Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Lady of Dragons ❯ Sage, Forbidden Conjurer ( Chapter 9 )

"The past is a ghost that haunts you from the moment it exists until the moment you don't."

- Gerrard, from the Magic: the Gathering card "Mischievous Poltergeist"

 

CHAPTER NINE: SAGE

FORBIDDEN CONJURER

The torches were still up in the Order of Ammit's lair as a certain scarred individual rushed through the hall. It crossed Odion's mind that being called to his master's chambers at this hour could not be a good thing. As usual, however, he didn't question a direct order from Seskera. Doing so only led to more trouble.

The leader of the Order of Ammit was busily studying another card, tracing one finger down its face before uttering the all-too-familiar chant. This one was a Sasuke Samurai card, and it tore itself to shreds at the chant's conclusion, as had countless cards before it. The face of a man with one patched eye appeared in the smoke for a second before fading.

 

"Odion," Seskera asked without looking, "don't you know that Peter Wheeler boy we're so concerned about?"

The former Tomb-keeper was not sure how to answer that question. Choosing the careful route, he knelt as he slowly replied, "Somewhat, Master Seskera."

The master's left hand shot out to his side, and a handful of card stock fluttered from his grip. "I was under the impression you knew the boy's father. The two of you dueled back in the first Battle City tournament, if I'm not mistaken."

Not bothering to get up from his crouch, Odion sighed. "We did, Master Seskera," he said.

A smile came to Seskera's lips as he dusted off his hands, his tone somewhat uplifted as he said, "That must have proven a most spectacular duel. I'm sorry I missed it, but of course I was recuperating back in the tombs…" His weight suddenly shifted to one foot as he spun in place and hissed quietly, "You have no particular… feelings about this boy, then? Nothing that could interfere with our mission?"

Keeping his head down and hoping his expression was masked, Odion managed to say, "None, Master. As far as I'm concerned, both the boy and his father are better off as our sacrifices to the Shadow Realm."

Nodding once, Seskera turned back to the altar. "I'm glad to hear that. It would be most disastrous if our mission were to go awry because you proved too compassionate. I was wise to trust you when you offered your services…" A slight chuckle broke through the Ammitite leader's lips. "You may leave, Odion."

The former Tomb-keeper rose, dusting off his knees before turning and leaving the chamber. As he left, Odion's heart felt heavy. Such lies were so painful to speak...

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The first rosy rays of dawn had begun to shine through the trees in Domino City Park. Derik had risen with the sun that morning, and he was wandering down a concrete path in the center of the park, trying to find any other duelist who was up this early.

A sudden flash of red broke through some of the branches. Confused, Derik headed towards it. His eyes fell upon a ridiculous sight, and it was all he could do not to laugh out loud.

It was a juggler, hop-skipping down the path towards him. The man wore a gigantic floppy hat, so large that the brim obscured his eyes. An oversized coat hung from his shoulders, with gold pieces topping the shoulders. Under that was a red silk shirt, tucked into ludicrously large pants. Capping the ensemble was a pair of felt boots, obviously much larger than the feet within them and held on with elastic bands on the ankles.

It occurred to Derik that the man looked like a Duel Monsters card. Which one escaped him, and he thought about it for a second before it hit him: the Great Phantom Thief!

As he hopped, the juggler sang - or tried to: "A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket, something somethi- Dang it, what are the other words?" That brought him to a halt, although his hands kept tossing the balls into the air. His lips pursed, and he continued, "Is it `I asked my love for a-' no, not possible… Drat it all!"

Derik couldn't help but laugh at that point, and the juggler's eyes were drawn to him. A grin replaced the tight expression, and dropping his balls into one pocket, the man in the floppy hat cart wheeled directly into the boy's path. "Oh, somebody was watching me, eh?" he said. "Glad somebody was there to see that little performance. What's your name, lad?"

Once Derik had regained control over himself, he smiled and said, "My name's Derik Motoh. What's yours?"

