Chapter 97 - 98

Chapter 97: Chapter 98

Tea let out a gasp as she suddenly sprang up, looking about wildly. The sun was shining on her face and off in the distance she could hear laughter. But it was... odd laughter. Not mean or cruel or anything like that. It was joyful laughter. But it kept changing, like someone had recorded a bunch of children all giggled and squealing and kept skipping about the recording, causing it to sound chopped up.

Blinking her eyes and looking about she found herself in one of the most beautiful parks she'd ever seen. The grass was just the right shade of green, there were ponds and little streams all over, different bike trails and jogging paths...

And she needed to LEAVE.

"How... how did I get here?" she murmured. "We were on the blimp. We were going to save Yugi and-"

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

She turned and noticed the large golden wall that encircled the park for the first time. It was ancient but also powerful looking... and completely out of place in the sea of green and blue and life. Yet she wasn't scared of the wall. Because, while it was some older and powerful thing that spoke of the dangers of the world... it also was a protector that sought to make sure she was safe.

"Hello? Can Tea come out and play?"

"Edwin!" Tea called out and she leapt to her feet, racing towards the wall which, to her surprise, suddenly created an archway that allowed her to see the man. Only she came to a stop as she stared at him carefully, taking him in. He was older, by about 10 years, the red stripes in his hair gone leaving just blonde locks. But it was him.

He looked down at himself and gave a sad little smile. "Yeah... we're in shared mindscape. So this?" He gestured at himself. "Is me. The real me. Before I came here."

Tea nodded at that before looking at the park behind her. "So you created that-"

"Oh no, that's all you Tea," he said with a smile. "It's a shared mindscape... our minds linked. That is yours. How your mind is interpreting all of this. All that makes you... you... is held there in secret, tucked away where you can find it. I imagine if I began walking through the park I'd become utterly lost, your mind driving me away."

"I think I'd give you signs," Tea said softly.

He chuckled at that before turning and waving to a MASSIVE wall of gold. "That's my mind... the Millennium Key helped me craft the barrier. Wish I could take you inside... maybe later, when we aren't on the clock. But the walls are me, admittedly. The barriers I created with the Millennium Key to keep others out." He paused. "Okay, enough of that. We need to find Yugi."

"Edwin?" Tea said, grabbing his hand and stopping him before he could go on. "Time moves different in the mind, right?" He nodded. "So I have a moment to say this... I'm glad I got to meet you. This version of you." She waved at his older self. "The real you that no one gets to see."

"Heh. This ugly mug. No one is glad to see it coming."

But Tea shook her head. "I am. I know for you all of this was a work of fiction. Me. Yugi. Our friends. We're all just characters in a manga or a tv show to you. Or were at least. You could've have blown off getting to know us, helping us... but you didn't. You worked to make things better. To help us."

"I... was going to," he admitted. "But when I saw Yugi and Joey go overboard on the ship... I couldn't NOT act."

"And how long was that since you'd arrived here?"

"...a day," he admitted.

Tea nodded at that; she had just KNOWN it had to be that short of a time. "And if you had met us before, when Pegasus sent Yugi that VHS?"

Edwin's jaw worked. "Shattered the tape or dueled in Yugi's place."

That made her smile. "Edwin... I know that this all feels weird to you still. But I want you to know... I don't just see you as a friend." She locked eyes with him. "You're the brother I never had."

He blinked several times, tears gathering in his eyes before he finally wrapped her in a quick hug. "Hey sis."

Tea clung to him tightly.

"We're getting Yugi back," he whispered. "Then we're dealing with Marik and Ishizu. And then... I'll tell you all I know. Things are changing, far faster than I could have predicted, so not sure how much that will help but I'm going to tell you everything that is coming and we're going to stop it all." He pulled away from her. "Let's get the others."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Now then, remember that this is just a friendly game," Pegasus said softly with a smile as a tech worked to situate the camera so it was pointed down at the playing field they were using. It was linked to a large screen to Yugi's left, which projected the field for all to see; otherwise it would have been rather hard for everyone to enjoy the duel if they could only hear what was going on.

Even though that was how all duel monster matches were done at a competitive level there was still something... odd about the set up. Yugi couldn't put his finger on it but it felt like it was too standard, to low-tech. Like there was supposed to be something else. He shifted in his seat, wishing he could stand up which was silly because why stand up during his duel?

"No one is expecting anything of you other than a fun match," Pegasus told him.

"What he's saying is take it easy on him," Cecilla teased, causing Pegasus to bluster a touch but still smile at her comment. "You want any tips on my deck?"

"No," Yugi said. "I want to figure it out as I go along."

