Chapter 85 - 85

Chapter 85: Chapter 85

"Thankfully he doesn't have a concussion," the doctor said, removing his gloves and pulling down his mask.

"Then why is he still unconscious?" Yuri demanded, waving at Edwin's form. He was lying in a hospital bed, a heart monitor connected to his finger, his clothing removed and a hospital gown helping keep his modesty. They'd needed to check him over for injuries, to make sure that he didn't have any internal bleeding after Joey had struck him. Thankfully there had just been some bruising and the doctors had been quick to say that with what they had on board even that would be gone by morning. Renard, when he'd first been allowed in, had feared the worst. He'd seen enough corpses in his lifetime to know how bad a body could get and he'd been bracing himself for the worse. But... Edwin looked like he was sleeping; and when he slept he tended to look like a corpse. Especially when he did his weird "I'm going to stick my face right into the back of the cushions on the couch so you think I've suffocated" thing. There was nothing horrifying about him lying there completely still.

'The joys of modern medicine,' Renard thought though he couldn't get much relief out of his captain lying there unconscious. But he was having to be the rock for everyone, to keep them from truly losing it. Even if it killed him to see his friend so helpless. When he'd seen the blood leaking from the back of Edwin's head...

"We gave him something to keep him from waking up," the doctor stated. "We needed to make sure we could seal up the wound on the back of his head. And honestly sleep is the best thing for him. I think he more passed out due to shock than anything else."

"But... he's going to be okay?" Mai asked softly, eyes red and puffy. Once they'd gotten to the doctors and she'd watched them strip him down, any attempts to appear like the confident and aloof Mai Valentine had died a swift death and she'd broken down sobbing.

The doctor smiled. "We'll wake him up in an hour or two... at worst he might have a headache but we have medicine to treat that. As I said he doesn't have a concussion. No broken ribs, no damage to his organs... he's going to be fine."

"Will he be able to duel or will he have to forfeit?" Kaiba asked, reminding them all that he was still in the room.

"Fuck your tournament!" Yuri snarled, spinning around and jabbing a finger at the man.

The ex-cop had gone the complete opposite direction of Mai. Where the blonde was tearing up and falling apart Yuri was slamming steel walls around her heart and then lighting her soul on fire. She was enraged, looking ready to kill anyone that even glanced at her the wrong way. She hadn't even realized that she'd snapped at her sister when Tea had asked if she should go get Edwin's glasses, leaving it to Renard to assure Tea that yes, the glasses would be nice to have and she should bring them to HIM.

Because honestly if they were broken Mai would probably be mewling like a kitten and Yuri would roar like a lion.

Kaiba glared at Yuri, eyes narrowed and mouth pressed in a firm line as he studied her. "And if you had shown a bit more talent and still been in my tournament I doubt you'd have that reaction."

"I would have it even if I was going to win the whole damn thing!" Yuri bellowed, flailing her arms wildly.

"She does have a point, Kaiba-Boy," Pegasus stated with a slight smile from the doorway, startling Renard; he must have been out of it real bad if he hadn't heard the man sneaking up on them. "You do seem to care more about cards than you do people."

"And tell me, Pegasus, how quickly did you stop your tournament when I was knocked unconscious for a day?"

"Are you still clinging to that notion that it was all technology and mundane reasons? I pulled your soul out of your body and placed it in a card."

"Hmmpf," Kaiba said, breezing past them. "And next you'll claim Wheeler did a Voodoo spell on Chaos and that's why he's in there." He moved past Pegasus who shot them a bemused yet resigned look before he entered fully, looking down at Edwin and shaking his head.

"Oh, you poor man," Pegasus said gently. "It does seem like recently you can't catch a break."

Renard could tell that Yuri was chewing over that fact, remembering well that the last time Edwin had gone through a medical emergency it had been when her own father had stabbed him.

"But he will recover?"

"He will," the doctor said, reminding them all that he was there.

"And what of young Joseph?" Pegasus asked only to throw up his hands when Yuri and Mai both snapped their gaze towards him. "I am merely curious, that is all."

"I sent a nurse to give him some medicine and I'll be going down to fit him for a cast. Once we land we can better see to it, have him up and about in a few weeks."

"He should have to suffer, the bastard..." Yuri growled and Renard sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"The doctor is just doing his job."

