Zorrrrrrrc! (Part 1)

DIMENSION: MANGA (The Ones That Save the Day)

"Hey."

Atem heard a small meow in his room. He didn't want to open his eyes. There was just so much someone could take, and even Atem could feel his limits being reached. He was sitting on the bed, cross-legged and staring ahead in a mirror. He saw a wilder look in front of him, gazing back. A look he hadn't found himself sporting in a long time. He twisted his head slightly to see who had beckoned him. "Not a cat."

The human body could only endure so much. It was early in the morning after a night of pure hell. He didn't want to deal with the cat.

"Hey. You need to move."

Atem groaned slightly. The cat wasn't the only one in the room. Yuugi had come in. "I need to move?" Why? "Why do I need to move? I only have three days to study to win a game for the sake of humanity that I don't know the rules to yet."

"Atem, I've never seen you like this. Look, I know it's tough." Yuugi opened up the curtains. "We're worried though. You don't look so good."

Atem stared at the bedding and then at Yuugi. "I will get everyone back as soon as we win. Yet. There's something odd . . . I feel something pulling at me."

Anzu walked into the room with Hikaru.

Hmm. "Kiss her, Yuugi," Atem commanded.

"Uh?" Yuugi didn't understand his meaning. "Kiss Anzu?"

"Kiss her, but search. Search for her other half."

"With the power I used to find Hanasaki?" Yuugi shrugged. "Atem. That might be gone now. If she had some power, it probably helped during birth."

"I feel no millennium power inside of your brat, Yuugi. Kiss her, but search for what we need!" He watched Yuugi kiss Anzu again. "Air. Breathe in the kiss."

Then Yuugi pulled away almost immediately, his eyes squinted and his head felt dizzy. "Oh man." Yuugi's finger pointed outward. "I got something, but I don't what I got. She's hiding there. She's trapped there, but I don't see it. But I feel it."

"See what? Feel what?" Atem demanded. "Yuugi!"

"It looks sort of like Egypt," Yuugi answered, "but it doesn't feel like Egypt. Hang on." Yuugi headed downstairs to Jounouchi. "Morning Jounouchi."

"Morning." Jounouchi looked terrible. Not enough sleep, holding Mana. "What is it?"

"I need that gold scarab. I have to figure it out," Yuugi insisted. "We have to go to Bakura. I need the ring." Jounouchi lent him the scarab Sekhmet gave him. He cleaned off most of the blood.

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Atem waited for Yuugi, while Anzu was trying to talk to him. He wasn't paying much attention, he just wanted to know what Yuugi found. His head still filled with Horakhty's words, tracing and retracing.

"Then it is over. The future that would have been is no longer decided thanks to . . . rebellious goddess' plans. Let it come to pass, I grant Sekhmet and Bastet's wish for humanity's sake for the win. I hope you never come to regret your choice, Atem."

"Anzu." Yuugi came back into the room with Ryou Bakura and Mokuba trailing behind. "I need you to blow on the ring, and see if you can find Masika."

"Huh?"

"Satiah. You know her best. She is the other side of you," Yuugi encouraged her as Ryou Bakura handed over the ring. "You have the best chance of finding her."

Anzu took the ring. She focused on Satiah. The feeling she was missing deep inside. The one she always tried to not let dominate her. Ever since Yuugi lost Atem, she knew how hard it would be to let a spirit go who grew that close. Yet, she couldn't ever completely separate from her. Searching for it again caused her to tear up, but the ring reacted. They all started to point in the same direction Yuugi had pointed before. "So she is still here somewhere. Atem's right, this is a trick!" Satiah was still alive. She could feel her.

Ryou Bakura looked out the window. "That's Hanasaki's side. Is Set having him hide her?" Then his voice changed. "No, the gods wouldn't allow it. The severity of breaking such a tradition with a gods, ma'at would deal with him personally. It didn't matter how close he was to them. It makes no sense!"

"I saw Egypt in my mind. I think? It was sandy," Yuugi said. "Small little area with some stones."

Atem's eyebrows raised. "Egypt. Small dwelling, stones? About the size of summoning stones?" he asked eagerly.

"Yeah, and small statues," Yuugi agreed.

"She's in the afterlife." Just like Set said.

