Chaos Effect

Chapter 61

Joey looked around the park and let out a sigh of frustration, threading his fingers through his hair.

"This should be one of our best moments, Gramps," he muttered, not bothering to look up at his mentor. Mr. Muto was sitting on a bench while Joey had plunked himself down on the ground, knees bent up towards his chest and arms pressed against his chest. "All of us got into the next round. Me and Yug... Tristan and Tea." He let out a little laugh at that. "I can't believe I doubted those two for a second. They did amazing."

"They really did," Mr. Muto said softly.

"Ed and Yuri and Mai... even Renard is in!"Joey tried to smile but after a few moments he just couldn't maintain it and he just shut his eyes. "And yet it feels like we all just came back from a funeral."

"I suppose with everything we went through that isn't surprising," Mr. Muto informed him.

Joey licked his lips before looking over the crowd again. Kaiba and his little brother had headed off, wanting to make their way towards wherever the next round was going to take place. At least that was his excuse. Joey doesn't know what to think though because Kaiba had said something to Tea and that had set her off, causing her to scream about how "this is all your fault!" and Kaiba to try and dismiss her. Which was a mistake because for how sweet she could be Tea was like a rapid dog when she got mad and didn't let go once she'd sunk her teeth into someone. Kaiba had eventually fled and Tea had stewed.

Honestly Joey was glad they'd left; while Mokuba was a good kid Joey wasn't in the mood to deal with Kaiba and his snarky comments. Everyone had finally caught back up with each other but within a few minutes they'd all broken off into little groups. Tea was with Yugi, sitting with him as he just stared at his shoes, unable to even lift his head up while she was tearing up the napkin from the pretzel she'd bought for him that Yugi had barely eaten. Tristan and Duke were with Serenity and Joey would never be able to pay them back for taking time to be with his little sister. He knew he should have gone over and comforted her but... his mind wasn't in the right place and his friends seemed to know that. He couldn't be the big brother she needed so Tristan and Duke were there for her in his place. Koyo was standing off to the side, hands stuffed in his pockets while he'd kept watch over Odion, who was kneeling on the ground, head bowed. Joey wasn't for sure why his new friend was sticking around but it warmed his heart that he was. Keeping watch with him was Pegasus of all people, who Ed had apparently found. Mai, along with Renard and Yuri, had basically claimed a spot under a tree as their own and dogpiled on top of Ed, cuddling up to him and letting him know they were there for him. Which was good because the haunted look in his eyes... Joey had a sinking suspicion that if Mai and the others weren't on top of him he'd have walked into the nearby pond and not emerged.

"Ed is takin' all this real hard," Joey finally said.

"He had to kill people," Mr. Muto said softly. "That... leaves a mark on a person, Joey."

Joey decides not to focus on Mr. Muto's tone; to ignore how the words make it clear, even without saying a word, that he KNOWS that it leaves a mark.

"Almost killin' someone leaves a mark too," Joey admitted.

"I'm not angry with you," Mr. muto tells him and that makes the twisting guilt in his stomach untangle just a touch. "I meant what I called out, at the end of the duel... I wanted you to win Joey."

"I don't want you to die, gramps," Joey whispered.

"I don't want to die either," he admitted and when Joey turned he saw the old man was smiling. It was a slight one but it was there. "But if the choice was between any of you kids and me... well, there really isn't a choice at all. I'm selfish like that... and I don't think I could live in a world missing any of you."

"We couldn't live without you here either, gramps!" Joey exclaimed before balling up his fists and pressing them against his head. "I hate this! I thought... I thought we had it all figured out. That Yug and the Pharaoh were going to handle Marik and Ed had us all protected-"

"Joseph," Mr. Muto said kindly yet firmly, "you can't blame Yugi or Edwin for this."

"I... I know," Joey said. "I know that but Yug... he's Yugi! And Ed is always coming up with plots and schemes and it feels like he should have been prepared for this-"

"Like you should have protected Serenity?" Mr. Muto asked gently, cutting off Joey's ramblings. "Do you think she blames you for what happened?"

"She... she should," Joey got out.

But Mr. Muto shook his head. "She doesn't. I don't blame you either. The only people to blame are Marik and his Rare Hunters."

Joey glanced over at Odion; the man might have helped them in the end but that didn't change the fact that he had still led his sister into the trap. Could one good deed really erase all that bad?"

'It did with you and Yugi...' his mind whispered.

Joey forced himself to take several long deep breaths, needing to calm his nerves. "I... I think I need to contact Kaiba," he finally got out.

"What for?"

"To tell him I'm pullin' out of Battle City."

"Joey," Mr. Muto said sternly, clearly surprised by his comment. "If you truly feel like you can't duel then you can pull out but I think that's a mistake. You have done so well and we're all going to be with you now so you don't have to worry about Marik."