The juggler's grin returned, but it wasn't nearly as nice as before. An arm passed over the juggler's chest and he bowed, saying, "Mommy called me a nightmare, daddy called me his shame, but I just call myself Sage. Juggler of some skill, magician of even greater talent, and…"

 

Straightening out, Sage thrust one arm up, letting one of his juggling balls into the air. A Duel Disk fell in its place, and he caught it on one fingertip, finishing, "…duelist of no small renown." He threw the Duel Disk up, and it landed perfectly on his arm.

Now Derik was a little more interested. He reached into his pocket for his deck, asking, "How many locator cards on this one?"

"I have four," Sage replied as he stepped towards a nearby pavilion, "so I bet four. And, of course, whatever card you want from my deck, should I lose. Sound fair?"

Nodding, Derik slid his deck into place. His Duel Disk activated, and the disk began to spin.

To the boy's surprise, Sage's Duel Disk activated, and then two bat-like hologram projectors shot out and hovered behind him. A further examination confirmed Derik's suspicions: Sage's Duel Disk was old - the model used for the seventh Battle City Tournament, to be exact.

Derik suddenly had a flashback of a woman, one with blank features and a taste for fusions… His eyes searched Sage's clothing and fell on one simple item, nearly hidden by the folds of the juggler's coat. A small silver pin in the shape of an eye was there, just like the one on the woman's collar. "Have you ever heard of the…" Derik stopped. He couldn't remember what the woman had called it! "…The Order of Am-something?"

That provoked a bone-chilling laugh from Sage, as the juggler finished mounting the pavilion steps. Fingers flitted over the top of his deck as he said, "The Order of Ammit, you mean! Good, you are the boy I was looking for…" The familiar grin locked onto his face. "My master would have taken my soul from me if I had erred. We don't look kindly on our defeats, boy - consider this repayment for Marina." That grin faded as Sage finished, "You may begin."

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The air seemed to change through Domino that morning. Even those not watching for it noticed it. Something was changing.

A cashier at the fast-food joint hung up his cell phone and smiled, adjusting his pin once more. Punching out, he took to the streets. You don't disobey direct orders, after all.

Having just finished cleaning up from earlier mishaps, a man in a purple overcoat stepped off an elevator platform from the sewers. Hearing his pager go off, he took it from one pocket and saw the message. Cursing, he broke into a run.

The Order of Ammit was pulling in its members. The next stage was beginning.

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Studying his opening hand, Derik remembered his father's advice again… never open with a monster in Attack Mode. "I set a card facedown," he said, "and set a monster in Defense Mode."

The Ammitite smirked as he studied the six cards in his hand. "It sounds like a good move, so I'll steal it for my own. One card facedown, one monster in Defense Mode!" The holograms appeared as he announced them.

The younger duelist was puzzled. Why would Sage not take the offensive? Still, this gave him more time. Drawing a fifth card into his hand, Derik flipped his monster over as he turned it. "I switch Gemini Elf into Attack Mode!" The twin monsters rose effortlessly from the ground, looking bored. (1900/900) "Attack, my elves!"

The Gemini Elves clasped each other's hands while pointing their fingers in unison. Identical beams, one blue and one red, intertwined with rose pedals rippling from the focus point and spiraling towards the hidden foe. It shimmered briefly, and a very old and decrepit man appeared for a second before shattering.

Sage merely smirked, as an ominous black circle hovered over where the man had stood. "You've destroyed my Old Vindictive Magician," he explained. "But he has a strange power… the Final Curse. It destroys any one monster I choose when he's flipped - as he was when you destroyed him!"

 

The circle suddenly wrapped itself around the Gemini Elf, smothering and destroying it.

Derik hissed under his breath, and then chose another card from his hand. "Okay, then. I set one monster in Defense Mode, and place another card facedown. Your turn."