"And we failed to do ours," Yuri commented.

Renard winced at that. 'She's not wrong. We're supposed to protect him and Mai... and he's been kidnapped twice and been attacked.' He ignored the voice in his head that reminded him that Edwin had been attacked by someone they had all trusted. It shouldn't have mattered... Renard should have seen it coming, gotten Joey off of him faster. But he'd been so startled...

"Why?" Mai finally said.

"What was that?" Pegasus asked.

"Why did Joey do this?" Mai asked. "A dream?" She shook her head. "Joey isn't that stupid. He knows the difference between a dream and reality."

That... had been bothering Renard too. Joey was hot headed, sure, and he tended to miss out on vital clues. Mai had told Yuri, and she in term him, that when Joey had first learned that Edwin and Mai were dating he hadn't believed it. First it had taken Mai and his friends several times to convince him of what he was actually being told and then it had taken even longer to make him understand that yes, Mai and Edwin were in fact dating.

'He'd held it in his head that Mai and him would end up together,' Renard thought to himself. 'That he was the man for Mai.' Renard shook his head. 'Edwin is an odd enough choice for Mai to make but at least there is logic there when you know their shared history.' Mai was somehow who, by her own admission, normally led life in the fast lane. Going to parties, wanting to be pampered, but also wanting to be in control. To have someone who would give her the best in life but also know that she was in charge. As such she'd found herself dating men that were rich and successful... but the moment they tried to dominate her they were cast aside. And if they were too weak-willed then she grew bored with them.

Edwin... was different.

He was a home body. His outfit for Battle City was the most he got dressed up, unless he was going into work and then it was dress pants and a button up. And even that looked... wrong on him, like a child wearing their father's shirt and tie and playing pretend. He was someone that hated parties (though he could also at the same time captivate a crowd) and had no interest in the night life of Domino.

'But he knew when to challenge Mai and when to back down,' Renard thought. 'That's what makes him different from her other suitors.' He looked over at Mai who had moved her chair over so she could hold Edwin's hand. 'Joey and her? It would have been like fire and gasoline. Explosive but in all things. They would have loved each other passionately and then a day later tried to kill each other. A thousand breakups and makeups. Edwin... the captain is steel. He can take her heat and then guide it. Restrain it when necessary but also give it protection against the water.'

"I just don't know what was going through his head," Mai whispered.

"I think the only one who knows that... is Joey himself," Renard admitted.

~MC~MC~MC~

"This is-"

Duke cut Serenity off before she could say a word. "Its not your fault. Joey is the one who did this."

They were all seated in Serenity's room, the one that Tea had given her when she'd decided to bunk with Yuri, so that Serenity didn't have to share with her brother. Serenity hadn't known about the attack, as CCN had cut off the feed and gone back to the studio after the duel; Yugi honestly didn't know if they would address it. They'd encountered Kaiba on the way to Serenity's room and he'd stated that Edwin would be fine in a day and that the next match would begin in an hour.

'Hopefully they won't say a word,' Yugi thought to himself.

'Edwin can be vindictive... but there is kindness in him,' The Pharaoh stated. 'He knows that if this gets out it could ruin Joey's chances of ever being someone in the Dueling World.'

'He's lucky Kaiba didn't kick him out of the tournament,' Yugi thought to himself. 'I think he might have, if Joey was still in it. At least he's not demanding we turn around and hand Joey off to the police.'

'He is still in custody, Yugi,' the Pharaoh said. 'And Kaiba isn't allowing anyone to speak with him.'

That had caused a lot of distress among the group. After they'd been basically banned from Edwin's room (though the Pharaoh and Yugi had agreed with Renard's point that right now the last thing Mai needed was Joey's friends trying to plead his case... not that they had thought of doing that) they'd wanted to find Joey and make sure he was okay. Renard had broken his wrist and Kaiba's security team hadn't been exactly gentle as they'd dragged him away.

But when they'd finally found someone to ask about Joey they'd been told that he was being seen to by a doctor and wouldn't have any 'guest visits' until 'Mr. Kaiba has had a chance to speak with him'. And with the announcement that the final duel of Round 1 would be taking place in half an hour it was clear that Kaiba wouldn't be seeing Joey until after that... and very likely not until the morning, considering how late it was getting. The final duel was going to occur just as the sun was setting and even Kaiba needed to eat and sleep.

