善良妈妈的朋友

Chapter 71

A year later, when Mokie was able to babble his name and squeeze his finger Seto\'s world view had changed again and he\'d decided his brother wasn\'t that bad after all.

Which was good... because when he\'d been 10 and his parents had died in a car crash his brother had been the only family he had left. His parents... who had always been there for him... just gone. His world shattered again.

(There were many things he\'d mock the likes of Edwin and Yugi for, especially when it came to their emotions. But the deaths of Edwin\'s mother and Yugi\'s father? No... he would never mock those. He still remembered well the anniversary of his parents death, how Edwin had brought Mokuba back from a day of distracting him, and Edwin had been willing for the one and only time to drink alcohol to toast family lost.)

Him defeating his adopted father had been another shattering of reality for him. He had thought that the man that had given him the name Kaiba was unbeatable when he\'d first learned of him. Despite all his bravado to Mokuba... he truly thought that Gozaburo Kaiba would counter his plot with the Big Five. That at best the man would acknowledge his cunning and actually begin the education that Seto desired. For him to beat Gozaburo and drive him to suicide? It had shown him that he could take on anyone. That he could beat anyone.

And that had shaped his worldview for a long time.

But he had made a mistake as well... he hadn\'t learned the full lesson of that defeat. He could defeat anyone... but anyone could also be defeated.

Yugi Muto had taught him that.

Exodia the Forbidden One. He still remembered it well. He would never forget how it had made him realize just what kind of person he\'d become and forced him to reevaluate himself. He knew it had scared Mokuba but then his little brother hadn\'t ever actually seen Seto completely change his world view. He had been too little to remember him as he had been when their parents were alive... Mokuba didn\'t even remember that their names hadn\'t always been Kaiba.

(Sometimes he had to struggle to remember that himself. Sometimes he didn\'t want to remember because it hurt so much.)

Ever since that duel he had been trying to regain his sense of self. Because he\'d spent so long as the superior being, the man that couldn\'t be defeated, that he didn\'t know what to do with himself now that he had been defeated. And the body blows had just kept coming. Pegasus taking his company. Yugi forcing him to risk his very life to get a hollow victory. Chaos outwitting him and getting his shares in KaibaCorp and Idustrial Illusions.

(Seto refused to think about the day before and how Edwin had killed those Rare Hunters. He didn\'t know HOW he had pulled that off but he knew there was some trick to it. Because otherwise that meant that Yugi and Edwin\'s claims that magic was real weren\'t delusions. And he wasn\'t sure if he could handle having that impossible become a reality.)

And now, during the first duel of the finals of HIS tournament, using a deck built around one of the mightiest monster in all of Duel Monsters... while also containing a card that was known as a GOD... he was losing.

To Edwin\'s flunky.

Who had just used a small rodent to slay the Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

Seto just stood there, eyes wide in shock, taking in his empty field.

\'This... this can\'t be happening!\' Seto thought to himself as he stared at the field. It felt as if he only needed to look at where his Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate dragon had been only moments early, focus on the spot where it had been, and it would reappear. That the stupid little furry creature and its tiny crossbow would disappear, shattered into a thousand bits of hard light under the might of his dragon! \'That was the evolved form of my ultimate dragon! The greatest weapon of utter destruction... rendered to nothing more than dust because of a fuzz ball and a summoning effect? How... how could this have happened?\'

His jaw twitched as his disbelief and shock turned to utter outrage.

\'And it wasn\'t even Yugi who defeat it. At least there is a small bit of dignity to be had if he managed to slay my dragon. He is the King of Games, after all... or remains so for the moment.\' He thought battle to Duelist Kingdom and how Yugi had turned the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon into a rotting slurry thanks to fusing his Mammoth Graveyard with Seto\'s dragon. \' But my dragon wasn\'t defeated by him. It was by Edwin\'s creature... that foolish fop who follows after him like a lap dog! He was the one to defeat my Ultimate Dragon... before it could even get off a proper attack?!\'

Sound slowly began returning to him as he heard the onlookers cheering and shouting out their praise to Renard.

"Go man go!" Wheeler shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "Ya show Rich Boy over there just what ya can do! Make him sweat and then make \'im beg!"

"That was amazing, Renard!" Tristan called out. "I didn\'t expect a move like that!"

"Way to go, Renard!"

Edwin\'s voice cut through the chatter. "Good work, but don\'t think you have the duel here... Seto is one of the most cunning minds to ever play duel monsters."

"Ed, man!" Wheeler protested. "Don\'t be like that! Renard is your friend!"

"He is, Joey," Edwin agreed. "One of my best friends." Seto rolled his eyes as Edwin wrapped an arm around Mai, making it clear that he didn\'t want to choose between the man that had sworn himself to him and his girlfriend. Honestly it was the sort of stupid sappy dreck the man would say. It didn\'t surprise Seto in the slightest. "But while he will deny it til the cows come home... so is Seto."