Sage now had five cards, and his finger flashed over the Duel Disk. "I activate Tower of Babel!"

A huge tower rose from the magic/trap zone in question, and all that could be seen was the bottom and four glowing marks.

"The Tower will collapse if four spell counters touch it," he continued, "and this will prove to be a disaster. In addition to that…" Sage's hand flashed, and a Defense Mode monster and facedown card suddenly appeared. "You may go."

Derik was a little iffy - he hadn't even seen Sage's hand move. But he wasn't afraid of this guy. "I've topped all of my opponents so far and I can wipe the floor with you. I'm activating the Fusion Gate magic card. With it, I remove my Buster Blader and Goddess with the Third Eye in my hand from the game to bring out my Dark Paladin!"

 

Derik's hand was down to two, but to get his prized monster onto the field in the process was well worth it. (2900/2400) The black vortex forming behind the boy caved in, and the swordsman stepped free. "Dark Paladin, attack!"

The blade of the Paladin glowed with a strange combination of green and purple. It cut through the monster with little difficulty, revealing the monster's face - the little imp with a spear had a rather ugly one at that. (500/500)

Sage bowed low, saying in a mocking tone, "Good work, boy! I truly must thank you for ridding the field of my Spear Cretin. It makes it so much easier to destroy your monsters, for now each of us gets a monster from our graveyard back in defense mode."

Derik quickly grabbed his "Gemini Elf" and brought it out, but, knowing that Sage's "Old Vindictive Magician" was again a threat, he wished he had something better.

"My turn," Sage smiled, once again drawing a card. "And I think that Dark Paladin of yours is history, because I play the magic card Raigeki!"

A smile crossed the boy's face, as he was about to activate the Paladin's special ability, stopping the card from working at the cost of a card from his hand.  Before he could even make the move, however, Sage's hand flashed, and the card was on his disk - and by the time Derik caught it, the window to use the effect had passed.  He kicked himself in one shin.

Derik could have sworn the sky blackened, as thunder rolled and lightning flared. The strongest bolt left an aftershock that blew both monsters on Derik's field away, leaving a scorch mark on Derik's monster zones.

Even as Sage snickered, Derik gaped with his mouth open. Not only was Raigeki an extremely rare card, but also its use was prohibited in the tournament. "You've had it now!" he shouted.  "The tournament regulators are going to be here any second to call me the winner of this duel!"

A minute passed, and then Sage held a hand to his ear and asked, "Do you hear them coming?"

"Maybe they got held up in traffic?" Derik said, his heart sinking.

"Not likely," Sage countered silkily. "You may have noticed that the duel disk in my possession is not up to date. The reason is that members of my little group have already hacked the tracking system. To the officials, this duel isn't even taking place. I could have thirty Raigeki cards in this deck and no one would know the difference."

Derik paled at the thought, but Sage finished the statement: "Don't worry, boy, I may be a cheater, a hired thug and the best damn juggler on the planet, but I'm not that rich."

Derik cooled down a bit, but even so he was up a creek without a paddle.

"Don't think I'm done yet either," Sage continued. Derik was getting the distinct impression that this guy liked to hear himself talk. "I play Exchange next, meaning that we each get one card from each other. Don't you wish I had played this first before wiping your field clean?"

In reality, he did, but Derik just slumped as his hand was put on display.

The Ammitite placed one hand on his chin and slid his eyes back and forth along Derik's hand, before reaching out and taking a card with a murmur of, "Hmm, this one looks good."

Derik let out a whimper as his Breaker was taken from under his nose. When Sage's hand came up, he half-heartedly took a random magic card from him.

"Why not?" Sage said to himself as he summoned the recently stolen monster to the field. (1900/1000) "And that Fusion Gate has got to go, so I'll use Breaker's ability to destroy it."

The effect was not as clean as on Derik's own duel disk, but the damage was done as the gem within the magical knight's shield fired over to the gaping vortex, collapsing and destroying the Gate.

