focusing on this duel… he's going to make mistakes. And that is going to give me the opening I need to win this!' Tristan smirked. 'Johnson… you are about to learn that the worst mistake you ever made was outsourcing this to someone else. Because you should have handled me on your own… cuss now I am going to turn your puppet against you and win this duel!'

~MC~MC~MC~

Guest Omake by GarnettFox

Victor Veloci considered himself as a very patient Velciraptor, back in the perfect days of the Cretacious, it had aided him well while some Raptors ran themselves to death chasing their prey. He stalked and waited long after most others would lose their patience, go after the first moment a Ceratops crouched to drink, or a Iganadon ducked it's head to groom it's self. No. He waited and waited, till his prey was thoroughly distracted, or better yet dozing in the balmy prehistoric sun.

He'd waited in that cave with Her for millions of years, the pair of them changed by the energy of the asteroid, unable to die, unable to stop the changes to their DNA, their very self mutated almost to the point it was hard to recognize his self in his reflection sometimes. Left with the doubts in the back of his mind every time he shifted between one form and his true self

Did I have those stripes before? Did my tail always arch that way? Have I always been missing that tooth?

Even after they had their freedom from that cursed cave, he'd had to keep waiting. The time of the Dinosaur had ended, the age of the mammal was here, no longer the pathetic squeaking pests that raided nests but every bit as varied as his fellow dinosaurs had been. She had loved it, adored how they thrived and grew in ways both familiar to them and radically different.

He despised it with every fiber of his being, but endured for Her. She was all he had left. She was Pack.

No Raptor abandons their Pack.

Then finally, came devil and angel, the culmination of everything he hated about Mammals, and the answer to his problems.

Man.

Over the millennia together they had discovered and invented some things, Fire and cooking, the idea of writing. But humans learned it so much faster than they could ever hope to dream. In thousands of years which felt like a blink of an eye to them after the millions they'd already lived, Humans had far surpassed them. She loved it and adored learning from them, all but permanently casting aside her true perfect form to live as one of them.

He both despised and encouraged it. It turned his stomach seeing humanity ripping apart this perfect world that Dinosaurs had once ruled, but it was a necessary evil. He could use them to bring back his perfect world, to restore the Dinosaur Dynasty that rightfully belonged on the earth, and eradicate the human infestation.

Somewhere along the way… She broke the single most sacred oath that a Raptor took.

No Raptor abandons their pack.

Corrupted by her perverse love of humans, She turned Her back, She abandoned him. They were the only two Dinosaurs left in the world, but She loved the weak and pathetic humans more then she loved him.

Now, he was so close to achieving his goal, the mutated hybrids were becoming more and more pure dinosaurid with each iteration of the ooze, it just. Wouldn't. Stablize. Always they would revert back into their pathetic modern species within a few hours. He knew he almost had it, he KNEW it

He'd seen it, the six perfectly formed Dinosaurs that kept haunting the cameras of Kittery Point. Yet somehow they kept finding ways to avoid his men, to evade capture even when it should have been impossible. Showing intelligence no other hybrids had shown, not on the level of the animals they'd been mutated from, but on the level of a human…Or him.

He didn't know which he wanted more, proof that he had the right formula, that his work was done…Or just confirmation that after She left him, that he wasn't alone…

Yes, he was a VERY Patient Raptor, Which was the only reason the annoying yellow haired juvenile APE in front of him, asking inane stupid questions that a simple check of his company's website could answer, wasn't already bleeding on the floor of his office.

Still he smiled and answered with the perfect regurgitated PR slop his marketing department had come up with, Truely humanity came up with the most horrendous of inventions. But needs must. Victor Veloci was a man of the people, a philanthropist through and through. Didn't matter that the brat was just writing a puff piece for his piece of dung high school's paper that *maybe* if he was lucky would land him a job writing sleezy celebrity gossip in the back of a magazine. Maybe.

"I think that's the last of the questions Sir, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today! If you don't mind, I have one last, off the record personal question I'd like answering."

If the chattering monkey had sense he'd see the bared teeth as the threat it was and not the smile it was masquerading as.

"Oh but of course, anything for a young inspiring mind."

The boy smiled leaning back seemingly at complete ease "So, if hypothetically, one of the six perfect dinosaurs who's been wrecking your entire operation were to come to you with not only the identities of the other five, the home address of Miss Moynihan- You remember her green and purple scales? And the answer to what stabilized said dinosaurs. How much would you be willing to offer?"

Every muscle in his body was tense as the two of them stared each other down, neither daring to blink.

"...I would ask for proof of course before I would go any farther with negotiations." He finally said delicately throwing the gauntlet down as silently he shifted his tail and pressed a button locking the two of them in the room. Both to ensure no witnesses, and offer no escape if the boy thought to trick him

.

"Oh but of course." The human drew his self up brushing his self off "Go Dino!" For a moment Victor really wanted to question why on earth the teen said that, before his jaw dropped, watching as skin turned to scale, bones grew and shifted, nails to claws, teeth to fangs. "Is this good enough?" the Perfect Lythronax infront of him asked and oh, oh how he'd missed feeling the thoughts of another dinosaur brushing up against his own. The world had been so painfully silent for so long.

