Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny ❯ Return of Valiance Story, part 1: Duel Like an Aegyptian ( Chapter 22 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer:
This fic uses characters, places, themes from franchises that are the property of others. This chapter features Yugioh, which is made by Konami. I do not own these franchises.

Special Thanks to:
Charles Xavier, Fanfiction.net author: For writing an awesome crossover with anime and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Suikosource website: for providing great information that made this fic possible.

The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny
By: RB3

Return of Valiance Story, part 1: Duel Like an Aegyptian

The mood was positive at the Valiance home world. With the destruction of the Eye of God, they had dealt a devastating blow to Omnipotence. To have made such an attack, the enemy had to have spent inordinate amounts of resources and manpower. With nearly 90% of the enemy force wiped out, all that effort was wiped out in an instant. All that remained were scraps which hurtled aimlessly through space. Valiance tugs collected this debris to salvage it for future use. As Valiance forces retreated to their home world to recuperate, their founders and leaders met to discuss their next move.

"We've dealt Omnipotence a crippling blow when we destroyed their Eye of God. We need to take advantage of it before they recover. We can't rest on our laurels," said Folken.

"Our people just went through a very long and hard battle. They need time to rest," objected Koichi.

"I agree with Koichi, our space forces took heavy losses in the last battle," said Dr. Eggman. "We should let them recover for awhile before we ask them to mobilize again."

"We need to hit'em now. We won't get another chance like this again," said Eddie.

The forces of Valiance were split on how to proceed. Several members, particularly those who were directly involved with the Eye of God battle, sided with Koichi and Dr. Eggman. Others, mostly those who fought mainly on the ground, were eager to press Valiance's advantage. "I'm still ready to fight. We didn't have to go through what our guys in space did," said Yoh.

"If I might interject," began Ross. "I have been investigating Omnipotence-related underworld activities. There are still more businesses at risk of infiltration by Omnipotence. One that came up was Kaiba Corp, which I discovered during my investigation of Penhold. I only need a small team and a ship to clean out these guys."

"Of course… Kakashi, what does our mole have to say?" asked Folken.

"They're after something called the Pillar system of Cephiro," replied Kakashi. "Our agent surmises that this is an attempt by Acme to gain more power to fight us."

"I can tell you more," announced Sakura. "Cephiro is a world where the will determines what happens. The person with the strongest will becomes the Pillar, kind of like a god, and rules over Cephiro. It is the Pillar's job to pray and keep Cephiro in balance. The last Pillar was Hikaru, who's one of the Magic Knights. She made a wish to end the Pillar system."

"Yes, exactly as our agent described," supported Kakashi. "Being the Pillar will restrict his power to Cephiro, but he is searching for a way to overcome this limitation. That is why he took Trunks' Dragonballs, Koichi and Yolei's Destiny Stone, and the Asakura prayer beads. That is also why he kidnapped my students. He is trying to learn the nature of our powers and our worlds. Once he learns enough, he will use this knowledge to break down the barriers between worlds and force the Pillar system onto them."

"That is an extremely dangerous thing to do," warned Clow Reed. "It would require a fundamental change to the way a world's powers work. You CAN NOT do something like that without consequences. Acme will trigger so many devastating Paradox backlashes that he might collapse every world involved... and more. Cephiro, Digital Nations, Ninja Nations, Shamania, Zeta Earth, none of them will be safe if we allow Acme to do this."

"How far has Acme gotten with this crazy scheme?" asked Eddie.

"He has made minor progress but is still missing some key items," said Kakashi. "Acme has tightened up the flow of information, so our spy couldn't learn much. However, he has heard that Omnipotence is searching for Millennium Items in Aegypt."

"Very well," said Eddie. "Ross, Trunks, take your teams and take the Outlaw Star to Aegypt and protect Kaiba Corp and the Millennium Items. Koichi, your team will remain on standby in case our spy returns with new info. You all have jobs to do, so you're dismissed. The rest of you will stay and continue the meeting."

---

Ross and Trunk's team boarded the newly refurbished Outlaw Star, which had been supplied with one of Tails' dimensional travel modules and an engineer to maintain it. "Hey, nice to meet you Detective," greeted Gene.

