Chapter 83

"He just… disappeared?"

Tea nodded, hands wrapped around a coffee mug. Normally she didn't drink coffee, finding it far too bitter for her tastes even after pouring as much sugar and cream as one could legally do so into it, but after what she had witnessed Tea needed something to steady her nerves and just holding the mug was allowing her to ground herself.

"Marik used his Egyptian God Card, the Winged Dragon of Ra, and it just…" Tea swallowed. "Bakura was just… gone."

"…are you sure?" Yuri pressed.

"I know what I saw," Tea said.

"I get that," Yuri said quickly, not wanting to upset her sister. "And I am sorry for what happened to Bakura… I really am."

"But?" Tea asked.

Yuri sighed. "Tea… my bosses are a moon goddess and a man who apparently came from another dimension where all of this is an anime. And who now has a Key that lets him warp all over the world." She paused. "And becomes a Power Ranger occasionally but he claims that's only 'filler arc stuff'. So… are you sure… really sure… you saw what you thought you saw?"

"What do you mean?" Tea asked, confused. But before Yuri could say another word her eyes widened slightly. "You think Bakura isn't really gone?"

"You guys told us that Tristan threw the Millennium Ring away, right?"

"Yeah… and it came back." Tea frowned. "So this might all be a trick? Or an illusion? Bakura just made it look like he'd disappeared?"

"More like the Spirit of the Millennium Ring did," Yuri pointed out. "The Ring can create portals… he could have made one and dropped away."

Tea let out a sigh at that, finally setting the coffee cup down and flopping onto her bed. She pressed her hands to her head, covering her face. "Remember when our lives were normal?"

"Yeah," Yuri said softly before smiling. "But admit it, even with the evil spirits and magic… you wouldn't have it any other way, would you?"

"…no," Tea said, lifting her hand away from her face to reveal her smile. "I mean… I've seen so many things. Done so many things. And even the bad has been able to become good." She wiggled her fingers near her head. "Earth-2… I NEVER want to go back there-"

"I do but only to kick my other self's ass," Yuri commented.

Tea giggled at that. "And Aiden… that was just messed up. But what I got out of it?" She sat back up. "Okay, I'm NEVER going to endorse what he did to me but… I like having this knowledge. I like understanding Duel Monsters better." She stopped, her smile becoming a touch more… naughty. "And as weird as it is to say I like that the King of Domino was apparently a massive perv."

Yuri laughed at that. "Oh god, I was trying to think of how to ask you about that! So he put-"

"Oh yeah," Tea said. "All sorts of knowledge that I can't wait to try out one day."

Yuri huffed. "Try it out now. Why save it? Well, unless you want to break Yugi."

"I'd rather teach him myself," Tea admitted before glancing at her sister. "Have you…"

"Oh yeah. Renard approves."

THAT made Tea's eyes widen. "Renard? You're dating Renard?"

Yuri scoffed. "Dating? Please… I'm not interested in relationships. We talked one night… alcohol was involved… and we decided that if ever one of us had an itch that needed to be scratched we would call the other first."

"…seriously."

"Seriously," Yuri said.

"But I thought you…"

"Thought what?"

"Dad mentioned," Tea paused. "I have no problem with it but I overhead him say you couldn't be seen dating a woman-"

Yuri laughed at that. "Oh, yeah. That. I'm bi, Tea. Men, women… at the same time…" She shrugged. "Dad is a prude."

"We both know that." Tea sighed in relief before asking, "Renard?"

"We've only done it once or twice. And I know he's been with at least one other woman beside me." Yuri paused. "Odion looks like he could be fun…"

"YURI!" Tea squealed.

"What? You have to have thought about it. We are surrounded by sexy men. Kaiba, if he weren't an Ace I bet he'd be great in the sack. All that drive to be the best…"

"…okay, maybe," Tea admitted. She bit her lip. "And… oh god I can't believe I'm saying this… there is… Edwin…"

"He is pretty to look at, isn't he?" Yuri asked. "Has that 'college professor' vibe, especially in that suit."

"And he doesn't even realize it!" Tea giggled. "He doesn't think he's attractive so he does all these things not realizing what he's doing to all of us… Mai and I watched him during Duelist Kingdom and-" Tea's eyes went wide. "You can't say a word."

"Oh, this I have to hear."

"I… I think Joey also snuck a peak."

Yuri raised an eyebrow at that. "You think you know a person."

Tea though shifted at that. "If Edwin were closer to my age I might have… on Duelist Kingdom…"

Yuri though shook her head. "Yeah, no. The age thing is a killer for him. He still has problems being with Mai sometimes."

"But they are the same age."