"Now where was I?" Sage mock-pondered. "Oh yeah, set one card and… um... Breaker, attack the kid."

The mage-knight was upon Derik before the boy could even blink, slashing across his chest.

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Derik had suffered lost duels, everyday teasing, and even being outright roughhoused by his father, but being struck by his own favorite monster really hurt.  He began planning his next move as he drew a third card to his hand.

Spotting a likely prospect, Derik suddenly remembered what Sage had said about his nearly forgotten tower. Three of the four bottom pillars were flashing yellow, and he didn't know what would happen if he triggered the fourth. Still, it was the lesser of two evils; better than letting the hidden Old Vindictive Magician perform its Final Curse again.  "I open," he declared, "by playing the magic card, Nobleman of Crossout, to remove all copies of Old Vindictive Magician from the game from both our decks."

A gallant, almost feminine looking knight emerged from the projection of the card as Derik set it into place. Before fading, it slammed its sword through the now revealed magician, and straight into the deck strapped to Sage's arm.

Sage seemed to take the loss in stride, as not only did he slip the monster on the field away, but two others from his deck.  "It seems like a good day for the number three, doesn't it?" he joked.  "Three magicians destroyed, three counters that were on my tower, and now three thousand of your Life Points down the drain."

As the four glowing support pillars began to crumble, Derik braced himself. He had realized that he may be stepping into a trap, but three thousand life points was a lot to lose.

 

A sickening lurch rang through the air, and the once-proud-looking Tower of Babel fell forward in what certainly would have been a fatal accident... if the tower hadn't passed right through the young duelist.

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Derik straightened himself out and took the initiative, but watched with grim curiosity as Sage slipped the three removed mages into his pocket. "You know, you're going to ruin your cards that way," he warned, with honest concern in his voice.

He didn't know what Sage would do in response, but shrieking out in laughter wasn't what he expected.

"I believe your father said the same thing at one point when dueling an old friend of mine. Well, actually not my friend…" Sage paused. "But anyway...  He got into such a tizzy about a little trimming of the edges. Said that you have to 'respect the cards' or something or other."

An alarm went off in Derik's mind. Yugi had told him about every important duel he had ever been in. His dad had the ability to recall every play perfectly, and he remembered this story quite well. "You mean Arkana, don't you," he said softly.

The Ammitite's eyes widened at Derik's statement, but he let it slide. "I happen to be his nephew. I come from a family of magicians, Derik," Sage explained, using the child's real name. 

Sage's eyes shut as he began: "When I was eight - your age, I believe - my parents attempted a very dangerous escape act... the Water Torture Chamber.  Something went wrong, and they both drowned before my eyes.  My uncle took me in that day, and raised me without question. He helped me to refine a talent of my own. I've had a passion for magic and juggling ever since I can remember, and my uncle was the perfect teacher. He even got me involved with the Rare Hunters; joining the Order of Ammit was a logical next step. I was distraught when I had heard about his accident, and I didn't want my uncle to suffer."

He spoke the next words with a grin and not a bit of regret. "When I heard that Aunt Catherine... at least, I called her my aunt... had rejected him, I had my old employer take care of her..."

Derik had the feeling that didn't involve bringing her soup when she was sick.

The Ammitite continued, "I was out of the country when my uncle lost it all in a duel with your father..."  As Sage finished his story, his voice rose in volume until he almost screamed.  "Your father orphaned me again!  Now I will have no greater pleasure than crushing you and forcing you from the tournament..."  As the speech finished, Sage grinned, pure hatred running through the expression.

Derik almost lost his focus on the duel through that long speech, and it took him a second to remember that his turn wasn't over yet. "I finish by setting a monster in defense mode." He almost forgot that he had a trap card still covered, but what good was it now?