Which meant that Yugi and his friends weren't able to check in on Joey until at least the next morning.

'And if the tournament starts right back up in the morning we might not be able to see him till tomorrow afternoon!' Yugi thought, distressed.

'It will be okay, Yugi,' the Pharaoh assured him. 'And... perhaps it would be best for Joey to cool down for a few hours. You know how he gets.'

Yugi wanted to protest but then he let out a sigh. 'Yeah... yeah, when he gets fixated on something he doesn't let go. You have to let him cool down and then you can actually talk to him.'

'And we will,' the Pharaoh assured him.

"But if I had talked to him after that duel..." Serenity continued.

"It might not have done anything," Tristan stated. "Joey got it into his head that Mai and Edwin were in a bad relationship."

"He's had problems with the two of them ever since you guys went into that VR world," Tea stated.

"I thought he'd moved on from that though," Tristan said with a frown. "He didn't really bring it up."

"Yeah... but he also didn't bring the two of them up either," Tea pointed out. Yugi noticed Koyo shifting at that and wondered if their new friend knew something they didn't. Maybe him and Joey had discussed something when they'd met? That didn't seem like Joey as he didn't like to get personal with new people and it took some time for him to open up... but he and Koyo had gotten close rather quickly...

"Somehow though he got it into his head that Edwin..." Duke trailed off, glancing at Serenity who stared at him with watery wide eyes. "Well, he thought that Edwin was making Mai be with him."

"I just don't get why he would think that," Tristan complained. "Anyone can see that Mai isn't someone who lets a guy do that to her. Joey saw how she blew off that creep Jean-Claude Magnum!"

"Maybe someone whispered in his ear, convinced him of it," Koyo quietly said.

"Like who?"

"That shrink Brom?" Tristan reasoned.

"he wouldn't do that!" Serenity blurted out, everyone turning to look at her. But rather shrink under their gazes she instead continued on. "He wouldn't do that. Brom and I talked after the duel... he just wants to help me." She frowned. "He seemed... really sad. Kind but... sad."

"Marik maybe?" Duke asked.

"Marik and I watched you as much as you watched us. We know that you used your Millennium Necklace to make off with Exchange of Spirit from that auction house."

"Odion is being too polite," Marik declared, still full of mirth. "We know you stole it sister!" He tsked. "Stealing? The Pharaoh will have your hand for that..."

"I did it in his name, unlike you, brother," Ishizu stated.

Pegasus frowned, taking out his phone. "I really should get us to alter that card... On a first turn it could win the duel. Hmmm... 15 cards in each graveyard minimum?" He began to type away.

"Now then," Odion stated, "with your threat neutralized I will end this duel myself. And it starts with summoning my Gravekeeper Headman in defense mode." A Gravekeeper, one in white and black robes with a golden jackel-headed staff, appeared on the field. "And I will now use their effect. While Necrovalley locked down the graveyard the Gravekeepers understand the secrets of the dead and thus are able to use it while all outsiders can not. Thus I am able to summon my Garvekeeper's Commandant to the field in attack mode!" The black robed gravekeeper appeared, his face hidden by an ebony jackal mask. "And now I will have it attack your downface monster."

The Gravekeeper's Commandant held out his hand and shadows rose up around Ishizu's downface card, destroying a robed figured of her own.

"My Millennium Seeker has fallen," Ishizu stated. "But I foresaw as much. Your attempts to dissuade me by using our shared culture and heritage will not work, Odion. While I am pleased that you remember our duty I know that my path is one that will lead to the salvation of the world-"

"In other words," Marik taunted, "he truly has startled you and the only way you can cover it up is with your fluffed up words."

"You do not know what you speak of, brother."

Marik though shook his head, a bemused smile on his face. "You forget, sister, that I have known you all my life. I know how you operate. And when things do not go your way the best way to hide that is to ramble on and on about how you saw it coming and how it all occurred just as you assumed it would!"

"As if you don't do the same thing?" Rex Raptor stated and Odion looked over to see Seto Kaiba and Maximillion Pegasus trying to look anywhere but towards the dinosaur duelist.