"A risky move... I like it." She stepped away, allowing Yugi and Pegasus to begin their duel. "And," Cecelia said with a smile as she addressed the audience, "I will be providing commentary about these two new archtypes so you can better understand just what they are and how they are going to change the game of Duel Monsters!"

'She is really hyping this up,' Yugi thought to himself. 'So this deck must have a really interesting and unique. I'll need to figure out quickly how to use this deck if I hope to be able to last more than a single turn against the likes of Pegasus! He's the creator of Duel Monsters, after all!' Drawing Yugi looked over his cards quickly. 'Hmmm... only one monster card... and its effect...'

"Yugi, you may go first," Pegasus said with a smile.

Nodding and not wanting to hold things up Yugi held up a card. "I place in attack mode my Mirror Swordsman." The art on the card was of a strange creature that looked like a cross between a mythical monster and a menacing machine. It had really high attack stats so he was hopefully that meant it would be able to last a turn or so until he could figure out exactly what it did.

"Mirror Swordsman is the first new monster in the brand new Illusion Monster Type. Not an archtype... a type!" Cecelia paused to let the audience understand just how big that was, murmurs beginning to build up as the audience began to understand what she was saying. "The Illusion Type is all built around dreams and impossibilities... taking what should not be and making it a reality. Soon we'll be seeing exactly what that means."

Pegasus nodded as he drew his cards. "And I will now show off the second new type of monster: Toon monsters!"

"Toons!" Yugi gasped. He didn't know why that name filled him with anxiety and dread but it did, leaving him watching with growing worry as Pegasus took a card from his hand.

"I will start by using the Toon Bookmark, which allows me to select one Toon card from my deck and add it to my hand." He went through his deck carefully before selecting a card, shuffling his deck afterwards. "Next, I will banish facedown from the top of my deck 3 cards."

"For those that don't know," Cecelia stated, "when cards are banished facedown they can't be returned to the duel, even with effects that normally would return cards that were banished. This means that those three cards are completely removed from the game."

'Whatever Pegasus is getting ready to play must be very powerful if he is willing to give up three random cards,' Yugi thought. 'He doesn't even know what they are... they could be the key to him winning the game! It's such a risky move... he must have a reason for it!'

Pegasus held up a field spell. "And by doing that I can now activate the field spell Toon Kingdom!" The card, which showed a pop-up book kingdom, was set on the field. "And now I'll summon my Toon Harpie Lady!"

Yugi frowned as he saw the Harpie Lady appear on the field. He didn't know why but he suddenly thought of his new teacher, Mrs. Chaos. He saw her commanding far more savage and realistic looking Harpie Ladies to attack Joey... but why would she do that?

"Now then," Pegasus said with a smile, "Toons function under their own logic, as all of you know. They aren't bound by the rules that we normal humans know... nor the laws of physics that exist in Duel Monsters. As such, unless there is another Toon to confront them they are able to attack an opponent directly."

"Oh no!" Yugi exclaimed as his lifepoints went down on the screen. (Yugi Muto-2700)

"And with that I'll end my turn."

'Okay, I need to think this through,' Yugi thought to himself. 'So that Toon can keep attacking me directly no matter what I put on the field, unless I have a Toon myself. And I doubt that Cecelia would have included Toons in with this deck so there must be some other way to defeat Pegasus' Toon Monsters.' He grit his teeth as a sudden flash of an arrow piercing another book, this one with a graveyard pop up, appeared in his head. It was just for a moment but it left him blinking, trying to figure out what he was seeing. 'I need to focus. There must be someway out of this...'

His thoughts trailed off.

He... he had been ready to ask for some help. But it was just him in his head. No one else.

Why would he think there would be someone with him?

~MC~MC~MC~

"That seems about right," Tea said, looking at the literal mountain of debris that was Joey's mindscape.

"Eh, what are ya gettin' so judgemental about?" Joey demanded, standing on one of the piles of rubbish. "This is the perfect way ta have my mind! I know right where everything is! Want ta see all I know about my Poker Knights deck?" He leapt to another pile, reached in, and pulled out a deck of cards. "And hey, here is how ta make the Joey Special!" he put the cards back and threw himself at a mountain of food.

"What do you want to guess that the Joey Special is just two pizzas?" I asked, Tea snickering at that.

"I heard that, Ed!" Joey called out. "And I'll have ya know that the Joey Special is a pizza taco!"

"I'll admit that does sound good," Tea said before waving for Joey to come down. "But let's move, we need to get the others and find Yugi... we don't know how long Renard can keep Ishizu distracted."

Joey slid down the pile of garbage like the Joker on a mountain of money before following after me as I led him and Tea over to Tristan's mind palace. It was an utter contrast to Joey's, resembling a warehouse where everything was packed away and palleted away on racks so that they could be found again. Tristan was waiting for us when I opened the barrier, barely letting us have a look before he pushed past us, ignoring Joey's snickering.

