Chapter 29 - 29

Chapter 29

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The King of Domino couldn't help but watch the attempted usurper and wonder just how Edwin Chaos would react to the grand reveal he'd forced upon their duel. The man had clearly thought he had time to save his pathetic friends and, with anyone else, he would have. Solomon could admit that if it were him he'd have waited until he defeated Chaos before he turned the man's friends into his loyal champions. That would have been a delight, to see the man break and shatter at the sight of his friends screaming in agony before all that made them who they were, all the pesky individuality that filled their veins, drained away. He'd seen it many times himself, delighting as the most rebellious of his foes cursed his name and roared to the high heavens how they'd forever stand against him... only for their cries to grow quiet, their bodies to stop twitching, and the light to dim from their eyes as their minds were rewritten until they knew only to serve him.

But his dear Professor... he was pragmatic. A cunning schemer who plotted and planned and left little to chance. Of course the Professor would feel the urge to ensure that there was no chance of Chaos' friends escaping and mounting a rescue attempt.

'No... this is so much better!' Solomon thought to himself with a smile as Edwin stared at the stiff and still forms of his friends before dropping his head to his breast and taking in a shaky breath.

"If it makes you feel better at all... they are much better duelists than you now." Solomon lazily looked at the three. "And they will all serve a purpose in my kingdom. You took the Wheelers from me so Tristan here will serve well. I remember him... he fled to America like a coward when this all began. Died like a coward as well if I remember correctly. I hope Tristan here will serve better than the one I knew."

Edwin didn't look up.

"He stole Yuri Gardner from me but... I think now I should thank you for that. She was a rebellious woman. Prideful and thinking herself better than me. So hard to control. When a king snaps his fingers-" he did just that, "-it is the duty of all others to leap to answer his commands. With Yuri I wasted far too much time explaining what I desired. She questioned too much. With this puppet as my commissioner things will move far better, don't you think?"

Edwin didn't look up.

"Tea." Here Solomon couldn't help but lick his lips. "Oh, I enjoyed watching her and my grandson when they were younger. The only reason I let the little gold digging whore around, honestly was because I loved watching her curves swell. She blossomed early and had no issue with spreading her legs to all the boys while wrapping the rest around her little finger. Her death was an... annoyance. I never got to sample her." He reached out and played with Tea's hair, flicking it with his fingertips. "I will enjoy-"

Edwin's head snapped up, eyes open to reveal black pits with golden rings inside the darkness. His Millennium Key appeared around his neck and the power of the Shadow Realm crackled around him.

"There is no curse in elvish, Entish, or the tongues of man for this... treachery," Edwin hissed, power radiating off of him. But rather than tremble in fear Solomon instead trembled with rage at the sight of Edwin, who looked far more kingly than he could ever hope to appear. Solomon was many things but blind wasn't one of them. In his youth he had been tall and handsome, able to charm enemies and make women swoon. But all of that had been stolen from him by the passage of time. He was short now. Dumpy. His dark locks turned gray, his face marred by wrinkles that were worse than any scar. He was mutilated by the passage of the years. And here was Edwin Chaos... young and strong and powerful, reminding Solomon of all the things he'd never be.

The bastard refused to break at the sight of his friends turned into his puppets? Then Solomon would shatter his bones and pop his organs like over ripened fruit! He would skin him and turn his flesh into a flag he hung over the tallest tower of Domino and make his skull his drinking cup! And ALL would see what happened to those that thought them better than their KING!

"Do not blame me for your failure," Solomon said, deciding to twist the knife a touch.

"Draw," Edwin said coldly. Solomon moved to do so only for a Torment Token, brought forth by the Lair of Darkness, to form.

'As if that will do him any good,' Solomon thought as he finally drew his card. 'Perfect.' Out loud he declared, "You did well setting your field. A feast of terrors that would make one tremble. One... unless they were me! Behold now the darkness that lies within my deck and tremble, Chaos, for it is your end!"

"Make your move, pauper," Chaos simply replied.

Solomon's mouth twitched, nostrils flaring in frustration at the way the man dismissed him so casually. "Very well," he said with a glower. "I select as the monster you must find from my hand Danger! Mothman!" The cards in his hand appeared on the field once more.

"Left," Edwin said simply and the man's mouth didn't even TWITCH into a smile when Mothman was revealed. The cryptic let out a high pitched screech as it shattered, disappearing into the graveyard.