As Sage drew up to three, he seemed just a bit too gleeful; his rage from his speech had evaporated. "Not too shabby of a draw, if I do say so myself, but first to reveal my hidden trap, Ultimate Offering." Once again, Sage triggered the out-of-date duel disk faster than Derik could keep track of.

Derik knew this card well, but felt his stomach lurch when he thought about it in holographic form.

His opponent explained anyway: "This card lets me summon as many monsters as I choose for a measly 500 Life Points per monster. Your Breaker has outlived its usefulness, so I'll sacrifice it to summon the Catapult Turtle!" (1000/2000)

As the reptilian launch pad lumbered from the confines of the holographic projection, Derik felt that something was wrong. True as it was that the Order of Ammit members were unpredictable, it just seemed too far out of theme.

Sage didn't seem to mind, though. "I know that you're curious about my plan," he stated.

"It crossed my mind," Derik responded hotly.

"Ooooh, a feisty one," Sage observed, wagging a finger. "Well, you'll be glad to know that I didn't activate Ultimate Offering for nothing. In fact, I'm using it to summon a monster with a talent so extreme, so disgustingly powerful, that it's another member of this year's Banned list."  Tossing the card into the air, Sage caught it on his Duel Disk.  "Magical Scientist, in attack mode!"

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Derik nearly screamed out loud as a sick red jelly shot forth from his opponent's chest and formed an, all things considered, not very scary-looking monster. (300/300)  The Scientist looked like a harmless, senile old man with welding goggles.

 

Derik knew too well that looks could be deceiving. For this monster to make the Banned list, it had to be game breaking.

Sage just hid behind his two monsters, wearing that grin that all duelists wear when they have control of the field. "Now, let me show you how this combination works, sir." Sage declared in a singsong voice. "My Scientist can use 1,000 of my Life Points to bring a Fusion monster to the field for one turn. How's that for a bargain, eh?" Sage took great pleasure in making the young boy sweat for a minute. "Choices, choices… Ah, perfect. I summon the Punished Eagle to the field!"

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Mimicking Sage's carefree attitude, the Scientist almost nonchalantly pulled a vial filled with green liquid from his coat, and dropped it hard onto the concrete. The smoke that followed stung both duelists' eyes.

Derik wondered if the smoke was a function of the older duel disk. He didn't have to wonder long, though, as an enormous raven (2100/1800) lunged out of the dark to dive-bomb his covered Skilled White Magician. (1700/1900) The thick smoke finally began to clear as the ebony crow flew back in retreat.

"Not bad, is it?" Sage assessed. "Although it is a shame to let the nice birdie go to waste at the end of the turn after he worked so card to clear the field for me... What do you say?"

Derik finally figured out what the game was, and it filled his heart with dread as he figured out what was coming.

"Oh, I know!" Sage said in time with the boy's revelation. “Catapult Turtle, load up the Punished Eagle and make an attack on his Life Points!"

The eagle obediently took its place atop the giant launcher on the tortoise's back. The turtle itself let out a growl as the spring-loaded mechanism released, sending the raptor foreword at break-neck speed.

The Punished Eagle didn't make it any easier on Derik by any means. The bird went soaring in talons first, only fading from holographic existence a split second before impact.

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Sage finished, "I think I'll end with my last card facedown and send control back your way."

Derik had a problem, and he knew it. Even if his Eagle was now destroyed, Sage probably had countless other Fusion monsters at his beck and call. With that Ultimate Offering on the field, he had almost unlimited bait for his Turtle to fire. Derik tried not to get ahead of himself, and focused on the current problem. Both of Sage's monsters were in attack mode just waiting to be wiped out, but he had no monsters.

Derik drew for the turn and begged for something useful. That'll work, he thought. "Graceful Charity," he remarked as he played it.

Sage bit his lip. From playing Exchange he knew the cards in Derik's hand, and he had been depending on the luck that Derik wouldn't draw a monster this turn.