"She can't be." Now, Anzu was starting to break down. "I feel her. I feel her over there and so does the ring! She's got to be over at Hanasaki's side. She's not gone, I can reach her."

"She isn't gone." Atem moved toward the window to look himself. "It's not just any place on Hanasaki's side. Anzu, Masika is alive, and trapped in the afterlife." He pointed out the window, the same direction the ring pointed. "With the starting point to get back to her being there! Kaiba Corp."

"Big Brother's machine?" Mokuba asked.

"Yes." Yes! That was it. "Mokuba, do you know how to run the machine that let Kaiba reach me to play?"

"Yeah," he said confidently.

"Living beings can't survive in the afterlife without protection," Bakura noted. "She's probably gone."

"Then we need to move faster," is all Atem said. "She is alive at this moment. Anzu feels her. We must try, no matter the chances. Mokuba? Will you come with me and run the machine?"

Mokuba sighed. "Can we use the ring to find Kaiba too?"

Oh, for gosh sakes! "Fine." He'd wait for the teen first. It was important he got the right help as quickly as he could. Without Kaiba, Mokuba would be the next best choice.

Mokuba took the ring. "How does this work?"

"It doesn't just work." Bakura swiped the ring back. He closed his eyes, trying to get something. "I can feel something, but it's not him. It's the last traces of him before he disappeared. He's not in here anymore. He's either dead or he found his way out of the City."

"My brother is not dead!" Mokuba insisted. "He found his way out, I know he did."

"Bastet bit him for Jounouchi," Yuugi told Bakura. "He must still be alive. He found a way out." That would be a great next plan! ///Yuugi: If we could find our way out, we could get to Kaiba and get the best duel cards we can to win this game./// Nothing said they had to stay inside Domino City.

"Masika first, and then Kaiba," Atem promised. "I don't know how long she has, or how she has survived thus far."

"But why would Set ever be so dumb?" Bakura asked. "This has an eternity of damnation written all over it. Why would he risk getting caught like this?"

"Obsession can make the dull-witted stupid," Atem answered. "Mokuba, let's go."

"Right, Atem."

"I'm coming too," Yuugi insisted.

"Me too," Anzu insisted as well.

"What the hey, I better come too," Jounouchi said, still holding Mana. "Breaking up isn't smart."

"Six people." Bakura groaned and tossed the ring at Yuugi. "Six. Counting Mokuba, it's too much. I'll stay but you'll need less people."

"No one else needs to come." Atem looked back at them all. "I am taking the way over, everyone else is staying."

"Okay, then we'll stay at Kaiba Corp," Yuugi insisted. "Anzu, me and Hikaru. Mokuba. Atem. Bakura. That's six. Sorry, Jounouchi."

"Hmm." That still didn't please Atem. They should be staying where it had been safe.

"We'd be too worried," Yuugi reminded him. "Jounouchi can mind the shop."

"We are worried," Anzu warned Atem. "You haven't seemed yourself. We want to be there beside you."

"You go take the trip," Jounouchi said to Atem, "and I'll be right there for you when you get back here with Satiah."

Well, he wasn't going to win that battle easily. He could, but it would take time, and he didn't have that to waste. "Let's go, Yuugi."

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Kaiba Corps

"I already know he made one or two in your size." Mokuba was looking around a shuttle area. "Hang on, Atem. I'll find it." Further away than he thought for some reason, but he gave a suit type to Atem that Kaiba had always worn to go play with him. "Here." Atem nodded and put it on while Mokuba set everything up.

Atem went into the shuttle area.

"Please bring her back safe and sound?" Mokuba asked. "I know she had a lot of power of yours, but please watch out for her too? Don't ever let her think she has to stay."

"I am not retrieving her because of any power," Atem said, letting him understand. "I am retrieving her before something more sinister does. I will be back."

"Okay," Mokuba said before stepping away. "I'll give you a small countdown." As he said the small countdown, everyone behind him stayed quiet. As promised, they didn't even try to go with him.

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It was a strange ride. It stayed on the given path, like an elevator. Atem never thought he'd be going to the afterlife via this path. ///Atem: How many times did Kaiba say I needed to come back? Did he see in his own mind that I would need to make this same trip one day? He ascended higher and higher until he was able to get out.

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