"Dimensional hopper," Yuri reminded her; admittedly she was still getting used to that little bombshell herself. "Apparently on his world he was in his mid thirties."

Tea's eyes widened. "Wow… so he's… old."

"Not THAT old!" Yuri scolded playfully. "And even if he was you'd develop an age kink if you saw him after he exercised."

"That good?" Tea asked.

"He doesn't even realize it!" Yuri reminded her. "There is a pool in his building and Mai convinced us all to go for a swim and… woof." She shook her head. "If she wasn't my friend… and a moon goddess that could smite me… I would have asked him if he were interested in seeing the benefits of Aiden's meddling."

Now it was Tea's turn to shake her head. "Wouldn't happen. Edwin is weird with sex… Mai tried to get him to take her out to eat the first time they met and he blew her off. She complained a lot during Duelist Kingdom about how stubborn he was."

"Yeah, I can see that. He's oddly noble." Yuri finally stood up. "Ready to see what happens next?"

Tea, realizing that her earlier concerns about Bakura had disappeared thanks to her sister's talk, smiled and held out her hand, letting Yuri help her to her feet. "Yeah." The two walked towards the door. "You know, I bet Selene would share if we asked…"

"The Greeks were all bisexual and so is Mai," Yuri commented. "So unless you want to really experiment…"

Tea screwed up her face. "I'll stick with teaching Yugi, thank you!"

"You're welcome," Yuri said cryptically.

~MC~MC~MC~

I slouched in my chair. "CCN is working to assure people that Bakura is fine. We might need to do a deepfake or something if people really begin to ask questions…"

"Or we just find him," Seto said with a huff, typing away at his computer. "And would you at least try and sit up straight? We are working."

After Marik and the Spirit of the Millennium Ring's duel Yugi and his friends had been rather panicked when they couldn't find Bakura. Tristan and Tea, having long gotten used to coming to me for aid when things got really nuts, had barged into my room rambling up a storm and I'd done my best to calm them down and send them off to their rooms to gather themselves before I'd tracked Seto down. Because while it was one thing for a person to disappear during a duel it was another when that duel was being broadcasted on international television. Luckily almost all of what had been seen could be explained away as holograms and Industrial Illusions bullshit but Bakura disappearing after Ra's attack? That had caused a few more problems that we needed to nip in the bud.

Meaning that rather than preparing for the final two duels to go down Seto and I were stuck actually running KaibaCorp.

"Yes MOM," I said sarcastically as I shifted into a bit more of a dignified position. "And we aren't going to find him."

"Unless he threw himself off the blimp he has to be here somewhere." Seto paused, eyes narrowing in thought. "I'll contact the kitchen staff, have them do daily inventories and monitor how much food is going out. He has to eat so he'll be sneaking food somehow…"

"That might be well and good… if he hadn't been dueling in a Shadow Game that has been known to steal people's souls."

"This magic nonsense again?" Seto finally looked away at his computer to glare at me. "With how concerned you and the rest of the dweebs are I'd have thought you would have dropped the act at this point."

"…oh my god, you actually don't believe in magic," I said slowly, staring at Seto in shock. "I mean, I just assumed it was a bit you did."

Seto frowned. "A… bit?"

"Yeah, you know, "I'm Seto Kaiba, I believe only in technology. I am a futurist but like Tony Stark I don't know what that actually means." That kind of thing. But… you are for real, aren't you? After everything you've seen you still don't believe."

"That there is magical pixie dust that makes the impossible happen?" The words dripped with so much sarcasm they were basically brined in it. "Oh yes, Edwin, between running my company and being the greatest duelist in the world I have time for fairytales."

I allowed my eyes to go black and gold.

"Is that supposed to impress me? Make everyone assume that because you wear glasses you'd never wear contacts, thus they believe you change your eye color with spells?"

The Millennium Key emerged from my body.

"I've seen slight of hand masters make entire boats 'disappear'."

I slowly got out of my chair, walked over to his door, and threw it open to reveal a sleeping Kemo in his jailcell.

"Screen projection."

"You are one of a kind, Seto," I muttered, slamming the door shut.

"I know."

~MC~MC~MC~

"We apologize for the minor technical issues we had, folks," Marc said from the CCN studios. "But we've been assured that everything has been taken care of and there should be no issues during our next match!"

"I hope so," Aria said before looking over at Cassie… who was huddled in a corner, a blanket over her head. "Think we can let her out now?"

"I don't see why not," Martin said. "I'm still surprised that worked!"

"Works on parrots," Caesar reasoned.

"…Cassie isn't a parrot."

"That you know of!"

Aria walked over and slowly lifted the blanket off of the other woman, causing her to blink. "Hey sleepy head!"