Joey smiled at that. Renard had been the one to point out the part in the Battle City Rule Book that stated every person that made it to the next round could select a 'Plus One'. A guest that could join them on. Joey didn't quite get that as they were just heading for some arena but apparently Ed was privy to knowledge the rest of them weren't about the tournament and he'd clued Renard in. And in turn the former Eliminator was more than happy to clue everyone else in. The rule most likely had been put in when Kaiba had assumed Mokuba wouldn't be dueling but now the gang was planning on using it themselves. Yugi was bringing his Grandpa, Tea had already decided to make Serenity her's so Joey could invite Koyo, Tristan had selected Duke, and Ed's group had basically as one selected Pegasus. With everyone else already in the finals that only left his mom who he had to worry about and Yuri had quietly informed them that she had contacted CCN and gotten Ed's uncle to put security details on all their families, just to be safe.

But his smile fell as he looked at the others, his eyes finally lingering on Yugi who was too focused on his shoes and thoughts to notice. "I can't be in the tournament, gramps. Not without a deck." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his Red-Eyes deck. "Yug... him and the Pharaoh talk about 'The Heart of the Cards'. You just have to trust your deck and you'll be able to pull through. But... how can I trust my deck when it was my Red-Eyes that nearly got you killed?"

"Joey..."

"I know... if I try and duel with this deck... all I'll see is that stupid container... coming down and crushing ya." He shook his head, trying to rid the visions from his mind. He was failing but he was trying all the same. "It's all I can see whenever I even think about this deck." His hand shook but he was able to steady himself enough to slip it back into his deck box. "I can't even use the Zombie deck I got off that Rare Hunter. Its key card is the Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon. Red-Eyes... that card got me through Duelist Kingdom but right now I'm not sure I can ever use it again." He closed his eyes once more. "So... I'm a duelist without a deck."

He fell silent.

Mr. Muto didn't try and convince him he was being silly. On one hand Joey was grateful for that as he didn't need someone telling him that his thoughts and feelings weren't justified. But on the other... he kind of wished Mr. Muto would have some grand piece of logic that would take his twisted up thoughts and make them untangled so that things could go back to the way they were before Marik had forced him and Yugi into that duel.

But... there weren't any quick fixes.

"Joey," Mr. Muto finally said and he opened his eyes to see that his mentor had gotten off the bench and moved to face him. "I was going to wait and give you these after the tournament. A... graduation gift, if you will." He smiled and reached into his pocket. "But I think it's better you have them now."

He pulled out a deck.

One Joey was very familiar with.

"That's... that's your deck, gramps!" Joey exclaimed. "The Poker Deck!"

Mr. Muto nodded, drawing the first card and revealing Joker's Knight. "It is, Joey. And... now it is yours."

"...no man. I can't. This is your deck-"

"It was never my deck, Joey," Mr. Muto interrupted. "My plan originally, when I began building this deck, was to give it to Yugi. But he then took my deck and beat that Kaiba and... well... I never asked for it back. And I realized that this deck wasn't meant for him anymore, that he was building something else. So I held onto these cards. Waiting to see who they were for." He placed the cards in Joey's hand, making the teen curl his fingers around them. "And I've finally found who they belong too."

"But... man, that would mean you wouldn't have a deck..."

"Give me your Red-Eyes deck then, Joey, if you're so worried," the old man said with a smile. "I'll hold onto it and if you ever decide that you can use it again I'll give it back. By that point I'll have found the last pieces for MY deck." His eyes twinkled at that. "And you can decide if the Red-Eyes or the Poker Knights will challenge me."

Joey slowly began to go through the cards. He remembered the deck well, Mr. Muto having taught him all about strategy using it as the perfect example. He now saw the logic in that, the plan that the old man had been setting up that he'd been blind to. It was... it was almost like a duel, with Mr. Muto leading him down the path her wanted, making him think he was doing one thing when in reality he was setting up for something else entirely.

He smiled before taking out the Red-Eyes deck and handing it over to his mentor.

"I don't know if I'll ever be ready to use that deck again. If I'm not I want you to find someone that can use it properly. But if something does change... well, I'll come back for it."

"And I will keep it safe until you decide either way."

~MC~MC~MC~

Tea was livid and it was only her concern for Yugi that was keeping her from doing something rash.

"Ishizu," Tea snarled, teeth grit together. "That two faced..." She shook her head in frustration. "Edwin warned us about her... warned us that she was dangerous and that she was playing her own game."

"He did," Yugi said softly. "And we listened to him about her."

"Not enough," Tea snapped. "I should have broken her nose the moment she lured us into that basement." She flexed her fingers. "If I see her again I'll do just that."

"You can't just break someone's nose, Tea."

"Oh, I so can!" Tea proclaimed. "Yuri taught me some self defense... I'm a bit rusty but I remember how to throw a punch without breaking my hand. I'll topple that..." Tea bit back the curse. "I can't believe how much she was hiding from us!"