THAT caused Wheeler and his little friends to topple to the ground... not that Seto could actually take time to focus on that as he was just as stunned by Edwin\'s declaration.

"You have an odd choice in friends," Yuri commented.

Edwin shrugged. "When Seto isn\'t being a judgmental tool who refuses to realize people are, well people-" Seto grit his teeth and opened his mouth to snap at him only for Edwin to continue, "and when I\'m not being a massive asshole who purposely pokes every bear I can find just to see what reaction I can get... we get along good." He looked past Seto towards Mokuba, who beamed at the man. "We have to if we don\'t want Mokuba to beat us both."

"Beat you both?" Tea said as she got up.

"Of course," Edwin said. "Mokuba is the future King of Games. He is the future ruler of the corporate world. He will rip the title of Guardian Devil from me. He\'s going to be the best of all of us."

Mokuba\'s smile turned to one of stunned surprise.

Seto... didn\'t say a word to deny Edwin\'s hope that the boy would surpass them all.

"It\'s your move, Volpe," Seto declared.

The European nodded. "I do believe you are right," he said with a smirk. "I\'ll start by activating my field spell Fangora, the Flying Furrtress!"

The holo emitters whirled all around them and Seto watched in disgust as his blimp transformed into a massive flying sea galleon. There was a tall mast with sails, wings with old fashion plane propellers, and right next to Renard the massive wheel that one would have seen being manned by a surly pirate in a swashbuckler film.

It was all so tooth-grindingly cliché.

"Oh man, I remember that card!" Wheeler said, rubbing his hands together. "See, if Renard gets enough Fur Hire Monsters on the field he can destroy it ta wipe out all of Kaiba\'s monsters! Meanin\' that he can take out anything he summons again in- OW!" He rubbed the back of his head, glaring at Tea. "What\'d ya hit me for?!"

"Maybe because you are revealing Renard\'s entire battle strategy?!" Tea exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"...oh. Hehe. Right." Wheeler blushed at that. "Uh, sorry Renard."

The former Enforcer didn\'t bother to acknowledge Wheeler\'s apology. "And now I will attack you directly with my Rafale!" Renard\'s monster leapt across the field, striking Seto and sending him nearly toppling. But the pain of that strike was gone in an instant... but the pain of the lifepoints dropping down wasn\'t. (Seto-1200)

Wheeler\'s sister frowned as she looked over the field. "Why didn\'t Renard attack with his Donpa?" she asked. "That would have taken even more of Mr. Kaiba\'s lifepoints away."

The blond doofus huffed. "Eh, Renard probably just forgot ta do it, sis."

Mai rolled her eyes at that as she pushed Wheeler aside. "Or he isn\'t like you, Joey, racing in without thinking." She wrapped an arm around Wheeler\'s sister while Wheeler himself fumed. "So you don\'t know a lot about dueling so I guess it\'s going to be up to me and the rest of the gals to teach you."

"Hey!" Wheeler exclaimed. "I can teach her just fine! Not that she needs ta learn! I\'m the duelist in the family!"

"Just like you didn\'t want me to duel?" Tristan asked with a warning tone.

Wheeler leaned back at that, a panicked look crossing his features. "EEEEeeeeeeEEEE! I didn\'t mean it like that, Tristan! I just-"

"Can it, Joseph," Mai said sternly before looking over at Serenity. "You let your Aunties Mai, Tea, and Yuri take care of your education, okay Serenity?" The girl bobbed her head up and down.

"Could we PLEASE get back to the duel?" Seto demanded.

Edwin though raised an eyebrow at that. "I\'d like to point out you could have begun dueling at any time, Seto. You\'re the one that paused to listen to them... is there some rule I missed in the Battle City Tournament Guide that said that duelists couldn\'t draw cards if someone in the audience was talking?"

Seto narrowed his eyes at that. "I draw. And now-"

"La la la, lalala lalala!" Edwin declared, singing a crude rendition of the Imperial March from Star Wars. "La la la, lalala lalala!" He began to march up and down the side of the field. "You can\'t duel until I stop, that\'s the rule apparently! La la la la lala!"

Seto snarled in frustration. "Can\'t you be serious for once?!"

"What part of "I poke the bear" did you miss?" Edwin asked as he continued to march about. "And come on, yesterday I backtalked a goddess... you are nothing."

"That is true," Mai said... for some reason with a greek accent tinting her words. Everyone seemed to stiffen at that, though Seto had no idea why and he finally decided that he honestly didn\'t care.

"I will start by activating Pot of Greed. This card-"

"Show of hands!" Edwin called out to Seto\'s aggravation. "Who here does NOT know what Pot of Greed does?" Seto turned and saw that even Wheeler\'s sister hadn\'t raised her hand. "Just draw your fucking cards, Kaiba." He walked back over to the rest of the group, though Seto noticed that he was keeping his distance from Mai for some odd reason. "For someone bitching about wasting time..."