"Nice to see you again, Gene," said Ross. "We've got some perps to nab over in Aegypt. We need a lift over there."

"Sure, the boss told me about the job," said Gene. "I heard that place is really into gaming. It's kinda like the anime version of Vegas, but they're obsessed with some card game. Something to do with monsters if I remember correctly."

"Well, I've always wanted a vacation, but I got a big bust to make, so it'll have to wait," said Ross. "Well, at least now, I know where to take my next vacation."

After the teams boarded the Outlaw Star, it launched into space and passed through a vortex to Aegypt. The world Aegypt was the home of the Yugioh anime, which was centred on a group of friends who played a card game called "Duel Monsters." This game was based on a similar game played in ancient Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs. Unlike modern days, the players back then were wizards who summoned real monsters to do battle. One Pharaoh, Atem, saw the damage that playing these games caused to the world. Atem sealed away this magic and bound his soul to his Millennium Puzzle to maintain this vigil.

The Outlaw Star landed on the ground in a suburban Domino park. Trunks, Faust, Morty, and Meilin remained on board while the rest disembarked on this grassy patch of land. Ross and his team split up from the group and took their car to Kaiba Corp to question and warn the president about Omnipotence espionage. Sonic, Shaoran, and Amelia went off in search of Yugi Muto and Ryo Bakura, two holders of Millennium Items. The Outlaw Star too the rest to Cairo, Egypt, where they were to search for the last remaining Millennium Item holders, Shadi, and the Ishtar siblings.

Domino City was a haven for tourists on vacations. It housed two of the biggest companies in gaming today, Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corp. Many national and international tournaments like the Battle City tournament were held here as well. Ross and crew pulled up to a great skyscraper near the fringes of Domino City. Labelled "Kaiba Corp" in bold blue letters, this company was the largest manufacturer of game-related equipment. While Industrial Illusions produced the Duel Monsters card game itself, Kaiba Corp produced the holographic devices which brought the game to life.

After being shown in by the receptionist, the team waited within a reception room until a brown-haired young man wearing an overcoat entered. Notably, this man wore a pendant made from a plastic likeness of a Duel Monsters card. He was Seto Kaiba, the president of Kaiba Corp and its major shareholder. He was quite possibly the youngest president they had ever met. He was still in his teens unlike most company presidents, who were in their forties or older. "Hello, you called for me?" asked Kaiba.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba. I am Detective Ross Syllabus," introduced Ross with a flash of his badge. Naomi did the same, as did the STNJ members. "We're here to speak to you on the subject of the Omnipotence terrorist group. We suspect that they may have targeted your business for infiltration. Have noticed anything unusual, such as leaks or suspicious behaviour by your staff?"

"No, I haven't seen anything of the sort," replied Kaiba. "However, I will now be keeping a much closer eye on my workers. Thank you Detective, but I can't tell you anything more."

"Very well, but if you need to speak to us again, here's the number where you can reach me." Ross handed Kaiba contact information on a card before leaving with his team.

Meanwhile, the bell rang at Domino High School, announcing the end of classes for the day. One young man Yugi Muto, walked out of the school surrounded by an entourage of friends. They made a trip over to his grandfather's hobby store, which sold card games like the popular Duel Monsters which all of them played. As Yugi entered the store, his grandfather, Solomon, looked up from pricing a stack of cards. "Hello Yugi."

"Hi grandpa," said Yugi.

"Oh Yugi, have you seen Ryo Bakura recently?" asked Solomon.

"No," replied Yugi.

Solomon looked at his friends to elicit an answer. "Uh uh," replied Joey.

"Nope," replied Tea.

"The last time I saw Bakura was at the tournament yesterday night," replied Tristan.

"Why do you ask, grandpa?" asked Yugi.

"Bakura's parents called me late last night asking if I've seen him," replied Solomon. "He never came home last night. They called the police but they still haven't found any leads."

At that moment, Sonic, Amelia, and Shaoran entered the store. "Hello, is there anyone here by the name of Yugi Muto here?" asked Amelia.

"Yes, I'm Yugi Muto," replied Yugi.

"Nice to meet you." Amelia and her friends flashed their Valiance ID cards and introduced themselves. "We're from Valiance."