Kaiba had let spill, thanks to an off-the-cuff remark from Mokuba, many things about Ishizu Ishtar that the group hadn't been made aware of. Tea had not been happy in the slightest with either the billionaire or the Egyptian woman and Kaiba had already gotten a tongue lashing from her over his stupidity. Ishizu though... Tea was far more geared up to rip into her.

"She says she's trying to help you!" Tea snarled. "And then she gives the god card that could have helped you defeat Marik to Kaiba... as a bribe! You could have had Obelisk the Tormentor and Slifer the Sky Dragon at this point, leaving you only with the final god card to claim. But she gave it to Kaiba..."

"She thought she was doing the right thing," Yugi said weakly.

Tea suddenly looked up. "Hmmm..."

"What?"

"Just used to Edwin speaking up and pointing out when you say something stupid." Yugi chuckled at that. "Guess I finally get to doing that again."

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"You were good at it," he said softly. "Remember after Joey started being our friend and I made the mistake of saying 'I finally have a friend'?"

"Yeah, I think that's the only time I twisted your ear," Tea said with a soft laugh, remembering how Yugi had squealed apologies for forgetting that she had been his friend for years and just because she was a girl didn't mean that she didn't count towards 'best friend status'. "Well, now I get to tell you that Ishizu is not our friend or an ally. I don't know what game she is playing but I'm not putting up with it anymore."

Yugi paused and Tea could tell from the way his eyes darted to the empty air just to his right that he was talking to the Pharaoh. She let him do so, understanding that sometimes Yugi had to work out things with his partner.

"I think..." Yugi began and Tea wondered if they were really his thoughts or if they belonged to the Pharaoh, "...that the Millennium Necklace affected her greatly and that's what caused her to act as she has. She means well but she has seen things go a certain way that helps her save her brother and she's desperate for her visions to become reality." He quickly held up his hand. "I'm not saying she's right, of course. Everything she did..."

Tea scowled. Kaiba had told them about the girl that Ishizu had found and apparently meddled with, sending the obsessive woman at Kaiba without a thought about the damage she could cause. It almost made her want to forgive the man for throwing a tournament to lure out a criminal and endangering the entire city just because he wanted to defeat Yugi.

Almost.

"The Millennium Items are dangerous," Yugi said. "Pegasus and his Eye. Marik and the Rod. Bakura and the Ring. Now Ishizu and her Necklace." He opened his mouth only to snap it shut.

"You were going to add Edwin to that list, weren't you?" Tea said darkly.

"...I was but I realized that was wrong," Yugi finally admitted. "Edwin did kill those Rare Hunters. But... he was right, back at Duelist Kingdom, when he pointed out that the Pharaoh has used the Puzzle to do some horrible things too. Neither of us can judge him for what he did."

"I think he's judging himself enough," Tea said softly as she looked over at Edwin, who had at some point buried his head against Mai's shoulder, clinging to her like she was a lifeline saving him from plunging into some swirling dark abyss.

And all she can feel is rage.

'Ishizu,' Tea thought darkly. 'This is just as much your fault as your brother's. You could have told us the truth, could have helped us prepare for just how far Marik would go. Instead you played your little games. All you care about is the Pharaoh... but can you truly claim to care for him when you happily toss aside his friends? Did it matter what would have happened to Mr. Muto or Serenity? Does it bother you that Edwin had to kill in order to save everyone?' She gripped the bench she was sitting on. 'You're no better than Aiden Order. He wanted to twist me into his puppet... at least he was honest about it! Well, if you think I'm going to let you near my friends or family again you are mistaken! I'm coming for you, Ishizu, and you'll pay for what you've done!'

~MC~MC~MC~

The others were leaving him alone, which Odion appreciated even though he knew they weren't doing it out of kindness for him. No one honestly knew what to do with him and after the ill fated duel the Pharaoh and Joseph had been forced into, as well as Edwin's Shadow Game, everyone needed to recover. Dealing with Odion was the last thing any of them wanted to bother with and thus he was left alone.

Of course... he wasn't actually alone...

'Odion,' Marik called out in his head and Odion focused inward, the outside world fading away and allowing him into his mindscape. 'Why do you taunt me with this place?'

Normally when Marik contacted him he tried to alter what his mindscape looked like. To make it a desert oasis or perhaps a café in Cario. But it never felt true and always left him worn out. And today he didn't feel like coddling his brother. Didn't feel like making things easy on him. So he left it as it truly was.

Their home.

He was seated at the old wooden table where they had always eaten their meals. He claimed the chair that had been his, the one with the slight wobble in it that Ishizu had always complained they should fix but he had been happy with. Honestly he had trouble these days sitting down anywhere to eat and not being able to rock back and forth, so used to the wobble was he. It was his comfort. Just like their home was for him, the only place where he had felt loved and protected, even if it had only been for a short while.