Seto, shooting one more glower at the annoying man, drew his two cards before smirking to himself. \'Perfect. This will deal with Volpe and shut those fools cheering for him right up.\' Out loud he declared, "I activate Dragon Shrine!" The card, which showed a field filled with giant dragon bones half buried in the ground, appeared on the field. "With this card I can send one Dragon-Type monster from my deck to the graveyard and, if it is a Normal Monster as well, then I can send a second Dragon-Type to the graveyard. And thus I send my Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck to the graveyard and the Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon that I put back in my deck my last turn."

"Why would he want to do that?" Serenity said in confusion. "Isn\'t the Blue-Eyes White Dragon one of the most powerful monsters in Duel Monsters?"

Mai, who was still standing next to the girl, answered just as Wheeler was opening his mouth. "That\'s true. However the thing you have to remember is that there are many cards that need monsters in the graveyard in order to be activated."

"OH! Like that fusion card he used last turn!" Serenity exclaimed.

"That\'s right!" Mai said. "While in the beginning of the game the Card Graveyard was considered the end for cards in modern Duel Monsters it is just another resource. There are duelists who actually build their decks completely around quickly getting certain cards into the graveyard that way they can use spells and traps in orders to reclaim them."

Seto thrust out his hand. "And now I will show you that your destruction of my Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was merely a fluke! I activate Beacon of White!"

On the field the deck of the Furrtress began to crack and buckle, wisps of phantom energy raising up and swirling about before three pillars of light shot out.

"This card allows me, if there are three or more Blue-Eyes cards in my graveyard, to resurrect one of them back to my field. So come back my Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

His mighty beast burst from the ground, its scales cracked and fissures running along its body. Yet in those spots glowed white energy that solidified into gleaming mirror-like patches, radiating with a light so bright that Renard was forced to cover his eyes.

"Because he was brought back this way he can\'t activate his original effect, which would have allowed him to attack up to three times, so long as I sent another Blue-Eyes Fusion monster from my extra deck to the graveyard." He paused, slowly allowing a smile to form on his lips. "Thankfully my Beacon of White makes it that he can attack for each Blue-Eyes monster in my graveyard, at the cost of no other monsters being able to attack on my side of the field. But why would I need that when I have the instrument of your destruction right here! Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon... attack both of Volpe\'s monsters now! Neutron Beacon!"

The Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon lifted its heads up and fired off two beams of energy from its right and left heads, the blasts shooting skyward before dropping right back down, slamming into the deck of the Furrtress, causing it, and due to the impact the blimp itself, to shake violently as the monsters were completely wiped out. Yugi and his friends nearly fell to the ground and Chaos looked rather green around the gills as he dropped to his hands and knees. (Renard- 2300)

Yes... things were getting back to the way they should be!

~MC~MC~MC~

The Spirit of the Ring sat in his room, the door secure. Not just through the electronic lock that Seto Kaiba had most likely installed himself but with magic as well.

\'Not that it isn\'t a bad lock,\' he admitted to himself as he sat in the chair by the window, looking out at the clouds. \'The genius of these mortals... they are able to create such wonders that sometimes it feels like the magic of the past has become little more than the trickery of charlatans on dusty town streets.\'

The Spirit knew that most mortals assumed that the gods hated the progress the world had made since the days of old. They saw them as being no different than the rich lords who sat in their grand estates and loathed progress because it threatened \'the way things were\'. His host body had spent enough time with Edwin, watching Donwton Abbey (which the Spirit would NEVER admit to enjoying himself... never) to know that the Crawleys were how most envisioned the gods.

But those were mortals, who weighed power by trinkets.

The gods understood that power was power. It came in all sorts of forms. And only a foolish immortal would shun that which could help them grow in power.

\'Oh, I am sure there are more than a few of the elders who long for things to be as they once were... animal sacrifices, priests spending all their lives in worship, rituals never altered...\' He smirked, imagining just a few of the oldest of the gods stewing in their rage at how mankind had evolved, sitting like misers glowering at life. But what they didn\'t understand was that they had seen their own powers decrease not because mankind had evolved... but because THEY refused to.

\'Is that so?\'

The Spirit looked around the room but seeing no one merely responded in his head, \'It is, sister.\'

He felt Selene\'s mocking laughter echo in his head. \'You still cling to that notion, that you are my brother? My my my... if Zorc could see the arrogance that has developed in his little experiment...\'

\'I am Zorc,\' the Spirit stated. \'I split myself from my larger half.\'

\'You are at best a spawn created by him,\' Selene countered. \'And even that is disrespecting the children of the older gods. You are a sliver of power that latched onto a bitter thief\'s soul, nothing more or less.\'

The Spirit glowered at that, knowing she was wrong. If he were a sliver it meant that when he accomplished his goals he would be erased. But that was not the case... just as he had split a part of himself to journey through the Pharaoh\'s puzzle in order to find the weaknesses within it so too had he been split. And when the task was done he would reclaim the smaller fragment and they would become one, just as he would become one with his trapped self.