"Valiance?" asked Tea. "You mean those guys who are trying to catch the terrorists?"

"Yeah," replied Sonic. "We think they're looking for you, Yugi. They want your necklace."

Yugi underwent a sudden change of demeanour, becoming darker and older. "Are you saying they want to take my Millennium Puzzle?" asked Yugi.

"Yes Yugi," replied Amelia. "...Or is it the Pharaoh?"

"Just call me Atem," replied Atem. "Why do they want my puzzle?"

"They want to study it," replied Shaoran. "They want to learn about its magic. They're going to use it to do something very dangerous."

"Have you seen a Ryo Bakura anywhere?" asked Amelia.

"We were just talking about that," said Joey. "Bakura has been missing since last night."

"That's not good," commented Shaoran.

"Why?" asked Tea.

"Once they get what they want from him, he's as good as dead," replied Shaoran. "They'll take him somewhere quiet and shoot him."

"Oh Bakura..." said Tea, fearful for his life.

While the others were talking, Sonic received some good news from Ross on his radio. "Listen; that was Ross on the phone. He just found a lead to Bakura at the station. I'm going ahead to check it out. You guys stay here and give them company."

Faster than the blink of an eye, Sonic rushed out of the store, blowing a big gust of wind in his wake. It blew down several stacks of cards Solomon was inventorying. They fell everywhere behind his counter. "Wow, he's a fast one," remarked Joey, fixing his shirt.

"He could at least wait until he was outside before running away like that," said Solomon, picking up cards littered behind his counter.

Sonic blazed down the streets following the directions given to him by Ross. The detective had told him about a suspicious blue van that had been seen moving through the area of Games Street to the north of where the Muto Hobby Shop was. The witnesses also reported that three men were in this van and that it was last seen heading to the north. Sonic followed the trail of witness reports down the street until he spotted this van parked outside of a small bungalow. Its license plate was a match to the number Ross had given to him.

The bungalow was a small, red brick home that could house a small family. It was a simple home, very private, and didn't stand out from the rest of the neighbourhood. It was not a place that would arouse suspicion. It was also a very good place to hide. Sonic snuck from window to window with preternatural speed and peeked inside. Most of them were covered in blinds, but one had a large enough crack for him to see through. There were humanoid shapes shifting about inside and he could hear them browbeating another person outside of his field of view.

"Where is it?" demanded a thuggish voice. "Where is the Millennium Ring?"

"I'm not telling you!" said the voice of a male teenager, which Sonic surmised was Bakura's.

"Maybe this will make you change your mind," retorted the man.

"AAAAAH!" came Bakura's scream.

Since Bakura was fully out of view, Sonic could only imagine what they were doing to force him to talk. "Ross, get over here as soon as you can. I'm at 42 Duel Boulevard. That van you told me about is here and so are the men who took Bakura. They're doing something to make him talk. I can't wait any longer. I'm going to have to bust in and save him."

"Okay, we're almost there. Do what you must," replied Ross.

Sonic immediately smashed through the window with preternatural speed. He saw Bakura wired to some kind of device that was delivering electrical pulses to his body. Sonic flicked the device's power switch and snatched Bakura from the jaws of danger in one fell swoop. "What the..." remarked a thug, once he realized Bakura was gone.

Just then, the siren from the cars of Ross, the STNJ, and Domino police echoed throughout the neighbourhood. "Shit! It's the cops!" cried another thug.

The thugs ran for their van but were a moment too slow. Naomi swerved her car right into the path of their getaway vehicle, ensuring they would not be able to use it to escape. The men drew guns and fired at them, forcing Naomi and her partner to dive down. They crawled out of their vehicle from the other door and returned fire on the men. Suddenly, one of the men emitted a bolt of lightning at the detectives! Fortunately, since their car was in front of them, it had taken the attack for them. The sheer intensity of the lightning caused the fuel tank to ignite, which sent the detectives leaping for safety.

"Witches!" remarked Ross.