'Brother,' he responded as the projection of Marik's mind appeared from the shadows. He... did not look good and Odion forced himself to remember that what he saw wasn't what his brother actually looked like. Physically he was perfectly fine.

But the scars and wounds on the mind can still be deadly.

'Edwin Chaos... will pay for what he has done,' Marik got out as he moved towards the table. His body was a burned wreck, black and crisp so that it looks like he is made of charcoal. The cracks that formed around his mouth when he spoke and raced up his face revealed the fires that Edwin had unleashed now lingering under Marik's skin, making the wounds he causes by speaking glow orange. But it was only his skin that was damaged... his hair remains, as did his eyes and his teeth and his mouth. It was like he was wearing a costume and all Odion would have to do was reach out and tear the blackened flesh away and he'd have revealed his brother, whole and hale.

He wondered if perhaps underneath would not be the jaded and angry creature he had known these last few months and instead he would see his brother again, so full of wonder and curiosity about the world.

'He tricked me,' Marik growled as he finally moved to the table though he refused to take a seat, choosing instead to lean over it, hands gripping it tightly. 'He knew the moment he called out for the Shadow Game that he was going to attack me as he did! I never stood a chance! He led me to my destruction like a lamb to slaughter! Damn him! And Damn the goddess that has given him the courage to act against us! When I am done with the Pharaoh I will turn my gaze towards him!'

'I thought when the Pharaoh was defeated we would disappear,' Odion asked quietly. 'Wasn't that the plan? To free ourselves from the Pharaoh and then tour the world? Just the two of us?'

Marik looked at him and for a moment the skin around his eyes heals and he doesn't look so harsh anymore. He was still burnt but Odion could look in his eyes and not feel sorrow.

But then Marik began to talk again and the damage spread once more.

'How can we ever be free when our enemies live? The Pharaoh, Edwin Chaos-'

'And the Pharaoh's friends?' Odion asked. 'Seto Kaiba?'

'Yes!' Marik exclaimed, not realizing what Odion had been getting at. 'They will be a threat to us! All of them! There is a goddess, Odion... she lives in Mai Valentine's body! A greek goddess! We must slay her if we have any hope of achieving our plans! Bakura too! I want you to hunt him down and snap his neck. It would be better if he appeared as his weaker self, the boy of the modern age. How can the Spirit of the Ring control him if he is a corpse?'

'Kill... the boy,' Odion said slowly.

'Yes. Kill him and then return to me. Though I wonder why you have not returned... I need you Odion. After the Shadow Game-'

Odion, for the first time in his life, cut his brother off. 'Kill him as you planned to kill Serenity Wheeler?' Marik blinked at that. 'You told me she was safe. That no harm would come to her. That this was all a trick to show the Pharaoh's allies the lies he had used on them.'

'She would have been safe if the Pharaoh hadn't sought to defeat his so called friend. He risked her, Odion-'

'And that would have gotten Solomon Muto killed then.'

'He is a thief that stole from our family!' Marik raged. 'Is it any wonder the cruel Pharaoh chose his grandson as the vessel for his spirit? He deserves death from stealing from us!'

'Steal the relics you hate and wish to forever tarnish,' Odion said, eyes narrowed.

'Careful, Odion,' Marik warned. 'you tread on dangerous ground.'

'No... I think I walk upon the truth and the path is far cleaner than I have known for some time.' He slowly rose. 'You are projecting, brother. The sins of others are only your sins. You were going to sacrifice an innocent girl for your plot. You find any justification to hate others, ignoring that the very things you rally against them doing you do yourself. You... you used me. You lied to me.'

'I am your leader, Odion, and I will not allow you to talk to me this way-'

'So you don't even deny it,' Odion said and the table began to expand, forcing Marik back.

'What are you doing?'

'This is my mind, brother. Its form is where I feel the safest. And you are not someone safe to be around.'

Marik thrust out his hand, the Millennium Rod appearing in his grasp. 'You dare!'

Odion forced himself not to tremble in fear. He had seen his brother rip apart minds before, turning people into his puppets. He had never liked it but he had not questioned Marik's actions, feeling it was not his place. And now he was facing down his brother and knew that he was ready to tear his own mind apart for the sole sin of refusing to blindly obey.

'You asked me to stand at your side,' Odion told him. 'You said I never needed to bow to you.'

'But you did,' Marik reminded him.

'Yes,' Odion replied, remembering all the times he had bent his knee and bowed his head before his brother. 'But never because you demanded. It was because you did not expect me to submit that I was willing to do so.' He stood all the taller and found it so very odd to remember that he was so much taller than his brother. Marik seemed to dominate a room with his presence but here, in his mindscape, his brother seemed... so very small.

'You betray me, Odion?'

'You betray yourself.'