"Seriously Tristan?" Joey asked.

"What about it, Joey?"

"Little borin', ain't it?" he said tauntingly.

"Shove off man!" Tristan snapped. "What do you have? Some mountain of garbage you have to dig through?"

"My mind is amazin'!" Joey declared, not answering Tristan's question.

"Whatever... Edwin?" Tristan looked at me in surprise. "You look... different."

Joey scratched his chin at that, leaning in to examine me carefully. "Huh... you're right Tristan. Hey Ed, what's up with the hair, man? Whatever ya did... I don't like it. Where's the body? The poof?" He gestured at his own head and I rolled my eyes.

"Where I am from the only people that have hair that big are drag queens and southern belles."

"Hey!" Joey shouted. "What do ya-" He stopped... and I realized I'd flinched when he'd taken a step towards me. "Ed... Ed man," he said in a softer voice. "I... I was just riled up. I didn't... I wouldn't-"

"Its fine," I said, jaw working even as Tea reached out and grabbed my hand, not believing me for a second. "Let's get the Pharaoh and find Yugi, okay?"

"Right..." Joey said behind me, sounding rather glum. My instinct was to try and make him feel better, to press down my own worries and concerns and fears, and just have him feel like everything was right. But, perhaps thankfully for my psyche, I had more pressing matters.

Besides, I doubted Tea would let me absolve Joey like that when she'd seen my reaction.

'This... this could help me win!' he thought excitedly. 'Look at its effect... if I do this right...'

"Oh?" Pegasus said with a smile, noticing Yugi's grin. "Did someone draw something powerful?"

"Something that is going to turn this duel around!" Yugi proclaimed. "I start by tributing my Cornfield Coatl and my Mirror Swordsman in order to summon my Nightmare Magician!"

The card art depicted a mage cloaked in golden robes, the inside of which had deep blue night skies with thousands of stars. His limbs were a bit too long and lanky to be natural, adding to the otherworldliness of the Magician. Not helping things was the fact that the Nightmare Magician's face was completely covered, making it impossible to tell who he was... if it even was a he!

"And next I'll activate this: Mystical Space Typhoon, which will destroy your Toon Kingdom!" Pegasus, with a shrug and a casual smile, removed his toon kingdom from the field and placed it in his graveyard. "And now I'll attack your Toon Dark Magician with my Nightmare Magician!"

"Now then," Cecelia said to the audience, "you might be wondering what the point of that attack was, when the Toon Dark Magician and the Nightmare Magician have the same attack points and the battle can't destroy either of them. The reason is the effect of the Nightmare Magician's special ability, which allows it to take control of a monster it does battle with, allowing Yugi to take control of my husband's Toon Dark Magician."

Yugi slid the card to his side of the field. "So now I'll attack with my Toon Dark Magician, taking out 2500 of your lifepoints!" (Pegasus-900)

"Well done, Yugi boy," Pegasus said with a smirk. "You are managed to master Cecelia's Illusion Deck rather quickly-"

"Yugi!"

The boy turned... and furrowed his brown at the sight a young woman that looked just like Tea. And with her was a duplicate of Joey... and Tristan... and...

...and himself.

"Yug!" the Other Joey cried out.

"Eh, who do ya think you are?" Joey asked with a frown.

"I'm Joey Wheeler!"

"Nah man, I'm Joey Wheeler!"

"I'm Joey!"

"I am!"

"I swear if you two try to fuck each other," Mr. Chaos said, grabbing onto Other Joey's shoulder and keeping him from rushing to confront Joey.

"What... what is going on?" Yugi asked, standing up from the table he was dueling at. "Who are you?"

"Yugi... it's us," the other Tea said, tears in her eyes. "Your friends..."

"He's trapped in a false memory," Mr. Chaos said firmly. "With False Versions of all of you."

Other Tristan looked over at Tristan. "Huh... I am rather ruggedly handsome, aren't I?" He rubbed his chin, Tristan doing the same.

"False Whatsits?" Joey declared. "Hey teach, we're the real people, not you!"

Yugi's own duplicate... who wasn't actually a duplicate because he looked taller and more mature than Yugi... took a step forward. "Yugi... I know it is hard for you to believe but we ARE your friends. All of this..." he waved at the convention center, the audience, his friends, "...it isn't real. You have been trapped in your own memory and we've come to help you out."

Duke scoffed at that. "You really expect us to believe this?"

"Stranger things have happened," Seto said.

Mr. Chaos pointed at Seto. "Witch! He's a witch!" Everyone, both sets of duplicates, stared at him. "What? Seto doesn't believe in magic."