The men ran into their backyard and deeper into the neighbourhood. Ross and Naomi pursued the men into the alley between houses on foot until one of them turned around. Ross suddenly found his feet yanked out from under him, causing him to take a spill onto the ground. Before Naomi could close the gap, the man telekinetically hurled her into the air, slamming her into the branches of a tree across the street. As the two recovered, the men continued their flight from justice. At the other street, the STNJ members skid their car into the path of the men.

As they exited their vehicle, Amon and Miho fired orbo pellets. They successfully subdued one, but the other two used their powers to avoid capture. The lightning witch zapped the pellets as they approached while the telekinetic witch raised a barrier of repulsive force. The telekinetic witch lashed out at Amon with a wave of force which he stopped with his own telekinetic barrier. The telekinetic witch made a run for it. "I'll get him!" called Amon as he gave pursuit.

The lightning witch lashed out with bolts of lightning. They ended up being blunted by one of Robin's flames. She raced a flame along the ground which the witch stopped with a flicker of electricity. The two started a dangerous game of tug o'war attacking and parrying with flickers of fire and lightning. Neither could gain the advantage until Ross and Naomi entered the scene and fired orbo at the witch. The orbo collided with flickers of lightning, being incinerated by such a display of power instantly.

"You are outnumbered. There's no way you can win. Surrender!" demanded Naomi.

Rather than comply, the witch raised the intensity of his powers. Robin mirrored his move, increasing her power as well. As they continued their tug o'war, Ross and the others pelted the lightning witch with orbo pellets. Their help proved to be the clinching factor. The witch began to weaken and couldn't muster the power needed to repel Robin's flames. Robin's fires burst through his defences and set his clothes alight. He flailed around in a panic while Ross, Miho, and Naomi continued to pelt him. Robin immediately snuffed the flames once the orbo brought him down.

When the rest of the authorities arrived on the scene, they helped Bakura recover from his experience with the thugs. They scoured the area and found Amon, who had incapacitated the final thug. The telekinetic thug was sprawled on the ground buried under a pile of garbage and cans. Ross supplied the police with orbo and signal jammers to ensure the thugs were placed behind bars properly. With these thugs off of the streets, Yugi and friends were safe from suffering a similar fate as Bakura. After some questioning by police, he returned to Solomon's hobby store to reunite with his friends.

"Bakura, you're okay!" said Yugi.

"I'm fine everyone. The cops took away the people who grabbed me," said Bakura.

"Yes, another one for the good guys!" remarked Amelia.

"That's good news!" remarked Joey. "Now you don't have to worry any more, Yug."

"Yeah, but I want to know, what happened to your Millennium Ring? Did they get it?" asked Yugi.

"No... Mr. Muto, why don't you show them now?" requested Bakura.

Solomon nodded and went back to the stockroom to retrieve an object from a hidden safe. When he returned to the front counter, he returned it to its rightful owner. "You had the Millennium Ring the whole time?" asked Yugi.

"Yep," replied Solomon. "It happened during that tournament. Bakura suspected that he was being followed so he gave the ring to me for safe keeping. It was a smart move too. Right after he left the store, they got him. I played along the whole time so no one would suspect a thing."

"Oh, I see, so that's why you went to talk to Mr. Muto," observed Tristan.

At the police station, Ross led the interrogation of the men who had kidnapped Bakura. In particular, Ross was interested in finding the names and locations of other Omnipotence agents in Aegypt, particularly in Domino City. His questioning brought to light certain moles within Kaiba Corp who were part of an affiliated cell. "Tell me more about this Hiro Kanzaki."

"He works over at Kaiba Corp. He's some kind of scientist. We help each other. He does his thing and we do ours," said the telekinetic witch.

"...To get the Millennium Items and Kaiba Corp technology?" asked Ross.

"Yeah," replied the man.

"We checked your home and I must say, you must be getting quite a lot of money to afford all those fancy gadgets," remarked Ross. "Where does all that cash come from?"

"I get my moolah from an account at the Interworld Bank. They told me that as long as I did as I was told, I could use the money anyway I wanted,"

Although Ross pressed for the identity of the agents' handlers, they were not able to provide any details. The agents never saw the faces of their handlers directly. They received their orders via packages hand-delivered to their home. Ross looked over the evidence list and found notes written by a computer as well as scraps of the discarded packages. The evidence corroborated with their story. Ross pressed for the numbers of the accounts as well as a description of Hiro Kanzaki. While the Domino Police froze the accounts and investigated them, Ross made the capture of Hiro Kanzaki his next move.