"Huh?" Cassie said, looking about in confusion. When Marik had summoned his God Card Cassie had begun to screaming "I KNOW NOTHING! I KNOW NOTHING!" over and over again until they'd tossed the blanket on her and left her in the corner until the duel was well and truly over with. The only reason she hadn't freaked out during Seto's duel was a will timed trip to the kitchen ensured she hadn't seen the Egyptian God Card summoned.

WHY she freaked out over it wasn't 100% known… though Cassie had insisted earlier that she CERTAINLY hadn't been on the team that was supposed to do lore for the cards and was only stopped because she hadn't checked her files after clocking out because she was in a hurry to get to D&D… and that the next day after the God Card Team's artist division had mysteriously died Pegasus himself had burst in, taken her files, and told her to not investigate any further.

She had assured them that WASN"T the reason.

"What I miss?"

"Edwin and Mai got married. Was truly lovely."

Cassie shot Caesar a dark look. "Mai would never go for a shotgun wedding and you know it."

"…Joey and Kaiba?"

"That I could see happening," she joked, though she did glance around to make sure there were no spy cameras watching her; with Seto Kaiba one couldn't ever be too sure. "So, what do we have next?"

"Mai Valentine vs. Rex Raptor."

"Oh, old school. That will be fun!" Cassie plopped down on the couch just as Marc and Scott finished up going over Rex's deck.

"For fans of Mai Valentine hoping to see some Harpie action I'm afraid that won't be in the cards for tonight. Instead the multi-time dueling champion will be using her brand new Amazoness Deck, which saw her easily make it through day one of Battle City."

"That's right, Scott," Marc said, a picture of a tribal woman appearing on the field. "Now, you might be wondering why they are called Amazoness instead of Amazon. For that we turn to Curtis for the lowdown."

The screen switched to the short man in his green suit.

"The name change came about due to the card Unfriendly Amazon, or as it was originally supposed to be known as-"

"So what's the real story?" Aria asked.

Cassie groaned. "Amazon."

"…and?" Martin asked.

"No, I mean . They threw a big giant fit about that name… 'We can't be seen as unfriendly! Call her the Pleasant to Customers Amazon'. I didn't want to deal with that headache again so I just changed them all to Amazoness after that."

"…is it sad that I believe that could actually happen?" Martin asked.

"Honestly," Aria said, "at this point I'm shocked Mr. Kaiba hasn't challenged Bezo to a card game to determine who gets control of both companies."

"He probably realized that if he won that would give Edwin more money to buy stupid things," Drake, who had newly arrived at Cassie's place with James, stated. "You hear he bought a full Ranger outfit?"

"…sure, he 'bought' it," Cassie said, sharing a look with Aria; they had seen the videos from Halloween and knew that they newest boss had more than one secret.

"He can buy me a Dino Thunder morpher…" Aria muttered.

"Wild Force for me," Cassie said just as the network analysts got done with going over the Amazoness cards and the feed switched to the dueling area… and the sweet image of Mai and Edwin sharing a quick kiss.

"Awwwwww," Aria squealed.

"Lucky bastard," Caesar muttered.

Edwin and Mai broke away from each other and Edwin looked over at Rex. "Good luck to you too, Rex!"

"I'll take that over a kiss, Chaos!" Rex joked before activating his duel disc. "So, rematch from Duelist Kingdom?"

"It is," Mai confirmed. "And upgraded my deck so hopefully it won't be as close as it was there."

"Was that a compliment?" Rex asked.

"Hey, other than…" Mai grimaced before shaking her head. "Other than someone I don't want to discuss you were the most difficult opponent I faced during the main part of that tournament. I expect you to give me a good match… though I wouldn't say no to destroying you and getting to have a nice relaxing rest of the day."

Rex though smirked at that. "Nice try, Mai. But I rebuilt my deck with new cards, including some I managed to get off of Edwin…"

Mai whipped around and glared at her boyfriend.

"Hey!" he complained. "I didn't know you were going to face him!"

"Someone's in the dog house!" Aria sang.

Mai finally smirked, turning back towards Rex. "Well, even with Edwin aiding you you're time in Battle City is about to be done!"

"Heh, keep dreamin', Mai!" Rex said as he drew his cards, a graphic on the screen stating that he'd won the automated coin toss to determine who would get to go first. "Last time you kept me from moving any further into the Duelist Kingdom finals… that's not gonna happen this time! This time I am the one movin' on and my deck full of prehistoric beasts are gonna ensure that!" He held up a card. "And we'll start by stating the stage with Lost World!"

"For those who don't know," Scott stated as the field spell activated, "Lost World is the upgraded form of Jurassic World, being offered to all duelists who had Jurassic World in their decks free of charge due to a lawsuit by Universal."