Selene giggled in his head.

\'You know nothing, Moon,\' he challenged.

\'Moon!\' Selene laughed and the Spirit had the vague feeling of fingers tiptoeing along the inside of his skull. Rapid little pitter patters. \'Oh, someone is trying to show off? What next, will you call me Mene?\' She chuckled again. \'Oh Patchwork... that does nothing to prove you are anything more than a mortal who took the time to read through a mythology book.\'

\'I am no mortal,\' the Spirit growled. \'I am your brother. It is you who suffers from delusions if you can\'t come to terms with that!\'

\'And now you argue with me,\' Selene said and suddenly the Spirit fell to his knees, fingers moving to his skull, nails digging into his flesh as pain seared him. Only for his hands to be ripped away. \'Now now... my Endymion has shown concern for these mortals and he would be cross if he discovered you hurt your vessel.\'

Thus the Spirit was left to wiggle and writhe on the floor, his mindscape burning violently until he finally pulled himself into the Millennium Ring itself, appearing in the darkness that was his mental realm. But rather than the shadows and shades that made it up normally he instead found the darkness of smoke that hurt his lungs. He began to cough, pressing a fist to his lips as he did so, even as he heard the demented titan\'s mocking laughter overhead.

"I merely grazed your stitched together soul with my essence and it burned you, Patchwork," she taunted from above, the Spirit looking up to find her reclining in the curve of the crescent moon. "My brother would have not been reduced to just a humble wreck by a love tap."

She slid down... or perhaps she merely grew, for she had seemed only to be a few inches taller than him when she hung in the sky but as she stretched out her leg she remained still seated upon her throne, her toes brushing against the ground while her massive body remained in the sky. She tilted her head as she regarded him before waving her hand, a great hurricane forming which sent him toppling, the smoke dissipating... as did the shadows. The Spirit snarled in outrage as he saw his perfect dark mindscape become filled with pinpoints of light, the \'sky\' above him filling with stars and nebulas.

"Now then... I do believe that you and the tombkeeper\'s heir had agreed to serve me. To help me in showing my dear Endymion the error of his most recent beliefs. And yet..." she tapped a finger against her chin, "...you are cowering in your room, thinking on the mortal world, while he stands beside me, watching Seto Kaiba duel his attendant. Now tell me, Patchwork... how exactly are you helping me?"

"I\'m not," the Spirit snapped. "It was a lie to get you to leave us be."

Selene though merely smiled. "I know." She began to walk around him, forcing the Spirit to constantly shift to avoid her feet, which were the size of cars now and could easily crush him. He didn\'t doubt for a moment that she knew right where he was and purposely moved towards him on purpose, delighting in how she made him scurry to avoid her toes and soles. "That is all the more proof that you are not my brother."

"What do you mean?" the Spirit asked, getting annoyed with having to crane his neck up to look at her. He focused and felt himself grow larger but when he came close to being able to look her in the eye she was instantly larger than him again, able to easily outpace him. Selene, deciding to mock him more, reached down and plucked him up, holding him by his shirt until she dangled before her face.

Selene let out an annoyed huff. "The fact that you don\'t know proves that you aren\'t him."

"Get on with this, witch!"

"Witch!" Selene mocked. "Such a cunning and cutting tongue." She let him go but rather than fall he remained hanging in the air, standing on nothingness. "Hmmm... I should have explained this sooner and I only want to do this once."

She waved her hand.

"...I\'ve had dreams that started like this," Edwin Chaos said, blinking in confusion as he now stood with the goddess, the two of them towering over the Spirit while the Pharaoh appeared beside him.

~MC~MC~MC~

Yugi started when Mai suddenly snapped her head towards him, eyes glowing. "We will return shortly. Do not panic, it would annoy me."

Edwin suddenly went ramrod still, as did Mai, their eyes rolling back into their heads.

"Edwin!" Tea exclaimed, shaking his arm. The man merely rocked back and forth, steady on his feet but not reacting to her touch. Yugi looked over and saw that Mai was now just as out of it. He opened his mouth only to suddenly feel SOMETHING lurch in his chest. He didn\'t know how to describe the sensation... nor did he know how to put into words the fact that he knew, deep down, that the Pharaoh had just disappeared from the puzzle.

"What is it now?" Kaiba demanded in annoyance.

Yuri, to everyone\'s surprise, was the one who answered. "Nothing! It\'s just a goddess thing."

Seto scoffed. "Goddess thing. More of that mystical mumbo jumbo? It was mildly interesting when Yugi claimed it... I thought it to be his gimmick. But Edwin and Mai using it now? That is pathetic and sad."