---

When the evening came, Kaiba Corp closed the doors of its offices for the night. As the last worker left, he gave a parting wave to the security guard. The guard reciprocated before returning to his station to watch the monitors. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary for several minutes. Suddenly, the guard took a hard blow to the back of the head. As the guard laid sprawled over the console, his mysterious attacker fiddled with the controls until all of the security monitors showed static. The attacker tied up and hid the unconscious guard before making his way deeper into the building.

The spy moved into the R&D lab, where Kaiba Corp was testing and modifying an experimental new device. The device was a set of electronics for bringing the cards of Duel Monsters to life. In Aegypt, people played high level Duel Monsters tournaments using holographic technology. This made the game very real and included the possibility of a player being injured as a result. However, the monsters were still mostly inanimate. They obeyed the game's artificial turn structure and generally couldn't do anything unless the player ordered so. Kaiba always wanted new ways to play Duel Monsters and his company found a method to do just that.

With his newest technology, battles would be conducted in real time. Such a system of play resulted in fast, furious game play without an artificial turn structure. Though still able to be directed, monsters now moved by themselves and attacked at their leisure. The only way to counter them was to send other monsters against them or use Magic and Trap cards to destroy them. Players now had to be light on their feet to elude their opponent's monsters. They also had to be quick with their hands to deploy their own monsters and cards in a timely fashion. Hesitation was very costly in this new format.

The spy activated a company computer and hacked into important documentation on the new gaming technology. He attached a small handheld device to the computer and copied everything pertinent onto it. Once that was done, the spy began to type in some commands into the device itself. Kaiba's Duel Monsters arena lit up and was ready to begin a game. However, the spy began to fiddle with the programming further. All of sudden, the system began to spawn Duel Monsters on its own. Monsters like the Blue Eyes White Dragon appeared from thin air and went crashing out of Kaiba's offices. With his work done, the spy fled.

Two hours later, Kaiba's younger brother, Mokuba watched the events on the news in his mansion. "This is a breaking story. Duel Monsters have suddenly taken over the Kaiba Corp offices and have begun attacking the rest of Domino City. Residents are being advised to evacuate the area while authorities get the situation under control."

"Brother, we have to do something!" stated Mokuba.

"Yeah, yeah, we're going to take my Duel Disks and clean them out ourselves," said Kaiba.

"I don't think we can take on that many monsters by ourselves. We should ask Yugi and his friends for help," suggested Mokuba.

"This is our job. We don't need the dweeb patrol!"

"I don't care if you like it or not. I'm taking the other Duel Disks and going to Yugi."

Kaiba sighed. "Fine, do what you like. I'm going on ahead."

Kaiba grabbed his Duel Disk and rushed out of the mansion. Mokuba took the other Duel Disks and boarded his limo, which took him to the home of Yugi and his grandfather. He knocked on the door as loudly as he could to draw their attention. "Mokuba?" asked Solomon when he answered the door.

"I need your help, Yugi! Monsters have taken over Kaiba Corp. My brother went ahead to fight them but I think he's going to get in over his head."

"Okay, let's get the others," said Yugi.

Upon entering the limo, Yugi grabbed his cell and called his friends. One by one, the limo picked up Yugi's friends, beginning with Tea and ending with Joey. On the way to the Kaiba Corp offices, Mokuba handed them the new Duel Disks and explained their usage. When Yugi put his deck into a special slot, the Duel Disk activated, creating a holographic holder for his cards on top of his arm. This board had five slots for monsters and another five slots for Magic and Trap cards. The duellist could manipulate these holographic cards just like real ones.

"This new version of Duel Monsters is played in real time. It's much faster paced and realistic than normal Duel Monsters. The monsters move with a will of their own so you have to be fast," warned Mokuba. "You're also on the field with your monsters so they can attack you if you get too close."

"This new game sounds very fun," complimented Yugi. "I could see it catching on very quickly."

"Yeah, old Duel Monsters is fun and all, but this new way of playing sounds very good," said Joey.