"Very good... for once," Solomon taunted. "But now my Mothman's effect activates! Both of us must draw one card and then send one card to the graveyard." Edwin merely nodded, drawing his card before sending that one to the graveyard. He did it with such a casual air that it came off as utterly disrespectful. 'Little bastard should be cowering in his shoes! Shivering and trembling with fright! How DARE he disrespect me like this!' Solomon selected a card from his hand. "I send my Chupacabra from my hand to the graveyard, activating its effect! I can now bring forth one monster from my graveyard back to the field. And so from the dark shadows of the mighty redwoods... behold the return of my Bigfoot!"

The giant hairy beast roared as he leapt out of the graveyard and slammed down hard upon the field, letting out a snort as he glared at Edwin's dragon and hound. The two monsters growled back but Bigfoot didn't back down for a moment. For like Solomon he was the king of his domain... and what were wardens and lords to a king?

"Bigfoot, eliminate the Wicked Warden!"

The gigantic monster roared and rushed forward, striking Ahmira in the chest, sending the Warden flying through the air. When it came to a stop it barely had a moment to gasp before Bigfoot was on him, pressing his weighty foot down upon the blue beast until it shattered completely.

"I set this card and end my turn," Solomon said with a smirk. "Your move, Chaos. Most likely your last one."

Edwin drew before selecting a card, his black eyes still burning right into Solomon's very essence. "I activate another Enemy Controller, but this time I tribute my Torment Token so I can take control of your Bigfoot." The controller appeared, buttons rapidly pressing as once more a cord latched onto Solomon's monster and began to drag it to Edwin's side of the field.

Solomon growled under his breath. 'This isn't good! That usurper keeps taking what is mine! First my monsters... next will be my crown!' He watched as his Bigfoot, despite its best efforts, was forced to obey Chaos' commands. 'And worse my field is wide open and with his Diabolos and my Bigfoot he'll destroy me completely!' He looked down at the facedown he'd just set. 'I only have one hope... to see if fate truly is on my side! For if I fall here... I don't deserve to be anything, let alone a king!'

"Reveal my facedown!" Solomon declared. "Danger! Zone! This card allows me to draw three cards but I must discard two, including one Danger! monster or lose my entire hand." With a steady hand he went for the top three cards of his deck. How many times had he been in this position in the past? The entire pot on the line, gangsters and cutthroats waiting for him to lose so he might not ever pay them back, and his opponent revealing he had pocket 10s while Solomon only had a 2 and a 5. But then would come the flop. The turn. The river. And fate would change and it would be him leaving with money tinking in his pocket.

He drew.

And Lady Luck smiled on him once more.

"I send as my first card the monster Danger!? Tsuchinoko?. An innocent looking monster, I suppose... but a tricky one all the same. For Danger!? Tsuchinoko? does not like remaining in the graveyard and my monster can pop back on the field at any time-" There was a squeaky hiss and the crypto snake popped back up onto the field. "Next I send Danger! Jackalope, whose effect activates to allow me to summon my Danger! Ogopogo! to the field!"

The lake cryptic appeared, the field under their feet rippling as it turned to water so his monster may lurk just below the surface, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Only its eyes briefly appeared, before the water rippled and it disappeared into the depths of the dark lake that had been created by its summoning.

"And finally I command you to find my Danger! Dogman... but seeing as he is the only card in my hand he is forced to automatically be sent to my graveyard, allowing me to decrease your Diabolos by 1000 attack points!" The ghostly form of his Dogman leapt forward, sinking its fangs into Diabolos, causing the dragon to roar in pain as its attack lowered for that turn. "Which means once more your dragon is forced to remain limp and flaccid, unable to strike out in battle!"

"Only against your Bigfoot," Chaos pointed out. "And your Ogopogo. But your Tsuchinoko still remains and I do hate leaving a threat on the field. Diabolos! Attack that serpent and send it to join its buddies!" The Lord of the Lair roared and fired off a blast of dark flames that roasted Solomons cute little cryptic, leaving nothing but ash on the field. "Now then, I activate another Allure of Darkness, drawing two cards..." He selected his cards before quietly banishing one, refusing to, once more, let Solomon actually know what he'd draw. The bastard. "And I set this card before ending my turn."

Another Torment Token appeared on his field but Solomon thought little of it; the smokey spirit was nothing compared to the two beasts he had on the field now that Bigfoot was back where he belonged. Even having Edwin's Diabolos heal the wound his Dogman had caused him and regain his full strength hardly fazed Solomon at all.