When he had been young and his brother had feared the pain and the agony of the tombkeeper ritual Odion had sought some way to be there for his brother. He had been denied the right to take Marik's place, despite his willingness to be the next leader of their family and to endure the ritual himself, but that didn't mean he was ignorant of what it entailed. In fact Ishizu had been very good to tell him all that would happen, her memories of her own ritual day just as much carved into her mind as the images and symbols of loyalty and servitude to the Pharaoh were carved into her flesh. Whether she did so to scare him or to simply make sure he understood what he was meant to do he couldn't say. But she had taught him the words and the practices that needed to be performed and when his brother had been dragged away, drugged so that he could not move yet feel the pain ('for service is pain and as we welcome service to the Pharaoh we welcome his pain as well') he had performed his own ritual.

But his hieroglyphs and sacred images had not been for the Pharaoh. While he would serve he would not do so out of a compulsion but to honor is family. And that is what he had poured into his own flesh with that hot knife: his love for his family. That he would protect them, even from each other or themselves.

So when his brother raised up the Millennium Rod Odion felt a warmth spread across his face and Marik's own features became slack for a moment before he found himself, almost mechanically, retreating into the shadows.

Odion opened his eyes to find Maximillion Pegasus watching him.

"Were you able to work out your problems?" he asked politely.

"...I do not know," Odion admitted. "My life... so much of it was about protecting my brother. But now, this path he is going down, it isn't one I can follow him along." He looked down at his hands. "I don't know what to do."

"Well," the creator of Duel monsters said softly, "I think you happen to be in the best place to find a new direction for your life. There are plenty of people willing to help you here."

Odion looked at the gathered teens and duelists and frowned. "I did so much harm to them. How can they-"

"I trapped the soul of Yugi's Grandpa in a card," Pegasus informed him. "I sent my Eliminators after him and his friends. Tried to steal his puzzle. Used the Millennium Eye to claw through their thoughts and nearly destroy Yugi's soul during our final duel." He closed his eye, clearly grieving his actions. "And yet," he continued, "they have forgiven me. I have had to work to earn that forgiveness... but it has come. And I am not the only one. Joseph and Tristan bullied Yugi when he was a boy. Edwin and the Pharaoh quarreled several times during my tournament. Mai Valentine was rather underhanded when she first interacted with them all. Renard was one of my Eliminators. Tea and Yuri's father nearly killed Edwin. And yet... here they all are, working to comfort one another after all that happened today."

He reached down at lightly patted Odion on the shoulder.

"If you let them in they will be your greatest friends. And... if you let yourself be forgiven."

With that the older man walked off.

~MC~MC~MC~

"I'm sorry you had to do that," Yuri said softly, rubbing up against my shoulder. I'm sure a lot of people would have seen that as something sexual because in their infantile minds man plus woman means banging but honestly we were all just so tired and worn down from the day and seeking out comfort in each other. I was leaning against Renard who had his arm wrapped around me, Yuri was pressed against my side, and Mai had thrown herself on all of our laps, curled up like a kitchen as I played with her hair and she traced lazy patterns along my pant leg.

"Yeah," I managed to get out, my throat utterly raw, "me too."

It had been a hell of a day. And I had already been expecting madness.

Yet everything that had come at all of us had been like a string of body blows that had sapped our strength completely. Me dealing with Cabal and having to battle Marik in her mind. The fact that I had tapped into... what I could only now assume was Endymion... in order to defeat him and the revelation that Mai was actually the Titan Selene, goddess of the Moon. Her mad scheme to drain the god cards of their power and funnel it into me, forcing me to ascend and then abandoning the world to Zorc. Being kidnapped while Yuri and her sister took on some Rare Hunters. Renard's mental breakdown over Corpse-Man (he was still mumbling about how that made no sense) and me having to deal with Bruno again.

Then Marik.

And the fire.

"It isn't easy... to take a life," Yuri said and of everyone I had met since I had ended up on this world she was the only one that could say that and not receive a scoff or a scowl from me. Because I knew, as a cop, she had been trained to have to take lives to save them.

It didn't make it any better though.

"You... you know what has me worried?" I whispered. "I know it's only going to get worse from here. Escalation... that is always the danger. I tried to prevent so much but I only caused Marik to push harder. And that, in turn, made me go beyond what I thought was possible... leaving me to wonder know just how far Marik will be willing to go to try and get ahead of the game." I looked skyward and shook my head. "I know in my head that it was the best move... but in my heart? God... I'm going to spend the rest of my life wondering how I could have done things differently."

My friends didn't say a word.

"Yeah, I know, silly of me. You can't turn back time." I silently added, 'As far as I know' because honestly at this point I should just expect that somehow time travel would come into play at some point. "But I can't help but wonder... could I have done something different? Or was that my only option? To... to kill?"

Silence.

"Sorry, I know I'm being a downer," I muttered, looking over at Yuri.

Her face was frozen in place, mouth open, it clear she had been preparing to say something.