Mokuba continued with an explanation and demonstration about the rules of the game. Most of the basics were similar to Duel Monsters with a few small differences. A duellist was allowed to refill their hand whenever they wanted, limited only by their manual dexterity. However, the Duel Disk only allowed a maximum hand size of seven, so any cards beyond that had to be discarded. Cards in the graveyard weren't destroyed. Every once in awhile, they were recharged and returned to the bottom of the deck.

Monsters could be played at any time as long as there were slots open and any other necessary conditions were fulfilled by the player. The same was true for Magic and Trap cards. If any card was deemed unneeded, the duellist could send it back to the bottom of the deck and redraw a new one. Like Mokuba said, these rules resulted in a very fast-paced game. Not only did the player need to play cards and refill his or her hand as quickly as possible, they had to do so while under attack by the opponent's monsters, Magic, and Trap cards.

Mokuba handed his three Duel Disks to Yugi, Tea, and Joey, who strapped them onto their forearms. They loaded their decks into a special slot and pressed a button to initialize the device. "Good, you can start playing now," commented Mokuba.

"Young Master, we're here," announced the driver.

"Okay," replied Mokuba. "Good luck guys, I'm counting on you."

"Don't worry," replied Tea. "We won't let you down."

"Look out, cause we've got company!" said Tristan.

Several zombies in samurai armour burst out of the ground, grumbling for food. They were blocking the limo, which was near an intersection three streets from the Kaiba Corp office's front door. Yugi and friends activated their Duel Disks as they emerged from the limo. Yugi allowed Atem to take control of his body and loaded the Dark Magician, Kuribo, and Celtic Warrior into his slots. He proceeded to load Mirror Force, Trap Hole, and Swords of Revealing Light. Joey and Tea did the same, bringing the Flame Swordsman, Red Eyes Black Dragon, Dark Magician Girl, Dark Witch and other cards of their own.

The Red Eyes spewed fireballs onto the zombie samurai, leaving nothing behind. As though reacting to the presence of Atem's gang, the building spawned more monsters in the form of Sonic Birds. The goggled, jetpack-wearing eagles swooped over the heads of the team, sending a strong gale upon them. More Armoured Zombies burst from the ground, intent on putting a complete halt to their enemy's advance. The Dark Magician blasted negative energy into the birds, successfully swallowing one into the ball of dark magic. The Dark Magician Girl did the same, wiping out several newly formed zombies.

More Armoured Zombies burst out of the ground while new Sonic Birds spawned from thin air. "They just keep coming!" said Atem.

"We're going to get crushed at this rate," said Tristan.

At that moment, several gunshots rang through the air. They came from Miho and Naomi's guns, as they fired upon the monsters from a moving car. The witch hunters emerged from their vehicle under the covering fire of the detectives. Suddenly one of the birds burst into flame as Robin ignited it with her Craft. Amon telekinetically hurled that flaming bird into the others, setting them alit like the first. "Don't look now, but I think the cavalry's arrived!" remarked Joey.

Sonic burst onto the scene with blinding speed and ripped through the zombie horde, cutting a long swath through them. As a result of his mad dash, he had left a pile of bodies in his wake. Shaoran burst in with great speed and summoned the Firey Card to ignite several zombies. "Hey guys, are you okay?" asked Amelia as she landed beside the team.

"Yeah, we're fine now. What brings you here?" asked Atem.

"We saw the news and how these monsters had taken over the Kaiba Corp building," replied Amelia. "Our friends back there were investigating a spy in Kaiba's staff."

"Yeah," said Ross, as he joined the group. "When this all happened, we knew that the spy was involved. We've wasted enough time here. We have to get to the Kaiba building."

The combined team advanced on the Kaiba building only to be accosted by more Armoured Zombies and Sonic Birds. As the duellists' monsters advanced to meet them, Amelia chanted a holy spell. A flicker of white light emanated from her body, crumbling several zombies into dust. "Be gone, creatures of darkness!" she commanded.