And his mood only improved as he drew his next card.

"Perfection," he whispered. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying your Lair of Darkness!" A great wind suddenly burst onto the field, the Lair trembling as Chaos' monster struggled to remain upright, digging his claws into the ground as the Lair shattered around them. "And just as you said... I do hate leaving potential threats on the field. As such... Bigfoot, destroy his Torment Token!"

His cryptic bellowed and lunged forward, easily kicking the Token and causing it to completely dissipate.

"Everything you set up crumbles, Chaos," Solomon taunted as the usurper drew his next card. "I knock it down and leave you gasping and weak, unable to do anything! Such is your fate, just as mine-"

"That... was your last turn."

Solomon stared at him in surprise. "What... what did you-"

"I didn't fucking stutter," Edwin snapped, the power of the Shadow Realm swirling around him, begging to be unleashed as the golden rings in his eyes BLAZED. "You're done, Solomon... right now."

~MC~MC~MC~

Everything had a red tint to it.

Which was very, very odd considering that I was sure that currently my eyes were blazing black and gold once again.

Yet there it was, the red film that shaded everything. My Terminator vision. Where I became so angry, so enraged, so utterly done with everything that I went from panic attacks and freak outs and snarling fits to utter coldness. My head never moving, my mouth never twitching... my entire being focused on a single task. The goal to not only complete it but to spite the ones that had caused me to enter such a state of mind.

And right at that moment everything in the universe had been pushed aside so that Solomon Fucking Muto because the target for all the power I had in my grasp.

I could feel the Shadow Realm swirling around me and the Millennium Key. Whispering for me to unleash its power. It would be so easy... to close my fingers so that I held that magic in my hand before slamming it down into the ground and declaring a Shadow Game. To pull us into the Shadow Realm and punish the 'King of Domino' for what he had done to my friends. Shadi had claimed that my Key was pure, untainted... but that didn't mean it couldn't be corrupted. The possibility was there, I just had to take it.

'One Ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them all. And in the darkness bind them.'

'No,' I thought, that quote cutting through the hate and rage and forcing me to feel once again. 'No.' This was why I had feared holding one of the Millennium Items; it simply was too easy for anyone, but especially me, to fall into the trap of relying upon it. I already used it too much for my liking, depending on it to teleport about, but was able to justify that as not harming anyone. This though... this was different. The dreaded slippery slope that would lead to darkness and pain. For the world. For myself.

I shuddered for a moment, clenching my eyes shut before finally blinking them, feeling the key sink back into my body and the Shadow Realm's siren-like song fading from my ears, leaving me just in the throne room of the 'King of Domino', staring down him and my brainwashed friends... and the rage bubbled up in me again. Only this time rather than allowing the coldness to settle I looked at my hand and smirked.

"Troy," I said to my phone, "give me a beat to kick this pathetic bitch's ass too."

' I've got another confession to make, I'm your fool! Everyone's got their chains to break, holdin' you! Were you born to resist, or be abused? '

"Good choice," I said, pulling out my first card. "I activate the card I set last turn, another Fires of Doomsday, allowing me to add two more tokens onto the field!" Two more of the smoke spirits appeared, cackling and grinning as they swept about Diabolos' ankles.

'Is someone getting the best the best, the best, the best of you? Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?'

"Next I activate this card I just drew: Foolish Burial!" The graveyard card flashed on the field and I tapped my deck, knowing just which card I was going to send there. Not that I was going to tell Solomon that. "I send this monster from my deck to the graveyard."

"And what card is that?" the King of Domino demanded as my phone decided to mute the lyrics and just have the music play.

"Now then, to summon a monster-"

"I asked you a question!" Solomon snapped. "What card did you send to your graveyard?"

"A monster."

"Answer. My. Question."

"No."

"What?"

"I said no."

"What does that mean?" Solomon asked and I delighted in the fact that he'd set me up for another PERFECT Doctor Who quote.

"It means no."

"Tell me what card-"

The professor held up the Rod and Tea stiffened before hurriedly moving back to hide behind me. For my part I allowed my eyes to go black and gold as a warning for him to back off.

"I think that's exactly what you'll do." He stood up when we didn't move. "It's over. I got what I wanted."

"And you think we'll just let you rule this world?" Yuri demanded.