His older copy took another step forward, looking at Yugi, beseeching him to listen. "Yugi... I want you to look deep into your heart. You know... this isn't real. None of this is. As much as you might wish it to be... it isn't." He gestured at the Duplicates and Mr. Chaos. "But we are real. We came here to find you... to bring you back..."

"I... I don't..."

"Yugi?" his dad said.

But... he wasn't his dad. He was his grandpa. He just wished he was his dad because his grandpa had raised him and loved him...

"No... this is real..." he whispered, shutting his eyes.

"Yugi," Mr. Chaos stated, causing Yugi to open his eyes and see that his teacher was moving to join Yugi's counterpart, "surrender the duel."

"What?" Yugi said.

"Surrender the duel," Mr. Chaos repeated.

"But... I'm going to win."

"Of course you were," he said. "Because this is your perfect fantasy." He looked towards Tea. "If Yugi said he wanted to move to Africa and live in the bush... would you join him?"

"What?" Tea said, confused.

"Would you have any problem with that?"

Tea frowned. "Yugi would never do that."

"But if he did."

"I... well... no. I'd support him!"

"Even if it was insane?" Mr. Chaos said. "Yugi wants to try cliff diving."

"I'd support him."

"He wants to hijack a space shuttle."

"I'd support him."

"He wants to stick his dick in a blender."

"I'd-"

"Support him," Mr. Chaos said, cutting her off before looking back at Yugi. "She would always support you because you could never get hurt here. That's why you can surrender the duel and it wouldn't matter. You could leap from a tall building and walk away without a scratch. Its why you could do those things and not only be okay but thrive. Because it isn't real."

"That... I don't..."

But before he could protest more he thought about the duel he'd just had.

'I drew Nightmare Magician... but I also suddenly have Mystical Space Typhoon in my hand. Why didn't I use that last turn? Or the turn before? Why hold onto it? Because I needed it then.' He looked at the cards that were still lying on the table. 'Because I had to win. Because I couldn't lose.' His mind began to race. 'I don't remember going to bed last night. I don't remember anything after I left school. Just it was... the next day...' All the little things that filled up one's life... they weren't there.

He looked about the convention center and saw how featureless so many of the people where. How even Tea and his dad and his friends... they weren't as vivid as the duplicates were.

"Yugi?" his dad asked him, taking a step forward, hand reached out...

...only to disappear, along with everyone else.

Yugi fell to his knees and began to cry, his friends gathering around him.

"I feel as if I was in a dream," Mr. Chaos... Edwin... said softly. "But now the dream is over... and all that is left is the waking world."

"Pharaoh..." Yugi whispered as his real life came flooding back to him. "Ishizu-"

"coming for us," Tristan said. "So we have to hurry."

"Yeah Yug... let's get out of here and have Ed do what he can ta keep that witch from trappin' ya again!"

"Right," Yugi said, scrubbing his eyes with his sleeve. "Let's go." He rose to his feet and turned to Edwin.

Just in time to see a spear burst through his chest.

"Did you think," Ishizu hissed, leaning in from behind Edwin, twisting the blade, "that I would let you jeopardize the fate of this world, Endymion?" She ripped the spear from his body, Yugi tensing as Edwin fell to the ground, eyes open and sightless as Ishizu pointed the tip of her weapon right at his throat, her next target made clear. Tea began to scream, Tristan grabbing her before she could rush towards their fallen friend. "I will not allow any of you to harm the Pharaoh anymore!" Ishizu snarled and the world around them began to tremble as everything darkened, the ground turning to sand while the skies above become a dark moonless night. "I offered you the chance to know peace, Yugi Muto... but it seems that I was too kind. The only way to ensure the Pharaoh achieves his destiny is to remove all traces of you! Your friends as well... had you merely known your place they would have survived but since it is clear that all of you seek to drag the Pharaoh into the shadows I will cut him free!" She spun her staff several times, eyes blazing with raw determination that had Yugi trembling in terror. "The Pharaoh is a god among mortals and I will not allow you to drag him down into the depths with you! For the good of the world you will be slain, here and now, so that-"

"ENOUGH!" the Pharaoh roared, Yugi starting when his eyes turned black and gold just like Edwin's. "You will pay for this!" Joey and Tristan began to look about, trying to figure out how to call for weapons. "ISHIZU!"

But Yugi's eyes were on Tea, who fell down next to Edwin's body and began to sob, forehead pressed against his sternum as she begged him to wake up.

~MC~MC~MC~

On the KaibaCorp Blimp... Edwin Chaos stopped breathing.

For some folks death is release, and for others death is an abomination, a terrible thing. But in the end...

...I'm there for all of them.

-Death, The Sandman