Derik studied the draws: Cosmo Queen, Jinzo and Monster Reborn. Derik almost ditched Sage's magic card, but his instincts told him that it would come in handy in the end. "I discard Cosmo Queen and Jinzo for the cost of my magic card.  Now I use Monster Reborn to revive my Cosmo Queen and use her to attack!"

One of the strongest normal-summonable beasts in Duel Monsters took its place at the front lines, preparing to strike. (2900/2450)

Sage seemed relatively unconcerned.  "Nice hat," he said to the Cosmo Queen.

Derik weighed his options quickly, and now wished he would have revived his Jinzo. As much as a threat as the Scientist was, with Sage's Ultimate Offering trap, he could launch as many monsters as he wanted. Besides, no Level Six Fusion monster could take out the Cosmo Queen anyway.

"Cosmo Queen," Derik ordered, "Spell of the Stars!"

The monster brought her hands together, forming an atom-shaped pattern of rainbow color around her wrists. Then she opened her clenched fists, spitting a prism of color from her palms. The Catapult Turtle let out a shriek before splitting into holographic shards.

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Sage grimaced for a moment, knowing what would happen to him if he lost. Half-heartedly, he took his draw phase and, looking at it, activated a facedown card. "I use the power of Reckless Greed to draw two cards," he announced.

Sage knew that if the cards he received weren't any good, he would be finished by the lack of draws for the next two turns. Then again, he thought, with these two, I don't need to draw. Sage straightened up for his final assault. "I use the power of Ultimate Offering once again to summon two monsters; first I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight, and then I tribute the Magical Scientist to bring forth the Magical Marionette!"

First, the iron-clad soldier plummeted from the sky, rising to his feet and clanging his arms together. (1800/1600)  Next, a red blob ripped itself from Sage's chest and engulfed the Scientist, turning into a puppet with two giant knives; its strings led up into the heavens.  (2000/1000)

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As with the Turtle, Derik wondered how Gearfried fit in with Sage's strategy.  But he only had to glance at the last card Sage was holding to know.

Sage was grinning from ear to ear as another Banned list card made its appearance. "Any skilled duelist knows the great power of this next card, the Butterfly Dagger - Elma!" he declared, hand flashing as the card came into play.

The holographic dagger tried to implant itself in the back of Sage's iron knight. With the armor protecting it, however, the dagger simply shattered.  Strangely, a thin, glowing string dropped from the sky over the Magical Marionette, latching onto the puppet.

Sage writhed in anticipation as the power of his puppet grew. "You see, boy," he explained, "every magic card I play gives a counter to my Marionette. Between the power of my Iron Knight to destroy equipping cards and my Butterfly Dagger's ability to return to my hand upon destruction, I now have an infinite source of power for my puppet... but first, why don't I use two spell counters to remove that Queen of yours, hmm?"

The process of the dagger shattering and a string connecting repeated; this time, however, the two melted away, leaving the "Cosmo Queen" to melt with them before Derik's very eyes.

Tossing one juggling ball in the air, Sage bounced it off his heel before saying, "Now, why don't I just power up my puppet until it's blue in the face? It gains 200 Attack Points for each string attached; ten seems excessive enough."

Time slowed down for Derik as ten strings were attached to the monster, one at a time.

"Say goodbye, boy."  A deep anger burned in Sage's eyes as he shouted, "Magical Marionette, attack!"

Just as the eyes of the puppet flashed, three very familiar priestesses stood in place on Derik's field.

Sage recognized the card. "No fair!" he shouted. "Out of all the cards to have set, it had to be Waboku!"

Derik just breathed a sigh of relief, and put his newly drawn "Pot of Greed" into play. Picking out the two cards he had drawn, he smirked, "I win."  Derik played his cards with a speed that even Sage had never seen. "I use Change of Heart to control your Marionette, and then I use the counters to power a card I took from you, Mega Ton Magical Cannon!"