"Stupid lawyers," Cassie muttered with a huff, folding her arms over her chest and slouching on the couch.

"Other than me, right?" Martin asked.

"…"

"…right?"

"And now," Rex said, holding up another card, "I summon my Soul-Eating Oviraptor to the field!" A pale blue dinosaur appeared on the field, letting out a hissing snarl as it began to stalk about the holographic imagines of trees and ferns that filled the Lost World. "And I use her effect to send my Giant Rex to my graveyard." With that Rex ended his turn only for a nexs full of eggs to appear on Mai's side of the field. "And when a dinosaur monster is summoned to the field I get to place Juraegg Token on your side of the field. And because every good mother knows to protect her nest that means that you can't target any other monsters on the field with card effects, except for any tokens."

"Hmm… clever," Mai said as she drew. "But not clever enough. I'll summon my Amazoness Princess in defense mode."

Aria looked over at Cassie as Mai used the Princess' effect to add one Amazoness card from her deck to her hand. "You know, I have a small problem with having us sell cards with scantily clad young girls in the art work…"

"Our boss tried to steal people's souls, the other almost killed an old man, and the third happily calls himself the "Guardian Devil". We were screwed when it came to morality when we signed our contracts."

"…fair."

While they had been talking Mai had set a card on her side of the field and ended her turn, allowing Rex to begin his.

"I'll start by summoning my Babyserasaurus to the field." On Rex's side of the field a small baby ceratops dinosaur appeared, its shell looking like a diaper as it looked about with big bright eyes.

"Awwwww!" Aria squealed.

"And now I'll have my Soul-Eating Oviraptor consume it."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Aria screamed, flailing her arms about as the Oviraptor dove onto the baby, thrashing her head about. Martin quickly tossed a blanket over her only for Aria to yank it off. "I am NOT a parrot like Cassie."

"A what now?" Cassie asked.

Rex continued. "And when I do that I am able to summon a different dinosaur to the field. I select my Evilswarm Salamandra!" A decidedly more wicked-looking dinosaur appeared on the field, a malicious fog forming around it as it snarled at Mai's Amazoness Princess.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Mai asked. "I've faced down far more terrifying things."

~Two Weeks Earlier~

"What… is this?" Mai asked slowly, staring at her plate.

Edwin grinned. "Italian Wet Burrito. My dad created it. Shredded chicken, mayo, mozzarella, all wrapped in a tortilla and then a jar of marinara sauce dumped on it."

Mai let out a shutter as Edwin began to happily consume his supper.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Why do I get the sense that was about me?" Edwin asked.

"Because you are meta aware?" Mai called out before her eyes went wide. "Oh no…"

"That… really did sound like something Edwin would say…" Yuri pointed out.

"I take it back!"

"You can't!" Edwin taunted. "I'm corrupting you!"

"You are not!"

"Corrupting you!" he sang.

"As I was saying…" Rex muttered, "with Evilswarm Salamandra on the field I can now activate his next effect, which allows me to banish from my graveyard one dinosaur monster in order to increase his attack to 2150! So I select my Giant Rex!" The fog grew thicker and heavier as the Evilswarm's attack increased. "And that causes my Giant Rex's effect to activate, which allows it to return to my side of the field when it is banished!" On Rex's side of the field the new dinosaur appeared with a roar.

"I know I should be either impressed with how Rex was able to load up his field so quickly or worried for Mai that she is facing down all those monsters." Martin shook his head. "But my main thought right now is… that is a Rex?"

"I don't draw the damn things!" Cassie complained. "I don't name them either! I just create the lore!"

"And the lore for a Spinosaurus that calls itself a Rex?"

"Fuck you, that's the lore!"

~MC~MC~MC~

"Are you okay?"

Serenity let out a squeak, jumping out of her chair before whipping around to stare at Brom, who loomed behind her. Which would have been frightening if it weren't for the fact that he was holding a cafeteria tray with two banana splits on it.

"Sorry, I should have waited till you saw me," the large man said in a surprisingly soft voice. "But I don't want these to melt and I have found that sugar and sweets are the best cures when you are dealing with stressful situations." He took a few steps into her room, setting the tray on the table. "Of course the true solution to stressful situations is self examination that allows you to move beyond what is causing your problems but this is a close second." Brom chuckled as he sat down at the table and picked up a spoon. "And this is more fun too."

Serenity stared at the man for a long moment.

"Would you prefer something else?" Brom asked innocently.

After several more moments Serenity sat down and picked up her spoon.

"I haven't ever had a banana split," she admitted.