Robin immolated the birds once again. As they floundered about in terror, Shaoran summoned the Storm Card to whirl a great tornado into being. The funnel of spinning air sucked the birds into it. The flaming Sonic Birds collided with their unharmed counterparts, spreading the fire around until the tornado became a funnel of flame. All of the birds were burnt to ash and vanished. No sooner than the enemies fell that more Duel Monsters appeared to take their place. On the ground was a horde of Minotaur-like creatures called Battle Oxen. Supporting them from the air were the violet Koumori Dragons.

"Oh great," said Tristan.

A beam of azure light seared its way through the ranks of the Koumori Dragons, annihilating dozens in a single blow. Through the trail it blazed came Kaiba, mounted on the back of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. "Brother!" called Mokuba.

"You okay Mokuba?" asked Kaiba as he dismounted. "I hope the dweeb patrol didn't put you in any danger."

"Oh no," replied Mokuba.

"Mr. Kaiba," called Ross.

"You're here too?" asked Kaiba surprised.

"Yeah, I figured that this incident was the work of that spy," replied the detective as he shot a Battle Ox between the eyes. "We need to shut down whatever is causing this to happen. Where's the switch?"

"It's in R&D Lab 1 on the 33rd floor," replied Kaiba. "Mokuba and I are the only ones who have security clearance."

Atem activated his Swords of Revealing Light magic card. Every monster suddenly became surrounded by cages made from swords of golden light. They were effectively immobilized and unable to do anything but watch. "That won't hold them for long," warned Atem.

"Ross, take your team and get Kaiba and Mokuba to the computers," said Shaoran. "I'm staying here with Amelia and Sonic to distract the monsters."

"Yugi, Tristan, you go on ahead with Kaiba's group," said Tea. "We're going to help Valiance out."

"Okay, all of you, be careful," said Atem.

As the Swords of Revealing Light wore out, Shaoran summoned the Freeze Card. Gusts of icy wind blew out of the card and froze the Battle Oxen in coffins of crystalline ice. The Red Eyes incinerated two more Koumori Dragons while the Flame Swordsman cut his way through enemy ranks on the ground. Tea activated a Trap Hole, sucking in nearly a dozen dragons. Meanwhile, the monsters of Yugi's group transported their masters and friends up to the 33rd floor of the Kaiba building. They smashed through the wall and found themselves in a hallway of metal.

Although the lab area was the 33rd floor, it was large enough to take up three floors due to its sheer size. Several floating Great Whites, shark monsters based the real-life version, floated towards the team with teeth bared. Yugi sent his Dark Magician to blast the leader with dark magic. As more followed the first, Ross shot them down. Kaiba directed his team to the testing area, a Duel Monsters arena at the centre of the floor. It was the perfect testing area as it mimicked a real-life duelling arena down to the size and the bleachers.

Waiting in this arena were three Blue Eyes White Dragons, the same monster Kaiba favoured in his Duel Monsters deck. Kaiba pressed some buttons on his Duel Disk, slightly darkening his Blue Eyes to identify it from the others. Kaiba and Yugi sicced their monsters at the three Blue Eyes. The Dark Magician evaded the enemy's plasma-like breath and retaliated with dark magic. Kaiba's Blue Eyes advanced on the second enemy Blue Eyes. Robin inflamed the third Blue Eyes as Amon telekinetically hurled discarded tools at it. The third Blue Eyes writhed in pain as Yugi's Celtic Guardian advanced to deliver the killing blow.

However, the third Blue Eyes recovered suddenly and backhanded the Celtic Guardian near the control station. The Guardian nearly crashed into Kaiba and his group as they approached the door. Under Kaiba's orders, he manoeuvred his Blue Eyes to block the path to the station, ensuring no one will interfere with their goal. Tristan reached for the control station's door knob to find that the door was welded shut. He grabbed a nearby toolbox and smashed the control room window open. Kaiba and Mokuba climbed inside, avoiding the shards of broken glass.

After hacking through the spy's tampering and alterations to the software, Kaiba successfully shut down the program. The Blue Eyes White Dragons vanished just as the Dark Magician released a blast of dark magic. Naomi rolled out of the way just before the blast took out a small section of the bleachers. Outside, the Flame Swordsman slashed at a Battle Ox but caught air instead when it vanished. "Alright, Yug, you did it!" cheered Joey.