The puppet found itself on Derik's side of the field suddenly.  All of its strings were cut at once as a large machine burst into existence above them.  It rattled, and then spat out a bright orange beam that smelled strongly like iron, eliminating all on Sage's field.

Holding up one more card, he set it down and announced, "Now I play Tribute Doll, and use your Magical Marionette as a sacrifice to call forth the 'Dark Magician'!"  (2500/2100)

The most famous of all spellcasters burst out from within the Marionette.  Sage remembered it as the same mage that his uncle had once owned... and he knew he was beaten with another two turns before a draw phase.  His arms dropped to his side.

Derik gave the order: "Dark Magic Attack!"

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The bolt of magic struck quickly, and a few seconds later, the second attack was as painful as the first.  Sage, however, barely seemed to notice.

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The defeated duelist sunk to his knees in shame. Sage offered up his Duel Disk, not even bothering to put his deck back in order.

Derik took his time in choosing a card. Reaching down, he spotted a Chaos Command Magician in Sage's deck and took it, taking the locator cards owed him in the process.

"There, you've got what you want… Now I have to get out of here!" Sage babbled, dropping his Duel Disk.

Derik was puzzled. "Why are you so scared? It was just a duel…"

"Just a duel, my foot!" the Ammitite shouted. "My master has my soul card hostage, and he isn't one to suffer failure! To him, I'm just another gear in the clockwork!" Turning to run, Sage suddenly tripped over his own boots and tumbled down the pavilion steps. And then he gasped.

Looking in the same direction as Sage, Derik saw a woman in a red dress watching through the trees. She was talking on a cell phone, and her expression was one of cold fury. The light glinted off a small, shiny object on one of her dress straps…

Sage screamed and tried to get to his feet, only to stop and grin stupidly.

"What's with the grin?" Derik asked.  Now he was getting scared.

The Ammitite merely replied, "I remember the words now. `A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket, I bought a basket for my love and on the way I…" Then Sage's head dropped, bouncing once on the pavilion step.

Derik looked over the apparently unconscious duelist, and then backed away slowly. This was all way beyond him.

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Brushing what was left of a Great Phantom Thief off of the altar, Seskera set his cell phone to recharge. Yet another defeat! These children were better than they seemed, but not - Seskera hoped - more trouble than they were worth.

As he turned from the altar, one of the messengers of the Order of Ammit rushed into the chamber, yelling, "Master! You must hear this!"

Alarmed, Seskera allowed himself to be led into aside chamber, where a radio was airing the news…

"…cases of Post Traumatic Stress disorder seem to have become epidemic, and frighteningly, most new cases are among Battle City duelists. Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaibacorp and organizer of the tournament, has officially denied that the cases have any link to either his tournament or the Version 9.0 Duel Disks used in it. However, bowing to public demand, he has shortened the tournament by two days..."

The head of the Order thrust a palm at the radio, blowing out its speaker. "Damn it!" he hissed, drawing his arm back.

Several of the Ammitites shuddered away from their master, all of them keeping their gaze on the destroyed radio. A couple of the new initiates huddled in a corner, trying to figure out how he had done that.

Sighing, Seskera rubbed idly at the lightning scar, which was tingling from his shadow magic. As much as he hated to rush the ritual - when dealing with the Shadow Realm, speed could easily kill - there wasn't a choice.

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Across Domino, another participant in the latest act of the millennial dramas was listening to the same program, but her mind wasn't on it. Ishizu sipped a glass of water, sitting back in her chair. The doctor had just called.

"How do I tell him?" she whispered to herself. "When? And…" Despite everything, Ishizu smiled as her hand slid to her stomach. "What do I tell Isis?"

Coming next chapter: Isis is the next target of the Order of Ammit.  Her opponent doesn't seem your typical dueling type, but her deck's full of nasty little surprises.  It's the Blue-Eyes White Dragons versus one of the most infamously unfair deck themes in the game's history!  Stick around for Chapter Ten: "Eve, Femme Fatale"!