"They are very good. One of my favorite creations of humanity. That and Skee Ball. My family… we love skee ball." He chuckled at that. "There are all sorts of different likes and dislikes when it comes to my family… entire groups who can't stand shoes, for example. Others who crave apples to the point they get confused with demons. Which I never understood because… well, I won't bore you with those kinds of semantics. But every one of us loves Skee Ball. Sometimes I think that is the only reason this little blue and green marble is allowed to keep spinning around the sun."

Serenity didn't really follow what Brom was talking about but she assumed that it had something to do with psychology so she just focused on eating her ice cream. Her mother had once mentioned thinking about going to a psychologist but had decided against it, claiming they were 'a horrid waste of money'. When the doctors at the hospital had suggested that Serenity see one after her diagnosis her mother had again refused, this time telling them that she was strong enough to handle things on her own and that a shrink would just 'put thoughts in her head she didn't need'.

Honestly, it had been the first time Serenity had ever looked at her mother and understood how she could end up with her father. While she didn't have many memories of her father she knew he wasn't a good person and tended to believe the worst in people. Her mother's words… that had been no different than what she'd expect her father to say.

"Do you realize how many times this world has almost come to an end?" Brom asked. "Do you realize how many times it actually HAS? Oh, it remained standing, of course… twirling around, moving around the sun… but existence upon it has been radically changed, over and over again. We talk about extinction events but I don't think you or anyone else really grasps what that means. 99% of life just gone and what remains so radically different from how it was before. Some god would get it into their heads that something needed to change and suddenly two planets are slamming into each other, one is gone, and now we have a moon. And of course that means that we need a few beings to control it because we can't ever have something not be the domain of an immortal and Edwin's girlfriend is born."

Serenity's confusion must have shown on her face because Brom grimaced.

"Apologizes. I think I'm working some things out for myself using you when I wanted to come and help you out."

"Its okay," Serenity told him quickly. "I'm just surprised… I wouldn't think you'd ever have any problems."

That made Brom laugh. "We all have problems. Human, god, mortal, immortal, good and evil and gray and unable to define. Each and every one of us. Its why I want to help you, to be honest… because its easy to help someone like you. No offense meant but… there are others in the world that are just too complex for me to help. I could, mind you, but it would require time they aren't willing to give. They HAVE the time… they just don't want to give it."

"People with the most of something tend to not want to give it up," Serenity said softly. Those with wealth to disturb horded it. Those with time did little with it. Those that could travel freely stayed at home tucked away.

Brom blinked at that before smiling. "Yes… yes, you are quite right." He shook his head. "You have gone through a great change, Serenity. I forced you to truly look at the world and consider how it is. What it means to be a part of it, without childish notions of what should be. That can be… difficult… to suddenly find all you held truth, all those comforting truths, to be shredded so that you have nothing.

"Have… have you ever considered for a moment how radically your life has changed in just a few days? A week ago you had no idea if you'd be able to see again. You thought you understood who you were, who your family was. But now you are thinking, aren't you? About what you want to do with your life. Who you want to have a part of it. That… that can be rather heavy to deal with."

Brom sighed and Serenity, rather than answer, took a bite of her banana split. It was rather good. Interesting and different than she'd expected. But still good.

"Would you like to hear a story?" Brom asked softly.

"Okay."

"Once, in the distance past, there was a Death God. His duty was to destroy… to wipe out the living so that new life might come about. Many didn't understand that… still don't honestly. They think of Death like an evil that murders for fun or out of a dispassionate need to do so. But death is a part of life. We are dying all the time, Serenity. In 7 years every single cell you have, every single piece of you that is sitting here right now eating that banana split, will have died and been replaced by another cell. It has to be that way… we can't live without death. The forest fire destroys great redwoods, yes, but it also rids the forest floor of the old creepers who snuff out all competition, allowing new plants to grow. A civilization dies and another rises from its ashes. That is life. That is existence. Destroyer gods, war gods, death gods… they do what they do as part of the cycle."

Brom waved his hand about.

"Don't get me wrong, there are plenty who do it for their own amusement. Who get joy out of killing. But for each one of those kinds of gods there are just as many who do it as a job. Who did their best to focus on what the end result would be… that new life would spring up from what they destroyed. Who became vengeance for those that could not claim it by choosing to destroy the corrupt and the wicked while turning a blind eye to the innocents who fled from their destruction." He chuckled. "You… ever hear the stories of how a good person, by sheer dumb luck, manage to escape disaster? Find a place to shelter during a storm or a flood or an earthquake and ride out that which kills everyone else?" He laughed. "No such thing as lucky in this world… or at least in those situations, from what I've found. Just a god who decided that while a city must burn or a country must collapse that didn't mean all had to be wiped away."