However, despite stopping the endless waves of spawning monsters, they weren't able to find the Omnipotence spy anywhere in the building. It was likely that the spy learned that Ross coming and fled. When Kaiba checked the integrity of his computer network, he found that the spy had been responsible for several breaches of his security. The spy had accessed and downloaded several important files related to his technology, files which were top secret. He then tampered with the system to spawn endless monsters as a diversion.

When Kaiba learned that important files were compromised, he slammed his fist on the console. "Damn!"

Ross talked to an officer from Domino Police over his cell phone. "Is that so? I see, thanks for telling me."

"What happened?" asked Robin.

"That was Detective Smithson. You remember those guys we caught earlier today? It seems that Smithson discovered a larger network of money laundering behind them," informed Ross, whose radio now sounded. "Excuse me... Hello, Syllabus here."

"Hey Ross, it's me Trunks. Listen, Gene just flew us back from Egypt. We have bad news. Omnipotence agents got the Millennium Tauk and Rod from Ishizu and Marik Istar. They drugged them and took the items while they were sleeping. No one was hurt, fortunately, but the spies gave us the slip."

"Dammit!” cursed Ross. "Okay, I'll let the others know." He turned to his team. "Bad news, Omnipotence got to the Millennium Tauk and Rod."

Yugi was shocked. "Are Marik and Ishizu okay?"

"So they're friends of yours too? Yeah, they're fine," said Ross.

"We have to get them back for Marik and Ishizu," said Yugi.

"No problem Yugi, we're behind you 100%," said Joey.

"Yeah, we'll get them back," said Tea.

"Mr. Syllabus, if it's possible, can we join Valiance too?" asked Yugi.

"Of course," said Ross. "We can use all the help we can get."

"Kaiba Corp will provide its assets to assist you as well," stated Kaiba. "I normally don't have much in common with the dweeb patrol, but this situation has forced me to act."

"Count me in too. If Seto's going, I'm going too," stated Mokuba.

END OF CHAPTER

New Stars of Heaven/Heavenly Leaders:
#25 Tentai, The Retreating Star: Yugi Muto/Atem (Yugioh)
#30 Tenson, The Broken Star: Solomon Muto (Yugioh)


New Stars of Earth/Earthly Warriors:
#42 Chii, The Majestic Star: Joey Wheeler (Yugioh)
#43 Chiei, The Star of Courage: Tristan Taylor (Yugioh)
#66 Chikou, The Cunning Star: Seto Kaiba (Yugioh)
#78 Chibin, The Quick Star: Mokuba Kaiba (Yugioh)


Spotlight: Yugioh
Yugioh follows the adventures of Yugi Muto and his coterie of friends as they compete in Duel Monsters tournaments. Unlike ordinary card games, Duel Monsters was once played in ancient Egypt with real magic and monsters. The Pharaoh Atem sealed away the magic of these games and then his own soul into the mystical Millennium Puzzle as part of his vigil. Years later, Yugi would inherit the Millennium Puzzle along with Atem's spirit. The creation of the Duel Monsters card game awakened the sealed magic, which Atem and Yugi must keep in check by defeating those who would abuse it in duels.

Origin:
Atem is in fact an earlier incarnation of Yugi. Once Yugi donned the Millennium Puzzle, Atem's spirit effectively returned to his natural body. Many of Yugi's friends and acquaintances are also reincarnations of people Atem once knew. All of them are top tier duellists who win tournaments at the local card shop owned by Yugi's grandfather. They compete in larger tournaments as well, but Yugi usually does the best in those. Kaiba and Mokuba were adopted into wealth by their foster father, but Kaiba eventually took his father's company away in a hostile takeover.

Powers:
Yugioh's greatest powers come from the tools used to bring the Duel Monsters game to life. In the past, it was magic that brought the monsters and spells to life. Nowadays, that honour belongs to the holographic technology created by Kaiba Corp. Yugioh's world is largely similar to our own in technology, but is far more advanced in holographic technology than ours.

Although Aegypt does have magic in it, it was mostly used in Duel Monsters games to compete for power. Since it was so destructive, Atem had no choice but to seal it away. Nowadays, there are very few people who can use magic. Most are owners of a Millennium Item and/or magicians from ancient times.