"You can\'t be that foolish, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus stated, startling Yugi as he had forgotten that his grandpa and Pegasus had joined them in watching the duel, what with them standing off on the opposite side of the dueling field. "How do you explain your soul being trapped in that trading card?"

"Hypnosis," Kaiba stated simply. "I did so research into it a year ago when there was a duelist claiming that he could force his opponents to give up on the first turn. He was using low level subliminal messages and hypnosis to put them into a suggestible state. I used a simple wireless ear piece that delivered White Noise directly into my ear canal to prevent myself from being placed under. You used the same trick, most likely with brown noise and the flashing lights on the duel arena platforms... that\'s why you didn\'t want to use my duel disc system as that would have prevented your trick."

Pegasus merely raised an eyebrow at that. "So I took the time to invent an elaborate system that would allow me to hypnotize people without anyone realizing it and rather than merely using this to take control of government agencies or force people like you to sell me their companies on the cheap... I created an outlandish story about ancient Egyptian magic, gouged out my left eye, and then held a tournament?"

"Good to see you are admitting it."

Yugi collapsed to the floor, followed by Joey, Tristan, and Tea.

"Is that really what he did?" Serenity asked as Duke and Koyo helped them up.

"No, no its not," Yuri said with a shake of her head.

Before anyone could say anything Renard took his deck out of his duel disc.

"I activate the effect of my Fandora, the Flying Furrtress. This allows me to skip my draw phase and instead add one Fur Hire monster from my deck to my hand." He began to go through his deck, considering his options.

"...what about when Edwin burned all those people to death?" Solomon asked Kaiba.

The Blue-Eyes duelist scoffed. "You mean that corridor that Marik had set up? He clearly was hoping to turn it on us when we rushed to try and rescue you and Wheeler\'s sister, only Edwin discovered it and figured out how to turn it on himself. He did the whole \'I am magical, watching how amazing I am\' bit to distract the Rare Hunters so they didn\'t realize what he was doing." He let out a dry huff. "Any fool could see that was his plan."

"Yup, any fool," Duke said with a roll of his eyes.

Renard, having finally selected his monster, held up his card. "I\'ll start by summoning in defense mode another Donpa!" The little Fur Hire Monster appeared in one of the baskets the hung from the rigging of the Fandora. "And with it on the field I am able to special summon from my hand Dyna, Hero Fur Hire!"

The monster, which appeared to be a mix of a lion, bear, and a bull, appeared on the field, chest bare but otherwise armored. He threw back his head and let out a roar that wasn\'t startling... rather it was like some conquering warrior letting the forces of darkness know he had arrived and their dark ways were done.

"And because I summoned Dyna to the field Donpa is able to activate his effect, destroying your Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" The small Fur Hire cocked his crossbow and fired a single bolt, once more piercing the heart of the Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, shattering it completely. "And because you have shown that you are able to bring it back... I will simply eliminate it from the game. Dyna, I activate your effect, which allows me to select monsters from Kaiba\'s graveyard equal to the number of Fur Hire Monsters on the field and banish them from the game. And I select your Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and your Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

"That\'s clever," Yugi stated as Kaiba was forced to remove the two cards from his graveyard and place them in his deck protector that he wore on his belt.

"What do you mean?" Tea asked. "Well, I mean I get that it was a good move because it gets rid of the Neo Blue-Eyes Ultiamte Dragon-"

"Yes but taking out the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was smart," Yugi stated. "When Seto and I had our tag duel against Lumas and Umbra I got to see the Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon in action. It can only be summoned to the field if you revealed you had a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in your hand. But since Kaiba never properly summoned him in the first place he can\'t not bring him back from the graveyard."

"You\'re right!" Tea exclaimed. "Monsters sent to the graveyard can only be summoned to the field if they were properly summoned before going there if they have a summoning requirement."

"Exactly. You have to activate their summoning effect first... otherwise they are locked in the graveyard. Kaiba could add the Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon back to his deck or his hand but he can\'t use Monster Reborn or the like on the Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon." Yugi nodded. "That was smart of Renard, as it now helps ensure that Kaiba can\'t summon a large monster easily to the field."

"Not that he will need to worry," Tristan pointed out. "Kaiba has not cards on the field, no spells or traps, and Renard is setting up for an attack! I think he\'s about to knock Kaiba right out of the tournament!"

Joey thrust his fist into the air. "Yeah! You show\'em Renard!"

Yugi though wasn\'t as sure.

Because Kaiba... was smiling.

~MC~MC~MC~

I looked myself over carefully, taking a moment to lift up my sleeves. "Mental projection?" I asked.