Serenity frowned, breaking off another bit of banana and using her spoon to drizzle some chocolate over it. She sensed that Brom was building towards something, though she didn't know what.

"One of these Death Gods ended up gathering around him a religion. Those who saw what he was doing and the good he was trying to accomplish. That he only brought destructed to the decadent that forgot how to show kindness and humanity to their fellow man. Ones that would close their gates to the needy, that would start wars for no reason, that would subjugate and enslave the 'lessers'. He was rather… clever in how he dealt with them too. A plague that would sweep through a city, forcing them to be quarantined so they died alone just as they had lived alone. Use their own superstitions to make them tear themselves apart. Put rebellions in the right place to overthrow tyrants. There was a beautiful… irony… to his work and these people understood that.

"Or… so he thought."

Serenity looked up to see a look of utter sadness cross Brom's features.

"They thought the best way to honor him, in the end, was to give him more death. He returned to find their temples silent, occupied only by their corpses." He let out a sigh before taking a bite of his banana split. "Well… after that he just… decided he was done with death. He was done with all of it. So he informed his brothers and sisters that someone else would need to destroy the next city and he just… walked away.

"Its hard for anyone to change their entire life. Man or god. Sometimes people simply aren't able to do it. But I want you to know… it is possible. That Death God… he decided that he wanted to help without destroying. And he managed to do that. If he can accomplish something like that… you can too." He smiled at her then, tender and soft. "You have powerful friends, Serenity. And you've been given a chance to remake yourself however you wish. Don't live in your brother's shadow. By all means you can remain by his side, if that's what you wish. That is fine. But you aren't the scared little child anymore needing to cling to his shirt. You aren't a woman facing a world you'll never be able to see again. You have been given a second chance… don't let others define you. Don't let your past define you. Don't let what you think is your limits define you."

He finished up his banana split before standing up.

"You can be… so much more."

And with that he got up and walked out of her room.

Only later Serenity would wonder how he got in when she'd locked the door.

~MC~MC~MC~

Rex was rather pleased with himself. In the span of two turns he'd managed to get out three powerful monsters and prevent Mai from doing much with her own monsters with his field spell and his token.

'And now I have a chance to wipe out her board and take away over half her lifepoints,' he thought to himself with a smirk. But the smile fell as he looked at her downface card. 'The only problem is that card. I have no idea what it could be… if she has something like Mirror Force she could destroy me in a second, undoing all my hard work.' He frowned, thinking for a moment it might be better to be cautious, before shaking his head. 'No… Mai Valentine is someone you should never give an inch to. The moment that Mai even gets a toehold on solid ground she's off and running.' In his mind he saw Mai tettering on the edge of a cliff, pinwheeling her arms, before catching herself with just her toes. The moment she did she suddenly smiled and then rushed forward, going for nearly falling to a blazing run within seconds. 'If I want to win against her I can't let up the pressure for a second. I need to control this duel fully… not let her have a chance to command the game.'

Rex thrust out his hand. "Soul-Eating Oviraptor and Giant Rex, attack the Juraegg Token and the Amazoness Princess!" The two dinos snarled before rushing forward, snatching up the Amazoness girl and swallowing her in one bite while also shattering the token. Rex let out a sigh of relief when Mai did nothing to counter him. "So much for that downface. Now then, Evilswarm Salamandra, attack her directly!"

The evil dinosaur growled low in its throat, stomping forward… only to stop, turning its head as Mai's downface card flipped up and a group of Amazoness Mystics appeared on the field.

"You were saying?" Mai asked. "See, I've been seeing Yugi pull the fusion tactics and decided that I would try it out myself. So I reveal my facedown card: Amazoness Secret Arts. This card allows me to fusion summon, using the Amazoness Queen and Amazoness Swordswoman in my hand, a new Amazoness warrior… leader of not just a tribe but an entire region. Behold the Amazoness Empress!"

The warrior woman, dressed in feathers and leathers with a great bone headdress made from some mythical chimera, appeared on the field with her hands up in the air, fires bursting out all around her as she was summoned. Rex cursed and quickly called off the attack when he saw what the Empress' attack stats were; none of the monsters that were currently on his side of the field had any hope of defeating the powerful fusion, even with Lost World draining 500 attack and defense points from every non-dinosaur monster on the field.

Rex forced himself to smile, though he wasn't feeling that pleased at the moment. "Just a minor setback… one that I will be able to come back from soon. And it starts with summoning another Juraegg Token to your side of the field, meaning you can't target any of my monsters, or your own, with card effects." He smirked at that. "I hope you didn't summon that little lady hopin' that she would be able to use an effect that would destroy my monsters."