"Claim what you wish, brother," Ishizu stated, turning back to Odion. "I will show you through this duel the power of my Millennium Necklace... and you will know that you can not fight what it has shown. I start by setting in defense mode Mudora the Sword Oracle."

On Ishizu's side of the field a large muscular Egyptian Warrior, face hidden with a golden mask, appeared on the field, spinning his sword before kneeling down on the field.

"And when this monster is summoned I can bring forth another Earth Fairy monster. So come forth Zolga the Prophet!"

The second monster, also masked but wearing long white robes that billowed around it so that it was hard to even see its form, appeared on the field next to Mudora.

"Now, Zolga's effect allows me to look at the top 5 cards of your deck, to determine what they are... but there is no need for that. I already know what you will draw over the next five turns." She shut her eyes and pressed a dainty hand to her Millennium Necklace. "I see another copy of Necrovalley, which will do little to aid you in this duel. Hidden Temples of Necrovalley might have caused me problems if I hadn't known it was coming; by the time you draw it I will have already gained the cards to counter it. Your Polymerization will not work as you think. The second Gravekeeper's Headman is, I suppose, a glimmer of hope for you, but only a glimmer. And the Gravekeeper's Spiritualist will be too little, too late."

"I am going to find out how you are cheating, and when I do, you'll be out of this tournament," Kaiba declared in annoyance. "I didn't like such games when Pegasus pulled them, and I don't like them when you do them in MY tournament."

Ishizu turned towards the billionaire and shook her head. "After all you've seen... you still can not accept that magic is real?"

"Of course not, I'm not three," Kaiba stated smugly. "Of course when I was three I didn't fall for such things anyway." He let out a huff. "Its all just part of your persona... your way of making yourself looking more powerful than you truly are. But there is nothing other worldly about what you do. Duel Monsters isn't won through magic... it is won through skill. Or through underhanded tactics."

"If you know she is cheating why not kick her out right now?" Rex asked.

Kaiba scoffed. "And give her the ability to claim that I was just looking for a reason to toss her without proof? No... I will let Ishizu continue to duel. And win or lose I will have my entire team go over everything she has done. Every move. Examine all the footage. I will discover her tricks and when I do I'll reveal them to all."

~MC~MC~MC~

Aria let out a groan, rolling her head back. "So we just got forced to do a ton of work, didn't we?"

"Maybe you!" Cassie chirped. "I write lore so I am good..."

"I'm suggesting so many stupid new Blue-Eyes cards to Kaiba just to make you suffer with us!" Aria shouted.

~MC~MC~MC~

Ishizu did her best to keep her face utterly neutral. Kaiba's claims though... they irritated her greatly. He mocked her heritage, her life's work, her very self...

'Kaiba merely does not allow himself to see the truth,' she thought to herself. 'Like so many people in this modern world he has a head filled with gears and wires, blinding himself to what was the truth of our existence for thousands of years. But with the Pharaoh's return the paragon will shift once more. We will return to an age of exploration, to understand the power of magic. This duel... it is merely the next step towards that glorious new age!'

She watched as Odion drew his next card. "I activate Royal Tribute."

"Of course," Ishizu said after a moment. "You have no monsters in your hand so that spell will do nothing to you. And while I do have a monster in my hand-" she discarded it to the graveyard, "-it leaving my hand will not hurt me."

"I next activate Necrovalley Throne, which allows me to select one Gravekeeper from my deck and add it to my hand."

Ishizu once more pressed her hand to her Millennium Necklace. 'I see... you will to try and hide your actions from me. But it will not work... even with you shuffling your deck my Millennium Item still allows me to see what lies in your deck. The next five cards... another Necrovalley Throne to try and hide once more the future from me. A Gravekeeper's Spy... a meaningless stall tactics. Polymerization once more. Rite of Spirit... I see him trying to use that to bring back his Commandant... it won't save him. And finally Gravekeeper's Descendant. Should he not use the Necrovalley Throne by the time he draw that card it will be too late.' She focused, seeing Odion holding up Gravekeeper's Visionary. 'Ah, you will-'

"I tribute my Gravekeeper's Headman to summon Gravekeeper's Visionary," Odion declared and the elder of the Gravekeepers appeared on the field, his face hidden by a ritual mask as he held his serpent staff in his hand. "And thanks to his effect he gains 200 attack points for every Gravekeeper in my graveyard. And thanks to the power of Necrovalley his attack is increased further, to 2700."