"You were always so clever, lover," Selene said as she cuddled up to me, trickling her finger tips along my chest like raindrops. "We are in a shared mindscape. This is a representation of each of us. Though..." she paused to press her lips against my neck, "...I admit I am lending you a bit of my power so we\'re the same size. So much better this way, isn\'t it?" She began to pepper kisses along the hollow of my throat. "And think, at the end of this tournament you won\'t need to wait for me to do this... or need a mindscape. We can do this in the real world. Mmmm... find a nice mountain range to flatten..."

"As... appealing at that might be," I said, my traitorous body reacting to her touch and her words, "it is a slight turn off to have the Pharaoh and Becky Sue down there watching us."

"Is it?" Selene asked, honestly surprised.

"I\'m not into voyeurism," I stated.

"Not yet," Selene teased before finally letting go of me. "Very well, I did bring you all here so I only had to do this speech once."

"And what speech is that?" The Pharaoh asked, casting a glance at the Spirit of the Ring. "And why would it concern him?"

"Because the three of you are the chosen of gods," Selene stated. "The Patchwork and the dark god Zorc-" the Spirit of the Ring flinched at Selene revealing deity\'s name so casually. "You Pharaoh and Horakhty. And for now Edwin and myself."

"Already losing favor, Chaos?" the Spirit taunted.

"Did you miss the part where she said after the end of the tournament she wants us to be this big in the real world?" I complained.

"What are you saying, Edwin?" the Pharaoh asked.

Selene though responded with a lazy shrug. "We are going to drain the Egyptian God Cards of their magic and infuse it into my love. He will be elevated to godhood and to celebrate I will show him how to achieve a titan form on earth and we will consummate our mating upon one of your mountain peaks. I am thinking something in Europe... no one will miss one of those."

The Pharaoh\'s eyes widened at that but it was the Spirit of the Ring whose reaction dragged my attention.

"NO!" He roared, suddenly flying towards me, hands cloaked in dark Shadow Magic. He began to try and strike me but it was like a fly buzzing about, constantly landing on you before darting away. "You dare try and take what is MINE?!" His body began to twist and shift, skin bubbling like cheese as great blisters and growths formed along his body before they suddenly shrank back down, turning into pale whitish gray skin. His legs twisted into a serpent\'s tail only for the end to suddenly split, revealing that his top halh was the \'serpent\'s\' tail. A horn burst from his forehead and pale stone-like wings appeared on his back, small and stunted. His attacks became all the more fierce and violent as he raged, throwing blows at me without much conscious thought.

It didn\'t even sting.

"Diabound," Selene said with mild amusement. "Even more proof you are not my brother. Just a touch of his power on a deranged human\'s soul."

"Are you going to do something about this?" I said in annoyance as the Spirit began to fire on my glasses. "I swear, if he causes a scratch I am going to be so angry."

Selene bit her lower lip. "Oh? Will you smite me? I\'ve been soooo naughty..."

"...no matter what I say it\'s going to come back to sex, isn\'t it?" I asked. The goddess beside me bobbed her head happily before bursting into laughter, leaning on my shoulder as she cackled. "Fine..." I said, reaching down and grabbing the transformed Spirit. "Why do you even care?" I asked him. "Your whole thing is freeing Zorc, right? And the God Cards have nothing to do with that!"

That was a lie.

In fact if Selene were able to drain the god cards that could either completely hinder Zorc or secure his victory. No god cards meant that the Pharaoh wouldn\'t be able to fuse them into the God of Light and drive back Zorc... but on the other hand if he didn\'t have the God Cards he couldn\'t activate the ritual that would help him relive his life and thus the prison Zorc was trapped in might very well never be broken, even with the little piece of the Spirit running around inside of it searching for weaknesses.

Of course that last arc had been a confusing mess to begin with so there was a possibility that the God Cards were needed to ensure that Yugi and Seto didn\'t admit their love for each other and begin banging right on Yami Bakura\'s gaming table.

"Now then," I said, looking over at Selene who had finally begun to catch her breath, "you mind telling me why you brought us all here? Something you didn\'t want to go over more than once?"

"Yes, yes," Selene said, running her lands along her Grecian dress, smoothing it out. "Since you three are connected to the gods I decided to explain this once, so there were no misunderstandings." Her mood suddenly turned deadly serious. "If I so desired I could snap my fingers and destroy you all." She raised her hand and gave a snap and while we all remained there I felt a tremor of raw power strike me. It was rather like when you were in a theater and an explosion happened on screen. All that sonic vibration hit a person and left them feeling like they were being crushed by something that wasn\'t even there.

The Pharaoh fell to his knees (which was odd looking considering he was hovering before us) while the Spirit of the Ring let out a cry and reverted to his human form.