"Oh no," Mai assured him with a smile, one that had annoyed plenty of duelists when they saw it, for it spoke of pain and embarrassment, "not at all. While she does have a good effect I was just looking to send her on the hunt. But before I do… she needs to be prepared. An empress does not rush out without planning ahead, after all. So first I will activate Amazoness Call, to add one Amazoness Card from my deck to my hand." Mai took her time selected the card she wanted, Rex utterly sure she was doing it on purpose just to fuck with him. Finally she pulled out one and held it up. "Yes… this will do. Inspired by my lovely boyfriend-"

"Why don't I feel safe when you say it like that?" Edwin called out.

"Because you are smart, beloved," Mai teased before slapping the card onto her duel disc. "I set in my left pendulum zone my Amazoness Golden Whip!"

In the shadows of the Lost World Rex just barely was able to spot an Amazoness Warrior darting about.

"When Amazoness Golden Whip is moving about the edge of the jungle all my Amazoness Warriors gain 100 attack points times their level."

Rex scowled at that. 'That is a new strategy for her. Pendulums… must have picked up that idea from Chaos. And I know how good he is with them. With that she can negate the drain the Lost World puts on her monsters or even go BEYOND them. Its definitely going to make things harder for me… but I can still manage. I just need to get out some of my more powerful dinos out on the field. I just need to get through this turn… its going to hurt but I know that if I can just get to my next draw I can turn things around!'

Mai held out her hand. "And now with 3100 attack points my Amazoness Empress is more than a match for your monsters! Now, normally I'd go for the strongest one… but that Soul-Eating Oviraptor's ability to get more dinosaurs onto the field makes it the biggest threat. So I will take it out right now! Amazoness Empress, attack with Savage Swing!"

The Amazoness Empress let out a war cry before hefting up her sword, which appeared to have been forged from the metallic bones of some dragon with jewels placed in it to give it 'eyes', and swung down on Rex's Oviraptor, easily cleaving it in two. (Rex- 2700)

"And finally I will set this card and end my turn."

Rex nodded as he drew his card. "You might have gotten first blood, Mai, but everyone knows that until the very last lifepoint is gone the duel isn't done. So if you think just having that Empress on your side of the field is gonna stop me… you aren't the duelist I thought you were."

"Oh no Rex, I think its every other Amazoness that is about to come rushing out at the call of their Empress that are going to defeat you."

"An army… that's what you are hoping for? What you call them? Do you know what my dinosaurs call them?" Rex smirked as he held up a card. "Snacks. I now banish my Soul-Eating Oviraptor and my Babyserasaurus from my graveyard in order to summon forth my Ultimate Conductor Tyranno!"

Rex watched in delight as his mightiest dinosaur appeared on the field. A hulking cousin of the Tyrant Lizard King himself, only this one was FAR larger and thrummed with a constant electrical current that caused sparks to shoot off its scales and the lightning-gathering protrusions that grew from its muscular form. It threw back its head and let out a savage roar that shook even his other dinosaurs, crying out its dominance to the heavens.

"Be careful, Mai!" Yugi called out. "That monster-"

Yugi though was silenced… by Edwin, who clamped a hand on the boy's shoulder and shook his head.

"Mai doesn't need your help," Edwin told him, "and I know that Rex doesn't appreciate you doing that either."

"He's right, Yugi," Mai informed the current King of Games. "I don't need your help. I have this. Well Rex… you summoned an even bigger monster. What are you going to do with it?"

"This," Rex said and the Ultimate Conductor Tyranno slammed her foot against the ground, causing a surge of energy to race across the battle field. Rex watched as the Amazoness Empress and the Juraegg Tokens were affected by it while the Amazoness Gold Whip Master managed to leap into a tree, avoiding the shock. That didn't matter though as he had been able to get two cards. "You might be wondering what happened. See, my Ultimate Conductor Tyranno is able to force any monster that it encounters into facedown defense mode if I destroy another dinosaur monster in my hand or on the field. So I'll destroy my Miscellaneousaurus in my hand to do just that!" The two monsters on Mai's side of the field shifted into downface cards. "Then, when I enter my battle phase, I am able to attack with my dinosaur… not just once, mind you, but EVERY monster that you have! And when he moves to attack he automatically destroys a downface monster and does 1000 damage to your lifepoints. Meaning I can now clear your field and eliminate half of your lifepoints!"