"...aw fuck," I muttered as I shifted, finding Renard and Mai both staring straight ahead with unseeing eyes. I felt my heart begin to pound in my chest as I reached over and pressed my fingers to Mai's throat...

No pulse.

"No... please no!" I shifted Mai up, hugging her tight, tears gathering in my eyes. "Come on... please wake up..." I pressed my face against hers, feeling my mind shattering. "Please... not this..."

"Edwin!"

I looked towards the Pharaoh who had risen from his seat... and saw that everyone around us was utterly still. Not fallen to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut. No... they were completely still. Frozen in place. And not just them. Beyond the park I saw cars just sitting in the middle of the road. People stopped midstep, feet and legs hanging in the air as they prepared to move but never did. A kid who had leapt up to catch a ball thrown to him by his friend hovered in midair and above us were birds who hung in the sky.

"Edwin..." the Pharaoh said again and I managed a nod, gently detangling myself from my friends while he moved over to Yugi's grandpa, checking his pulse. "They aren't breathing."

"Yeah but they aren't dead," I said, fiercely wiping my tears away. That reassurance was allowing me to take the panic and fear I'd been feeling and slam it down deep into my gut, tucked away to deal with later. The mystery the two of us had found ourselves in was something I could handle, something I could take charge of. "Look at the clocks." I pointed to one nearby, an old fashion one on a street pole. "The minute hand isn't moving at all."

The Pharaoh nodded quietly to himself, walking over to Tristan and lifting his arm up. Rather than flop down like it would if he were dead the hand remained stiff and in place; it was rather like positioning an action figure to be set up in a diorama. "It appears that everyone around us is frozen in place."

"Not just here," I said, holding up my phone. While the Pharaoh had been looking over Tristan I'd pulled up a live feed of Buckingham Palace and in the video all the people were frozen too. "The entire world. Time has just... stopped."

"What could have caused this?" the Pharaoh asked. "Marik?"

"No," I said quickly. "Not Marik. I don't know of any Millennium Item that could freeze time like this."

"Yeah, you're right," Yugi said... appearing before both of us. VISIBLE to both of us. "Besides, if it were Marik why would he not freeze us-"

"Holy shit," I whispered.

"Edwin?" the Pharaoh said.

"I can see Yugi."

The two of them stared at me for a moment, it taking several seconds for my words to sink in, but when they did both of them started rather violently. "You... you can?" Yugi asked, looking down at his ghostly form."

"It's clear that you aren't physically here," I said, walking around to two. I thrust my hand at Yugi, easily passing it through his form. There was no sensation of cold or warmth or anything to tell me that I had just moved my arm through a person's body. "But I can see you. Curiouser and Curiouser."

Yugi swallowed. "What could be causing this then? What could be allowing us to move around while everything else is just... stopped?"

I opened my mouth to... well, I had no idea what I was going to say as I didn't know just what was going on... only to snap it shut when I heard a familiar crackle fill the air. One I hadn't heard since we'd celebrated Serenity's birthday.

"Move," I hissed, grabbing the Pharaoh by the arm and dragging him over to some bushes.

"Edwin? What is it?" Yugi hurried after us, just in case whatever was going on would allow what was coming to see him too. "What's wrong?"

"You hear that?" I whispered. "I've heard that before. It's the sound of a Millennium Ring opening a portal."

"The Millennium Ring?" The Pharaoh said. "You mean the Spirit of the Ring-"

"No," I stated, cutting him off. "Not him. A Millennium Ring, not his."

"There is more than one?" Yugi asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. So... Tea told you about us ending up in another world, right?"

"She did," the Pharaoh admitted, his tone making it clear that despite us dealing with magic and ghosts and the like he found the idea of alternate realities a bit far-fetched. "She said that you, along with her sister and Tristan and her, ended up on a world where everything was reversed. Good was evil and evil was good. Where Yugi's grandpa was worse than even Marik and where your counterpart staged a coup."

"Yeah. Well we got there thanks to him using the Millennium Ring. They can open portals..."

"So this is that other Edwin?" Yugi asked as the crackling sound grew louder... and from other directions.

"No," I stated, not liking that more portals were forming around us. "I took that ring... don't worry, only I can get to it."

"How can you be sure?" the Pharaoh pressed.

"Because I sunk a safe into the Pacific Ocean." Actually I had begun sinking several of them, needing different safes to hold different things; I wasn't going to leave the Millennium Ring, even one that was apparently untainted, alone with my Morpher. "Only I can access it with the Millennium Key." I slowly began to rise from my crouch to look over the bushes. "So whoever is coming through isn't from Aiden Order..."

Though they did have a touch of his fashion sense I could see.