"But I don\'t," Selene said with the same casual tone one might use to explain that they weren\'t going to super size their McDonald\'s order. "And do you know why?" She smirked. "Because where is the fun in that?" She began to float around us, the darkness around us shifting into a night\'s sky. Nebulas swirled about her, stars ignited into shining points, and auras trailed after her in her wake as her skin began to glow, silver runic tattoos covering her pale flesh as she floated about us. Running around her arms, along her shoulders, across her eyes. "That is the thing about us immortals... everything is far too easy. Every desire, every want... I can have it instantly. Many times I don\'t even need to consider what I want before I get it-"

I let out a yelp as my clothing disappearing, forcing me to covering myself with my hands.

"Selene!" I roared and the goddess giggled before waving her hand, causing my clothing to return.

"But," she continued on, "as I am sure you can imagine, such things are rather... boring."

"A world where I always win? I must be in hell," I said, remembering that old episode of The Twilight Zone... or the Futurama parody of it.

"Heheh, hell," Selene said with another giggle and I decided I REALLY didn\'t want to pull that string. "But yes, you are right that getting all we desire can cause life to become rather mundane. It is why we place rules upon ourselves. Requirements that we must pass in order to get what we want. Zeus couldn\'t merely command someone to be with him... instead he needed to get creative. Could he trick a woman by being with a swan? Could he pretend to be a mortal king? Could he hide it from Hera?" She paused. "Who of course had her own rules for finding out when her husband was cheating on her.

"Your greater half, Patchwork, decided to set up his own rules. And when he set those rules... he swore NEVER to break them. He could escape his prison right now."

"He... he could?" The Spirit said, thunderstruck by that reveal.

"Of course! He is a god! Do you think that something mere mortals made could actually TRAP him!?" She threw back her head and laughed. "No... he set about a set of rules for his quest to destroy all of Egypt. He failed and he is now punished, trapped. But he has set up other rules to free himself... we will see if-"

"Spoilers!" I called out.

Selene nodded. "Ah, yes... of course. Well, you will see."

The Spirit though fumed at that. "You expect me to believe that my other half would allow himself to be contained for thousands of years purely because he gave his word... to himself?"

"His word is law," Selene said simply. "What he declares is reality. What I declare is reality. What is said is Said."

\'Labyrinth,\' I thought to myself. While I hadn\'t seen the movie I did remember reading once that one of the rules of that realm. \'The Words\'. One with power declared something and at once it became reality. \'The gods function the same way... of course. With that sort of power it would only make sense if their abilities could warp reality like that... even for themselves. What they declare... The Words they speak... it shapes reality, even themselves.\'

"Then either you are a liar who thinks I am foolish enough to believe that or my other half is a fool and is in desperate need of me to correct his errors!" the Spirit roared.

"And that is why you will never be him," Selene said and with a flick of her hand she made him disappear. "As for you, Pharaoh, this is merely so you understand where you stand. Your game is for the salvation of humanity and the amusement of the gods. We may interfere, we may not... it all depends on our moods. But now I care not for that game... I care for another."

She suddenly spun around to face me and around her the stars went supernova as she stalked forward.

"My love might not like voyeurism... but I rather do..."

"...meep," I whimpered, the last thing I saw before a curtain of pale blonde hair and full lips struck me was the Pharaoh suddenly finding himself tied up.

~MC~MC~MC~

Dyna, Hero Fur Hire, rushing forward, one fist cocked back for a powerful punch that would wipe out the last of Seto\'s lifepoints.

And still... Seto smiled.

"Why is rich boy so happy?" Joey complained. "He ain\'t got nothing on his field!"

\'He doesn\'t need to have something on his field,\' Yugi thought to himself. \'Because if he has something in his graveyard or his hand that-\'

His eyes went wide, mind flashing back to Seto\'s earlier turns.

"Of course!" he exclaimed even as Seto slapped a card onto his duel disc.

"With the Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon in my graveyard I am able to summon my Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon to the field!"

"Halt attack!" Renard cried out as the new monster appeared on the field. True to its name the monster looked like a plane that had been modified to resemble a large fighter jet; honestly it reminded Yugi of some of the animes he\'d seen where the heroes flew about in vehicles designed to resemble animals. The jet was white with a blue cockpit that was shaped like the head of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the engines roared with a sound similar to Kaiba\'s ace monster\'s cry. "Clever," Renard admitted. "Very clever."

"Of course it was," Kaiba said drew his next card, eyes widening slightly before he regained control of himself, "I\'m the one making that move. Everything I do is clever. Such as this." He held up a card. "I send to the graveyard my Blue-Eyes White Dragon to special summon Dictator of D to the field!" On the field a regal looking monster with a staff designed to resemble the Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared. "And now I activate Blue-Eyes Statue Dragon!" The spell card, depicting a stone Blue-Eyes, appeared on Seto\'s side of the field. "By sending that Blue-Eyes White Dragon back into my deck I can summon this card as a Blue-Eyes Statue Dragon to my side of the field." The stone statue appeared. "And now... it is time for you to see why you were always doomed to lose here."

And with that Seto revealed his final card.

"It can\'t be!" Yugi exclaimed.