Without a word he shifted to his true, perfect raptor form leaping onto the desk uncaring as the computer fell and shattered on the ground and papers were torn under his claws. "It's been so long, how did you-?"

"I'm a human, mutated into this form like the others, not another ancient dinosaur like you and miss Moynihan, I'm sorry."

He felt a twinge of grief at the confirmation he was still in that way alone. Before suspicion crept in eyeing the Tyrannosaurid claws clicking on the hard wood of his desk.

"Human, and you know Her. Hmm, suddenly this offer to starting to smell of a trap Mr-?"

"Draco Lagorio. And I know this all sounds too good to be true to you. But the fact is, you have something I want very much Victor Veloci."

"Enough that you would aid in the extinction of your own species to get it?"

The Lythronax did a little shrugging motion with his tiny arms.

"Eh we had a good run, but we are fucking up the planet, long as I get to keep some creature comfort tech, maybe figure out a way to keep the internet running. I'd be pretty cool with the end of humanity."

Victor narrowed his eyes, snorting as his tail lashed "And what do I have that's so important to you?"

"Well there's money and power for starters, but really. What I want, is something only you and miss Moynihan have, but she would never share." Draco's lips curled in a smirk revealing all his teeth "You two are Immortal. That's what I want. For you to make me immortal too."

The Raptor hummed considering his options tapping his claws thoughtfully "I've been focusing my research on stabilizing my ooze, but if you truely have the answer for that, then I see no problem pivoting my teams to replicate my immortality for you."

"Go quicker once you have Miss Moynihan, test subject for them to use and abuse while you're busy with other projects."

"It very much will." Victor considered Draco for a long moment "And the others, your pack?"

"They aren't my pack." Draco snorted shaking his head "They, are a bunch of dumb teenagers who are barely friends with each other let alone me, and only work together because we have to and to protect our secret."

"And you aren't?"

"Oh I'm teenager, I've accepted THAT well enough. Just one with the life experience and knowledge to see the big picture, I want to be on the winning side."

Victor snorted, lightly drawing his self up, with the aid of the desk managing to loom over the rex "All of this has been quite…Persuasive, but if you truly wish to join I'm going to need you to…What's the human phrase. 'Put your money where your mouth is'."

"Give me a few men and a couple of hundred bucks and I'm more then sure I can have one of the others wrangled for you by the end of the week."

"Alive."

"But of course."

0o0o0o0o

"Oh fuck off Max." Fiona rolled her eyes turning off her phone and throwing it into the passenger seat of her truck before slamming the door behind her. The Quarterback had been riding her tail all week about using her truck to get everyone to the 'training sessions' he insisted on them doing, especially with Draco out of town. Honestly it only ever resulted in at least three uprooted trees and at least two of them screaming at each in dino and human form.

She had her own idea of training that was far more fun. Double checking that there was no one else on the closed off beach she smirked "Go dino!" Within a minute she was slipping under the waves in her Spinosaurus form using her powerful tail to swim against the tide.

Sometimes she was honestly tempted to just swim away into the sea.

She could-And did- spend hours like this when she could snatch time away from the others and roller derby. But at the end of the day, she still had a family, still had a job to do.

And right now she needed to resurface, half an hour under water at a time was her limit and she could tell she was coming up on that. She braced her legs against the rocky surface of the ocean floor to push herself up towards the surface-

Something crashed into her back and jaws clamped around her neck. She instinctively gasped before clamping her mouth shut trying to trap the bubbles of air she let loose and frantically tried to slash at whatever was on her neck-

She let out a scream as harpoons shot through her hands, more precious air escaping making her feel dizzy as she weakly struggled before collapsing seeing the blurry image of divers approaching with harpoon guns, and one with a air tank with a modified mask that looked like it was supposed to fit over her nose.

She semi came to on the beach, unable to move and still woozy and dizzy after having been deprived of oxygen. Her eyes darted around feeling heavy footsteps and she relaxed as Draco's familiar yellow and orange scales appeared next to her, the Lythronax looking down at her.

"Draco, Draco what happened? Get me out of here!" She tried to lift her head and grunted at the ropes holding her down. She looked again at her friend seeing blood around his muzzle and a large spot on her neck aching "H-Hey…Why…Why do you have blood…" Her heart froze seeing Victor Veloci walking up to them "Oh…Oh no, Draco, Draco Run! Get the others!"

Draco, stared down at her, before turning to Victor who shifted into his raptor form. "I trust Fiona is adequate proof I'm on your side?"

"Oh believe me, she is. Welcome to the team."

"No…." Fiona couldn't even struggle just stared at Draco numbly "Draco….Draco why?" Draco looked down at her, muzzle dripping with what she realized was her blood as he snorted

"Survival of the fittest."

Introducing the Chaos of Earth 31107: Draco Lagorio, Lythronex mutate betrayer of the Dino Squad