"Of course!" my evil half said with a laugh. "It's not your world! You don't belong here... more so than me even! You four are intruders and have your own world to get back to and have tea parties and play with dolls and chase rainbow colored unicorns. Me?" He shrugged as he moved along the throne room. "I have a world to conquer." He looked us over before rolling his eyes. "None of you are hurt. Yeah, I messed with your brains but I let you go. And I gave you knowledge of Duel Monsters so that will be fun for you! Have 'Mr. Chaos'-" He scoffed at my name, "-use the Ring to make a portal back to your world. Simple at that."

I stepped forward, looking my counterpart over. "And you'll... rule?"

"I will," he said with a cheerful smile as he stood next to one of the doors that led out of the throne room. "And my kingdom will be glorious."

"You think you understand me."

"I am you. Just with more guts and drive."

"Less brain cells though," I replied. "I, for example, wouldn't have moved next to that door."

Before the Professor could question that I rushed him, driving my shoulder into his gut as I activated the Key. The door slammed open as I bashed my counterpart into it and a blast of frigid air hit my face as the Professor tumbled through the exit and landed on the unforgiving ice just outside the Antarctic research facility. The winds whipped about and the sky was dark as pitch as the snow and ice shards swirled around him, leaving him shivering. But not all of that was because of the cold.

"You were wrong," I told him darkly as I looked over the barren wasteland. "We're very much alike."

"WAIT!" The Professor screamed in panic and rage but I already had grabbed the door knob and with a heave shut it, closing the pathway.

"...dude," Tristan whispered in shock.

"No second chances," I whispered. "That's what kind of man I am." Tea was standing there, shocked, while Yuri merely locked eyes with me before giving a little nod of her head. I held out my hand and Tristan, after a moment, handed over the Millennium Ring. My other half was right... it was easy to open the portal once I knew it could be done; The Key lent me the power to do so. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

~MC~MC~MC~

Earth-1

"I'll give you this," Yuri said with a slight smile, "your portal looks nicer."

Edwin rolled his eyes at that but smirked all the same. "High praise." The portal he'd created looked like a shimmering pool of liquid and walking through it had been a lot more stable. There had been a bit of brief darkness and then they found themselves standing in the empty parking lot behind the Kame Game shop. "No throne room... things look basically the same... I do believe we are home." He suddenly got an odd look on his face. "Your home."

"What?" Tristan said.

"Nothing," Edwin said quickly, closing the portal. Yuri stared at him, that old cop instinct flaring up as she recognized a flash of disappointment and somber acceptance. "The point is we're back."

"Are... are we just not going to talk about what happened?" Tea asked.

"I imagine we'll be talking a lot about what happened," Tristan said, tapping his forehead. "Not often you can say without hyperbole that a day completely changed your life." His other hand went down to the deck box that was still secured to his belt.

Yuri grimaced at that. She had never seen the point in Duel Monsters. Thought it a waste of time and money. And now her head was filled with strategies and combos. Ideas on how to strengthen her deck and make it better. Of what she could do to beat Tea or Tristan right now in a duel. The URGE to duel. It was all there, dancing about her gray matter. And from the looks Tea and Tristan were flashing... they felt the same way. The Professor might have taken control of their bodies for his scheme but he hadn't lied to that alternate version of Solomon Muto when he stated that he was going to make them duelists.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Tea grumbled before looking at Edwin. "You killed people."

"Serenity Wheeler lost a Shadow Game," Edwin said and once more Yuri was able to read between the lines. He was defensive, yes, but there was regret there too. The same tone she might have voiced if she were forced to kill in the line of duty. "One she started. At best I was the gun she used to commit suicide."

"And the Professor?" Tea demanded.

Before Edwin could even say a word though Yuri stepped in. "He didn't kill him."

"He sent him to Antarctica!"

"And?" Yuri asked. "Do you remember how he took control of us and forced us to do his bidding? How he was the reason we ended up in that screwed up world in the first place? Don't delude yourself into thinking that he would have let us go if it didn't serve his plans." She shook her head in disgust as the memories of how the Millennium Rod had wormed the Professor's will in her own mind, locking away all that was her and forcing her to watch on as he moved her about like a toy soldier. Unable to question. Unable to fight back. She looked at Edwin. "Lock my brain."

"Huh?" he said, startled by the sudden change in topic.

"You said your Key can lock brains and keep them from being taken over? Do it." She leaned forward.

"I mean... right here-?"