"He drew it!" Joey shouted.

"His god card..." Tea whispered.

"That\'s right! Behold the power of my Egyptian God Card! I tribute my Blue-Eyes Statue, my Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon, and my Dictator Of D to summon forth Obelisk the Tormentor!"

The skies suddenly went pitch black, thick clouds rolling in and thunder echoing all around them. Lightning cracked across the dark sky as the three monsters dissolved... and their particles formed into the giant blue god.

It towered over them all, several stories of stony muscle and might. Its grim face looked down at them, a low rumble filling all their ears. Renard, for his part, took a step back and stared at the monster in shock.

"And now you will feel the might of my monster! Obelisk, attack Renard\'s Dyna with Fist of Fate!"

The God Card launched his fist, easily shattering Dyna and causing everyone to fall down as the blimp trembled. (Renard-800)

The Eliminator stood... before smiling and bowing his head.

"I don\'t think there is any need to prolong this, Seto," he said, setting his hand on top of his deck. "There is no card in my deck that can overcome your god card."

"Of course there isn\'t," Seto declared as he deactivated his duel disc, smirking at his victory.

"Seto Kaiba has won and moves on to the next round!" the KaibaCorp official in charge of monitoring the tournament declared.

"Way to go, Seto!" Mokuba shouted, rushing up to his brother.

Renard, for his part, merely smiled at Kaiba. "I\'ll take it as a matter of pride... I pushed you so hard you had to resort to an unbeatable card to defeat me." Renard pulled out the signed Rabidragon that Edwin had gotten him. "My rarest card." He tossed it to Seto who caught it, only for him to glower when he saw what it was.

Renard smirked as he walked away.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Captain?" Renard said as he walked over to Edwin, seeing his friend standing utterly still.

"Don\'t," Yuri warned. "Selene grabbed him-"

"Gaaah!" Edwin suddenly exclaimed, blinking rapidly. Another gasp came from Mai as she stumbled a bit and Yugi looked down at his puzzle before looking to his right.

"Pharaoh? What\'s wrong?\' he said, crouching down over nothing. Or at least nothing Renard could see. "What happened?"

"That\'s what I\'d like to know," Mai commented, slowly slipping off her jacket and tying it around her waist, though she did it backwards to hide her front-

\'Oh,\' Renard thought before looking back at Edwin, allowing Yuri to help the clearly embarrassed women slip away back to her room. "Are you well, Captain?"

"Other than I have a new appreciation for that guy who had a face hugger attached to his mouth," Edwin grumbled. "It was all mental yet I can STILL feel her tongue..." He groaned. "In multiple places."

"Selene?" Renard said, even though it was obvious.

"Yeah," Edwin said with a scoff. "Yugi, maybe head to your room before the next duel? I think the Pharaoh needs a few minutes. And tell him I\'m sorry."

Yugi frowned, slowly standing up. "He keeps mumbling about \'pale orbs\'..."

"Yup," Edwin stated, refusing to comment any more. "Hey Solomon! You might need to have a talk with your grandson\'s partner!"

"Oh my," Pegasus said with a snicker while Solomon, who had also been listening in, clued into just what Edwin was getting at.

As for the former explorer he just let out a huff. "I\'d rather deal with the head shrinkers from the Amazon again..." he muttered, walking over to Yugi. "Come on, I think we all need to have a chat."

"I think everyone needs some privacy," Pegasus stated with a smile, holding out his arms. "Miss Wheeler, why don\'t you and your friends come with me and I can give you all some history on the different decks we\'ve seen so far used. It might help you decide on what deck you might want to run."

"Oh, I don\'t know if I..." Serenity began.

Pegasus though cut her off with a laugh. "Come now, come now... everyone should have a deck of their very own! Now, your brother Joey was using a Red-Eyes Black Dragon deck before but I hear he is going to try out a Poker deck next. So that deck..."

Edwin glanced over at others, clearly interested in what Pegasus was saying as he retreated with the teens, but then he turned back to Renard. "How did you do?"

"I lost," the man admitted with a shrug. "But it is fine. I didn\'t even expect to get this far, after all. And," he smirked, "Kaiba had to resort to Obelisk to defeat me. I\'d say that was rather impressive."

"Very," Edwin said, pressing his lips together. "A God\'s Word..."

"What was that?"

Edwin quickly glanced around, making sure they were truly alone. "Selene didn\'t jus t decided to, quite literally, mind fuck me." He dropped his voice even more. "She made a mistake."

"A mistake?" Renard asked. "What do you mean?"

"She said too much... I don\'t think she even realizes she did it."

Edwin\'s glasses flashed.

"She has a weakness, Renard. And with a bit of planning... I think I can defeat her."

His phone buzzed and he took it out.

\'NOT BEFORE THE CHRISTMAS FILLER ARC!\'

"...SON OF A-"