With utter satisfaction Rex watched as his Ultimate Conductor Tyranno easily tore through Mai's two downface cards, easily shredding the once powerful Amazoness Empress and the Juraegg Token, shattering them and causing the electrified shards to fly into Mai. She shielded herself with her arms but that wasn't able to protect her lifepoints. (Mai-2000)

'This is it!' Rex thought to himself. 'This is when I finally do it! When my Giant Rex and Evilswarm Salamandra attack Mai will lose the last of her lifepoints. I'm going to finally defeat her! I'm going to finally defeat her!'

~MC~MC~MC~

Chaosverse Omake:

"Ahoo hoo hoo!" a malice filled chuckle echoed out over the evacuated Netscape of Central Area 3. Typically this particular area was bustling with tourists, all taking screenshots in front of the two looming statues or trying to peer down into the massive chasm occupying the center of the area in the fruitless hope they would glimpse the urban legends said to be sealed in the depths of The Underground: The Cybeasts. Most dismissed the rumors as just spam on the message boards, but that didn't stop their curiosity.

Now though, Central Area 3 was littered with the unresponsive bodies of those same tourists. Lured over by what they thought was a street performance was just the chance needed to steal the power needed for phase one of the plan. The clown-esque Navi with four floating hands let out another chuckle as he stepped over his victims to the lone outcropping of stable ground dangling over The Underground.

"Ahoo hoo hoo! Wakey wakey, it's showtime!" Circusman shouted down into the chasm, pouring the energy stolen from those basic Navis deep into The Underground. A moment passed before the very stability of the server itself began to quake as the massive forms of Cybeast Greagr and Cybeast Falzar slowly rose into view from the shadows of The Underground. The "programs", if they could even be called that, warped the cyber space around them simply through existing, appearing in lupine and avian esque forms wreathed in blue and red flames respectively as they awoke from their slumber.

"Now then, let's get you both in your cages for the main event!" Circusman declared as one hand reached down to open the door across his torso. Once he'd captured both Cybeasts within his custom program, WWW's plan to conquer the world would be complete! No one could stop them now!

"I think not." A voice came from behind him. "These creatures belong to the strong."

"Just who do you think you're talking to?!" Circusman shouted, whirling around to delete this nuisance and complete his mission. "Do you have any idea who-" his voice cut off as a tearing sound cut through the air. Circusman slowly looked down to see a golden gauntlet had plunged straight through his torso, his body slowly beginning to pixelate around the mortal wound as he looked back up into the glaring eyes of a cloaked Navi.

"Well that's not funny." Circusman manages to get out before his body explodes in an array of textures and polygons. What was left of the Netcriminal slowly swirls around the gauntlet, flowing into his being as programs and data are evaluated before being added or discarded. An announcement rings out across the server despite its redundancy.

Circusman: Data Deleted

The cloaked Navi turns his attention back towards the two Cybeasts, but finds his gaze being drawn to the wolf-like being on his left.

"You...why do you make me think of the word…Treble?" he mutters to himself, deciding that this one would be the first to be added to his strength.

Extending his hand out in a grasping motion the Navi began to run both his own Get Ability program as well as the clown's capture program. The massive wolf lets out a reality warping howl as it was slowly but surely dragged forward, its attempts to resist futile from its long dormancy. The Navi let a savage grin split his face as he came into contact with the massive amount of Virus data and began the process of installing it into his very being.

He had expected pain. It was only natural when attempting to compress and incorporate that much data, even with his enhanced storage capacity. The shock came, however, when the cloaked Navi realized that the Cybeast was attempting to corrupt and rewrite his own data even as he did the same to it. Processing this new turn of events and calculating the likelihood of being able to claim both prizes now, there was only one option that didn't lead to instant deletion before his desire could be satisfied.

To leave now and claim the second Cybeast once he had conquered the first.

Bass Logging Out

"So, you got what you were looking for?"

"Argh…silence…meat…sack." Bass managed to ground out before forcibly placing the PET into sleep mode, taking the opportunity and solitude to focus on the task at hand.

The man standing by the public access terminal scoffed as he turned away from the monitor, slipping a pair of sunglasses over distinct blue-grey eyes before darting back out onto the streets of Cyber City. The Net Police were already canvasing the crowds for information as he strode past, his thumb brushing across the Navi emblem as he stashed the PET in his pocket, the white scar cutting over a black field encircled by gold. Running a hand through his swept back blonde hair at how quickly things seemed have gotten out of hand, there was only one thing he could say about having been roped into this situation.

"Stupid living smartphone."

Introducing Emdot Chaos, the Chaos of Earth 20XX

Author's Notes: A thanks to Accel95 for writing this guest omake! I have no idea what this is referencing.

And a note from him: In this instance I imagine that post being absorbed by Alpha in Battle Network 3, much of Bass' data alongside his memory would have been corrupted, essentially erasing his ability to act as an Independent Navi and needing to be housed in a PET.