"I'm not running around a second more than I have to unprotected. Do it." Edwin shrugged finally and took out the Millennium Key, bringing it close to her forehead. She looked up, knowing she was appearing cross-eyed, and watched in startled surprise as the key actually sank into her forehead. Edwin slowly turned it and Yuri had the strangest sensation. There was a slight tightness within her head... not like a headache in that it didn't hurt but like someone had lightly gripped the skin on her arm and twisted it slightly, only it was in the back of her forehead. Then there was a slight jolt like someone had suddenly placed their hand on her shoulders and pressed down. Edwin pulled away and Yuri blinked. "That's it?"

"That's it. Your mind is now locked down. No one can read it, no one can influence it. They try and they hit a barrier."

Yuri looked at the others but Tristan merely winced. "No offense, man, but after what your counterpart did I don't feel like letting someone else into my skull today." Edwin shrugged, accepting that; it didn't mean Tristan wouldn't allow him later.

"You dumped someone in Antarctica," Tea repeated.

Yuri pinched the bridge of her nose. "A bad guy. A killer."

"That doesn't make it right. He was a living human being. What right did we have to do that?"

"He ripped our minds apart! That bastard King wanted to rape you! And you mourn for the fucking Professor!?" Yuri bellowed at her sister.

Tea though got right in her face. "We are no better than them if we go to extremes and hand wave it away with 'but we had no choice'! There is always a choice-"

"You do get that he's most likely alive, right?" Edwin cut in.

"What do you mean?" Tristan questioned.

Edwin looked around them, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "My doorways... it needs an actual door. So I thought of one I'd seen in a magazine of an Arctic research station. Its staffed, so if the Professor is smart he'll just walk right in. And he still has the Millennium Rod... he'll be able to force whoever he finds to radio for help and get him back to Domino. All I did was... slow him down. Give the heroes of his world a chance to breathe. But he isn't dead." Tea didn't looked convinced at that but she at least accepted his explanation with a nod. "That's why," Edwin said, holding up the Millennium Ring from the alternate universe, "I kept this."

"So there's no why that creep can come here?"

"Not that I'm aware." He flicked the ring up into the air like a Frisbee, catching it after a moment. "Our world is now safe from the likes of him."

"What are you going to do with that though?" Tea asked. "Its dangerous."

"Damn straight it is," Edwin agreed. "So I'm going to find the best place to store this so that only I can get to it." He smirked, reaching up with his free hand to finger the Millennium Key. "I have some ideas."

"Well, no offense Edwin but after that day I want to go home and sleep until I forget everything." Tristan gave a wave and with that walked off, none of them blaming Tristan for wanting to get away and decompress.

"I think I'm going to go see Yugi and Mr. Muto... ensure that they are who I remember." Tea paused, hand reaching down to caress her new deck. "And maybe show off to Yugi just what I learned."

"And what about you Detective?"

Yuri grimaced. "I need... I need to be alone for a while. That world... what I saw there..." She didn't finish. She didn't want to explain to him how the sight of her evil half had allowed her to view a nightmare she hadn't even known she had... "I just..."

"Yeah, I get it," he said. And he would, of course. More than Tristan or Tea... he understood.

Which was why Yuri would later hate herself for simply walking away instead of seeing that in Edwin Chaos there was the one person in the world that could understand all she was going through.

~MC~MC~MC~

Earth-2



2 Weeks Later



The portal appeared not in the air but on the ground. Shimmering and sparkling, colors shifting like an oil slick in the sun. It fluctuate for a moment before it allowed the figure to emerge like she was walking up the steps of a deep swimming pool.

"Are you getting a reading, Annie?" the new arrival to the dark counterpart of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe asked. Her voice was muffled thanks to the clothing she was wearing: a brown wore long coat, tight pants, a see-through net shirt over a blue tee, and a brown tactic head wrap with high resistant weather goggles. She flexed her hand, the fingerless gloves she wore creaking slightly, as she looked around the city.

"I was," her phone, Annie, chirped with a condescending yet bubbly voice. "But he's gone now. Only the Chaos of this world, Aiden Order, is around."

"Damn it," the dimensional traveler muttered. "I thought we had him when he appeared here. How long has he been gone?"

"Two weeks but I warned you that he might disappear before we got here... or was already gone. The signal was weak."

"Yeah yeah," the woman said, pulling her mask and goggles off. Short dark blond hair streaked with red blew in the wind and steely gray-blue eyes looked over the landscape. She reached down and fiddled with the Millennium Ring that she wore around her neck. "Keep searching... we have to find my alternate male counterpart. For the sake of the multiverse."

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