"Of course he does," Ishizu stated. "We gain strength through those that came before."

Marik rolled his eyes at that. "Or we are bound by their laws that no longer fit the world we live in."

Odion though didn't bother to argue with their brother. "And now I will attack with Gravekeeper's Commandant and Gravekeeper's Visionary, destroying both of your monsters."

Ishizu merely nodded, watching as the two Earth Fairies were destroyed. It didn't matter... she had known that they would fall, for they were servants to a greater cause and that was their purpose. It had been fulfilled.

"You didn't see that coming!" Marik taunted even as Ishizu set a single card on the field. "Odion... you might have decided to foolishly turn against me... but defeat Ishizu here and I will forgive you and allow you to return to my side!"

"I defeat her for myself, brother. Not for you." Odion held up the card he'd just drawn. "I activate Necrovalley Throne once more, allowing me to add one Gravekeeper from my deck to my hand. And I summon her now: Gravekeeper's Spiritualist."

The woman, small and lithe with her face hidden by an ebony jackal mask that was similar to the one Commandant wore, appeared on Odion's side of the field, magic radiating from her.

"I will now use my Gravekeeper's Spiritualist's effect, allowing me to fuse her with my Gravekeeper's Commandant to summon forth the greatest of the Gravekeepers... the Gravekeeper's Supernaturalist."

Everyone went silent when they saw the monster that appeared on the field.

"What... what is the meaning of this?!" Marik shouted, glaring at Odion. "How did you do this?"

"I did nothing," Odion assured him.

"You hold this card... a card that wears my face!" He waved his hand at the Gravekeeper's Supernaturalist, which resembled him... but in a way that made Ishizu's heart clench. It was her brother as he should have been: accepting his position and duty, leading them. The Supernaturalist even held a rod that was similar to the Millennium Rod. It was... it was like seeing the future she had been working so hard to achieve finally appear before her. Yes, there was so much work to do but...

"It wasn't Odion," Pegasus said, causing Marik to whip around towards him. "I designed that card. In fact there are several cards I had rushed through, based on your family." He shrugged. "I was inspired."

~MC~MC~MC~

Caesar frowned. "How do you make lore for-"

"NOT EASILY!" Cassie screamed in frustration.

~MC~MC~MC~

"This... this mockery means nothing! It only shows me that I must fight all the harder to defeat you, sister, so that this disgrace will never come to pass!"

Ishizu though merely shook her head. "The more you fight against your fate the more you move towards it. Can you not see that all of this has already been written?"

"And yet so much has not come to pass, sister!" Marik charged. "You said it yourself... Odion was to challenge Joey Wheeler, something that will never occur. Your visions are growing weaker, Ishizu... that means that the fate you believe is coming to me will never occur!"

"And yet my visions show me still the same final destiny," Ishizu stated.

"Would you three save the family drama for someplace where I'm not?" Kaiba complained.

Odion merely nodded. "Kaiba is right. It is time for me to end this. Next turn my Gravekeeper's Supernaturalist will be able to attack you. But no restriction befalls my Gravekeeper Visionary... so now it is free to attack you directly."

"Yes Odion!" Marik cheered. "Strike her down! Show how paper thin her visions truly are!"

The Visionary slowly stood up from his throne, lifting up his staff which crackled with shadow magic. Ishizu though merely watched as the masked leader of the Gravekeepers prepared to attack... and smiled.

"I activate The Breaking Ruin God."

Winds began to swirl around her, making everyone else shield themselves as a storm began to grow above them.

"Ishizu!" Kaiba shouted over the winds. "What is the meaning of this?"

"You speak of my magic being false, Kaiba? You can deny it all you wish but that does not reduce its power. With the power of my Millennium Necklace I was able to see the combination to your safe and claim from it the card I gave you... not to keep but to borrow."

"You dare-" Seto shouted but Ishizu cut him off.

"It was never meant to be yours, Seto Kaiba. It is mine to command in the name of my Pharaoh. And I do so now! I activate the effect of The Breaking Ruin God to summon forth MY Egyptian God Card: OBELISK THE TORMENTOR!"