The figures that were gathering around the portals, watching as others emerged in our world, were all dressed in similar black body armor with pale blue accents running all along them. The plates looked a bit bulky in spots, designed to make the wearer look larger and tougher than the probably were underneath. This was especially true of their left hands, which had massive gauntlets that reminded me of Hellboy's Fist of Doom due to how large the armor was there. The helmets they wore were flat, with no facial features cut into them, only a single inverted V in the same pale blue as their accents to break up the solid black of the helm.

"Spread out!" one commanded, their voice staticy and distorted; clearly being protected by a speaker of some kind. I found myself idly wondering if that was part of their intimidation factor. "We need to identify and catalog so Command can determine just what to do with this world."

"Edwin..." Yugi whispered, "who are they?"

"No idea," I whispered. "But I don't like how powerful they are."

"What do you mean?" the Pharaoh asked.

"Mai's frozen."

The Pharaoh looked at me but I didn't have time to explain that Mai was actually a goddess... and these masked men had been able to freeze Selene same as everyone else. And I really didn't want to know who had the power to lock down a goddess.

The new arrivals began to spread out, waving their large armored left hands over our friends. They never touched them and didn't spend too long with any of them, only shaking their heads before moving on. Whatever they were looking for none of our group were it.

"Leave them!" one of the men barked when another armored figure began to scan Tristan. "We already have his Prime."

"But he could be a holder," the other said.

"...make it quick then." The first looked at Tea and scanned her. "Negative."

"I'm getting some odd readings off this one," another said who had moved towards Mai.

"Prime or Holder?"

"Neither. Power though."

"Catalog it. Command will determine if we need to sterilize her when they determine if we have anyone here who might be a new recruit-"

"Sir!" someone shouted. "I'm detecting Holders!"

At once all the armored figures froze up, lifting their left hands and tapping something in the armor which caused them to shift. The barrel of their gauntlets rotated and extended over their fingers... which all disassembled, revealing them to be completely robotic as their hands merged with the red of their gauntlets to become arm cannons.

"Count?" the one that was clearly the leader of the group asked.

"Two... and I'm getting a power flux... fuck, it's a Chaos!"

"Well, that's not reassuring," I muttered before leaping out from behind the bush and unleashing a wave of Shadow Realm magic from the Millennium Key.

The energy passed over the armored figures without even making them wobble on their heels.

"Time to go!" I shouted and the Pharaoh nodded, Yugi retreating back into the puzzle as the two of us bolted. Behind us we heard shouts and cries which were quickly followed by explosions as the figures opened fire on us. "Oh how I miss the days where we were just dealing with Pegasus and fucking finger guns!" I complained, weaving about because unlike Rickon Stark I knew how to fucking DODGE!

"We should make for someplace safe," the Pharaoh said. "Someplace where we have the advantage."

"Kaibacorp," I said as I heard more crackling fill the air. They were clearly calling for reinforcements. "Mokuba got me full security clearance and Seto might not be making weapons anymore but he has filled the place full of defense tech ever since Tea's father tried to kill us. We get there and I shut us up nice and tight... just need a doorway. Worst case I teleport us across the globe and we hope these guys can't track-"

A portal opened up right under us and the Pharaoh and I went flying through before we could even realize what was happening.

The sensation of tumbling and falling went away in an instant and was replaced with the feeling that gravity had gone mad was now yanking us in a thousand directions. We'd fall for a moment only to jerk suddenly and then be flung to the right or the left or sometimes back the way we had just come. Or perhaps we were remaining completely still and it was the realm around us, a scratching violet with blue lightning racing along towards infinity, that was twisting and turning about. We were merely feathers caught in the wind, heaving and swirling, unable to even catch our breaths to cry out before we were sent plunging up, down, or sideways.

My eyes watered from the lights swirling about us and I reached up, clinging to my glasses lest I lose them in the chaotic typhoon we were trapped in. On the edges of my vision I could see flashes of... I couldn't be sure but something large and looming but every time I tried to twist my head to look it was either gone or I was yanked in the opposite direction. The only thing I could get a bead on was the Pharaoh who was looking as tossed about as I was feeling, eyes squeezed shut and jaw clenched as he tried to draw his arms and legs towards his body, making himself as small as possible.

And then a portal opened up right in front of us and we landed on solid ground.

"Ow," I muttered only for my brow to furrow. "Except not ow." I rubbed my arms and my legs but there was no pain. There should have been, tumbling about as we had been, but instead I felt perfectly fine. Not even nauseous from... wherever the hell we had just been.

"Yes," the Pharaoh said as he slowly stood up. "I feel like we should be aching but..."

"Yeah," I muttered.

"Was it like that when you traveled to that other world?"

"No," I said, looking about us. We were standing on a grassy riverbank, water lapping along the shore. The sun was out and it was rather warm but not enough that made me feel like a sweating mess in my suit. "When we were pulled to Earth 2 the vortex was far more violent. It was like being sucked up by a tornado. But we landed perfectly fine... and in the same place as where we started. When I brought us back the same thing happened. But this... is clearly not Domino."

