The God's Game Begins (Part 4)

DIMENSION: MANGA (The One That Pays to Save the Day)

"What a waste," Set complained to him. "She may be monster so she counts, but she was born through the gods."

"Don't even start with counting!" Jounouchi let him have it, "'cause ain't nobody gonna make me see how Zorc got in this game claiming to be not a god, a demon is-"

"Not a god!" Atem stopped him, "which is the only way he is in this game for Masika and Anzu!"

"Oh." Jounouchi stopped his ranting. "Sorry. Yeah, I didn't mean to . . ." He looked at Mana. "She was a monster herself. She doesn't count as interference of a god."

"Not technically, but there's no way they didn't plan on her being in here," Set said. "You really think it was just some accident?"

"You pushed Mai, she wasn't due for a long time!" Jounouchi accused him again.

"I don't know, he's got a point, Jounouchi." Zorc sighed. "I mean, I remember you said she was actually having . . ." Zorc smiled sweetly like Anzu. "Dreams?"

"Stop it," Jounouchi warned Zorc. "Just play the game, stop using Anzu like that."

"Fine." Zorc's voice sounded more like Satiah's. "It makes no difference to me. Anzu or Satiah, the facts don't change. The gods stuck you with that monster, but don't worry. You won't have to worry about it for long. Once you restore the world, probably with a little back in time action? You'll have the human daughter you'd rather have."

"I don't care that she's monster!"

"Sure, sure, but you know it's still truth," Satiah's voice rang. "You are planning on winning, right? So then, what happens after you win? You set back time, that's the ultimate happily ever after. Then that means, you'll kill your little girl monster that only a god could have given you."

"Stop it!" Jounouchi yelled at Zorc. "I'd never harm her!"

"Of course not, you can blame it all on time. You can say, 'Oh, I never planned on unbirthing the monster, it's not my fault Mai had a beautiful baby human instead of a wretched monster'." Zorc laughed like Anzu.

"You are simply wasting time," Atem interrupted. "We have much game and you aren't going to get anywhere with him. You are trying to make him lash out and hurt Anzu in some way," he said knowingly. "It will never happen. I have seen firsthand what he risks for his friends. It isn't anything close to singing songs."

Atem held his card. "Speaking of singing songs, I'm sure you aren't going to like this ditty. The location is the Domino Museum. Black Magician! 2600 points!"

A curse was heard from Set as the globe glowed red twice.

///Yuugi: Set didn't set out a card?///

///Atem: Then perhaps Set didn't know as much as he pretended to. He did have weaker cards in his deck too.///

"Nice job, got that whole annoyance out of the way," Zorc congratulated Atem.

"Hey?" Kaiba glared at Zorc. "Where was the 1500 Point protection for that round?"

"Conquered," Zorc uttered. "Last turn. It holds up until you take it out fully. Also, another interesting rule I forgot to mention?"

"When the barrier breaks, it cannot be defended by the same one who protected it," Set answered. "Your battleship is as good as dead."

Oh, that explains it. "If someone loses a barrier, then the person loses their turn to save them?"

"Some gods love crushing spirits. Forcing them to stand back and watch the devastation is fun for them." Set rolled his eyes. "It wasn't fun."

None of it is fun. "Which barriers are broken? We have to know if we aren't supposed to take a turn."

"If it were 2500 for the Egypt Palace location like Zorc said, it would have gone. From subsequent plays, it's still there," Kaiba noticed. "Your shenanigans with not explaining the rules and lying won't last."

"Not quite a lie," Zorc corrected him in Anzu's voice. "Just a little off. I mean it gives 2500 protection for each battleship inside."

"12,500," Kaiba said almost instantly. "That explains it. Overflowing red on the globe means we took out a soul. The little bouts of red just meant we damaged a barrier severely."

"Yes, yes." Zorc didn't look as pleased. "You don't have to explain so much."

"I want my little brother to live, and he deserves to live in the nice world he had before," Kaiba said to Zorc. "That means I'm going to give every last morsel of information you might be hiding from losers like Jounouchi who aren't as good at math."

"Seto," Shizuka said to him.

"People. People like Jounouchi," Kaiba corrected himself. "Your barrier is still alive. Domino's barrier is gone and so are three of the souls in it. Set only has two barriers and two souls left somewhere."

"Yes, your brother being one of them," Zorc smiled. "Happy reunion."

Kaiba went on. "The high school probably has Honda and Miho. If so, it could actually have 4,000 points. Except, you don't always like to tell the truth, and someone was hurt when we last saw it. That means it may or may not be there."

Zorc shrugged.

"To be smart in this game, I'll assume the high school protection is gone, Zorc's barrier is intact, and Set only has two battleships remaining." Those were the last words from Kaiba.

"Well, now that Kaiba took his guess, and Atem had his fun, it's my turn." Zorc winked. "What kind of fun can this girl have?" Anzu's voice chuckled. "Ooh, this will be kind of fun. If Kaiba's right, I could just go after Honda. But, where's the fun in that?" He giggled. "I'm Anzu. Let's go to America. Hollywood. Palace Estate. Don Thousand. 10,000 points." Zorc glanced at Yuugi. "Can you guess the one hiding there? Thank me later."

Set muttered and put out a Dragon Master Knight, but a red dot occured.

Yuugi stared at the globe. Thank him later? "What kind of card was that?"

"What do you mean what card was that?" Kaiba questioned him. "What are so many of these cards? I assumed gods would be traveling wherever they wanted to get cards."

Jounouchi looked at the cards he was holding far away in his left hand from Mana. "Yeah, I noticed it too. Not like we can say cheaters though."

///Atem: I assumed new cards came out while I was gone, but a ten thousand card?///

///Yuugi: I haven't stayed up with the game as much, but what the heck? A ten thousand card?/// "Didn't feel like shopping around in this time, did you?"

"This time or dimension, any card was free to us," Set said. "I doubted I would ever create a team, so I didn't mess with it. I regret that now."

Zorc just giggled. "Whatever. Cards are cards. Saying we can't use future cards is like saying we can't use the other dimensions either. Trust me, you wouldn't want that rule. Everything's relative. You're move, Yuugi."