The Pharaoh glanced to his right.

"Edwin?" he said.

"What?"

"Yugi asked you a question." I blinked and he nodded. "Ah... you can't see him." He turned towards the rushing water. "Perhaps because time is moving again."

"Yeah, that might be it," I said as I looked over my Duel Disc, making sure it was fine. "What did Yugi say?"

"He mentioned that this place looked familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he saw it. I admit... I do find myself feeling oddly at peace, despite the strangeness of-"

"My Pharaoh!"

We turned in time to see, of all people, the Dark Magician Girl racing towards us upon the back of a horse.

Only within an instant I knew that it wasn't the duel monster card. No... with her caramel colored skin and darker hair I realized this was the Egyptian mage who would one day be the inspiration for the Dark Magician Girl. The Pharaoh Atem's dear friend.

"Aw fuck," I whispered, panic growing in me as I wondered just what the fuck would happen if the Pharaoh learned his real name NOW.

The Dark Magician Girl's ancestor (honestly, why couldn't I remember her damn name?) came to a stop before us and let out a laugh. "What are you two wearing?"

The Pharaoh looked down at his clothing while I merely raised an eyebrow. "Well..."

"Oh! Are those the garments from the Spirit's time?"

"The Spirit's?" The Pharaoh asked, on edge. I didn't blame him... thanks to that damn ghost in Bakura's ring the name 'Spirit' was now forever tainted in my mind.

The Dark Magician Girl frowned before looking at me, eyes widening in panic. "I mean... no spirit! No Spirit at all! There isn't the spirit of a young man from the past, before the fall of the great technological society, living in the Pharaoh's Puzzle! Not at all!"

"Right..." I said slowly. "No Spirit. No lost technological society, we've always been at war with Eurasia."

The woman opened her mouth... only to freeze.

"And that's our cue to get the hell out of here!" I yelled as portals began opening up and the armored figures swarmed out, firing at us. "Move it!" The Pharaoh needed little convincing and within seconds we were on the run again, moving along the shoreline as more of our pursuers caught up with us.

"Edwin, what was that back there?" the Pharaoh asked, confused.

"If I had to guess?" I said as I ducked just as a blast of energy from one of our hunters rocketed over my head. "This world everything is reversed. Yugi and all his friends are in the past, something bad happened to send the world back to the stone age, and the 'modern day' is Ancient Egypt."

"If that is the case," the Pharaoh said, "then this world might have the answers I seek about my past!"

"Yeah, we'll get right on that," I lied. "Right now we-"

A portal opened up underneath us again and we were sent tumbling again.

This time it felt like we only fell for seconds before we landed on some grass, people murmuring around us as we got to our feet. I looked up only to blink at the sight of Duel Academy... and Joey, Tristan, and Tea staring at us, the three of them wearing Slifer Red Dorm jackets.

"Yug?" Joey said. "Dr. Chaos?"

Before I could even try and muddle that one another portal opened up and we dropped once more, though this time rather ending up in the purple and blue space between spaces we went from Duel Academy to right outside Mr. Muto's card shop.

"Are... are we back?" the Pharaoh asked as he got up and dusted himself off.

"...sorry but no," a woman said and the two of us turned... and blinked in surprise at the two people waiting for us.

The shorter of the two young women had the same multitoned hair as Yugi though she had hers pulled back in a ponytail. As a result more of the magenta of her hair was visible rather than Yugi's gold and black. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a spaghetti strap top, along with a belt-style choker. But she had the same kind yet determined eyes as Yugi even if her face was a bit more soft than his. As for the other she several years older than her companion, probably in her mid twenties. She had very short blond hair with a few streaks of red in it, gray-blue eyes, and was wearing a long brown coat.

The younger one had the Millennium Puzzle dangling around her neck while the older one had the Millennium Ring.

"Are you two okay?" the younger one said.

"Give them space, Yoki," the other said. "I had to teleport them through multiple worlds to get the dueltroopers off their backs."

"You... you are the ones that brought us here?" the Pharaoh asked. He narrowed his eyes. "Are you the one responsible for us facing those... dueltroopers?"

"I just said I got you away from them," the older woman stated.

The Pharaoh glared at her. "You'll forgive me if I don't take your word for it..."

The younger woman sighed. "I understand you are upset but it does no good to threaten anyone."

"Everyone knock it off!" I snapped. "Pharaoh... we can trust them."

"How can you be so sure, Edwin?"

"Because they're us," I commented, glancing back at my counterpart.

"Knew we were smarter than the average bear," she said. "Edwin? That the name you are using, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "And this is the Pharaoh... or Yugi Muto when his partner is in the driver's seat."

"Yoki Muto," she said, gesturing towards her companion. "I'm Edna Chaos... and welcome to the Multiverse." She paused. "We're all in terrible danger."

"...of course we are," I muttered.