Chapter 88

Mai knew she was staring. She knew it was rude that she was staring. She knew that she needed to STOP staring.

Mai couldn't stop staring.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out finally, ducking her head and focusing on Edwin. He was still in his… well, she wanted to call it gaudy but honestly he pulled it off well… Ranger suit, eyes shut and face calm. Edna had assured her that he was fine, that his vitals were good, and that he just needed to rest up. Another Chaos, this one looking so much like Edwin that it truly freaked her out (not helped was his lacking glasses due to some kind of bio-mechanical implants that gave him crosshairs in his irises, trimmed short beard and no moustache, and oh yes a massive fucking chip on his shoulder), had informed her that Wyatt's shots used a foe's energy against them. While the ranger suit had taken most of the damage it had still wiped Edwin out. When she'd mentioned that he'd JUST woken up after having a concussion the other Chaos (Dek? Dex? She couldn't remember, started with a D) had merely stated that would explain it and that the medical bots on board the ship would ensure he was fully healed.

Well, he had said that he wasn't surprised he was surrounded by 'more idiot Chaoses' and left, leaving Mai for once wishing Selene was around. But her goddess self was making herself scarce, clearly freaked out by Wyatt so easily manhandling her. Edna had called it 'Hulk Syndrome' but she didn't get what she meant.

The others had spread out to learn more about where they were and the people on the ship; Renard and Yuri had wanted to stay but Mai had pointed out that Edwin would want them gathering intel. So that left her with her boyfriend and the two Chaoses who had decided to stick around with him.

"For what?" the older Chaos said. He was in his fifties or early sixties, with snow-white hair, clean shaven, and darkly tanned with weathered skin. He was also built like a brick house, with huge arms and a barrel chest.

"For staring at you," she stated. "I know its rude but-"

"There are a bunch of people on this ship who look like him," the younger of the Chaoses said. He was taller than the older one, around Edwin's height, but where was incredibly thin. Almost skeletal. But… not hollow or gaunt. Rather he was lean, sharp. Edwin had a round face while this other man had cut features.

"Yeah…" Mai said before holding out her hand. "Mai Valentine. Not a duplicate of him." She let out a laugh. "That would make things… awkward."

"I bet they would," the older Chaos said with the same dry humor Edwin would use from time to time. "Arno."

"Josiah."

Mai paused. "…I'm sorry, I have to ask… are there…" she gestured at herself, "in your worlds?"

Arno frowned. "How old are you?"

"24," Mai stated.

"Then most likely," Arno stated. Mai frowned, not quite getting what he was trying to tell her and he smiled. "In my world everything started in the, oh… 1940s? Yugi Muto was born a few months ago."

"…oh," Mai said slowly. "So if I'm around…"

"You are in elementary school."

She chuckles at that. "So no dating me, huh?"

For some reason that caused Arno to stare at her intently before saying, "No" rapidly.

Josiah cut in before Mai could really consider that. "On my world things are… odd… compared to Edwin's. Or rather you are all odd to me."

"How so?"

"All the Millennium Items are Greek in origin, not Egyptian. Tea holds the Millennium Belt and is partners with the Queen, who we just learned was a legendary ruler of the Amazons." He gestured at a golden shield that was suddenly on his back; even with how many times Edwin called forth the Key Mai was still not used to people doing that. "You are a businesswoman and Tea's rival."

Mai began to piece that all together before a feeling of creeping horror dropped down upon her. "Oh lord I'm Kaiba."

"Apparently," Josiah stated.

"Wait… does that mean he's a sex symbol on your world? Please tell me he's a sex symbol and you have photos and video!" The blackmail material alone… oh, Edwin would be so giddy! She laughed only to notice that Arno was now openly staring at her. "What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing just…" he looked down at Edwin fondly. "You aren't quite what I expected when it came to his girlfriend. But maybe that is good. His last two… I wasn't pleased with either of them."

"White Knight Syndrome," Josiah said in a mock whisper.

"I think you'll get him to explore new things. We need strong women to pull us out of our comfort zones."

Mai's brow furrowed at that odd comment but then Edwin let out a soft grunt, slowly opening his eyes.

"Anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?"

"Wyatt," Josiah said.

"Hmmmpf," Edwin grunted again, moving to sit up.

At once Arno was moving to help him. "Easy Kevin. You had a concussion and even with Des saying you're fine I want you to go slow."

"I have a thick head, dad, everyone knows that."

Mai looked between Edwin and Arno.

'Dad… that's Edwin's father!'

She blinked before pressing her head in her hands.

"Mai?" Edwin asked.

Josiah chuckled. "She's realizing she just asked dad if he was dating her counterpart."

"GAH!" Mai screamed into her palms.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Come on Seto, don't you want to explore?"

Looking down at his brother Seto shook his head. "The last thing I want to do is explore this place, Mokuba."

"But it's a spaceship! In… not space! And there are a ton of different versions of Edwin!"

"You aren't making the pitch you think you're making, little brother."

"Huh?"

"Nothing." Seto looked at one of the computer terminals, running his hand along it carefully. There was no keyboard that he could find, no mouse either, which was odd. Just a screen that was razor thin. He'd broken away from the dweebs as they'd begun asking a thousand questions, taking the Female Edwin's suggestion that they look around while they waited for Chaos and Devlin to wake up as an excuse to get as far away from those pests as possible. He and Mokuba had ended up finding a room with several computers in it and Seto was now looking them over, trying to figure out how to turn them on.

"Why are we in here, Seto?"

"I want to learn more about that cowboy that attacked us, Mokuba."

"Edna said that his name was Wyatt-"

"And I know there is more information about him. I need to find it. We can't get back to our world until he is dealt with and I won't have him keep me from Domino, the tournament, or my company."

Another voice said calmly, "You need to sit down and let it scan your fingers."

Seto turned around and groaned. "Great, a Chaos."

Yet even as he said the words he could tell that this Chaos was… different from the others. Edna Chaos, as she'd introduced herself, was just as annoying as Edwin. The older man and the brown haired one he hadn't spoken to but the one that looked like a medieval reject had greeted Yugi warmly so that made him just know he was a fool. And less said about the one dressed as a gaudy superhero…

But this one? He was dressed in a suit and his features did not sport the smirk that Edwin usually wore. No… there was a cold aloofness to him, as if he were treating this as a business meeting.

Seto could work with that.

"Des," the new arrival said, moving to sit down next to him. "Stick out your hands."

"Pardon?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Watch," he said tersely, taking a seat next to Seto and shoving his hands towards the monitor. It suddenly glowed brightly and a blue beam of energy raced over his hands, Des twisting his wrists so that his palms were up. After a moment the beam flickered and suddenly a holographic mouse and keyboard appeared. "Newcomers can program theirs to fit their preferred style… angle, design, height, all of that. So that you can type with ease. Same with the mouse. You won't need to do that though, unless you are different from my Seto."

"What do you mean?" Mokuba asked.

"On my world Seto and I built this system together."

"Whoa!" Mokuba exclaimed, sticking out his own hands and after a moment laughing as his own keyboard appeared. Sure enough it resembled the keyboard that Seto had commissioned for his brother via R he didn't want his brother getting carpal tunnel.

"We're partners on your earth?" Seto asked.

"No," Des said flatly, pulling his hands away from the monitor, his keyboard fading away. "My Seto and I are partners. You are a stranger wearing his face."

"What are we like there?" Mokuba asked. "What is your world like?"

Des looked like he wanted to sigh but then he caught himself and gave Mokuba a fond little smile. "Similar, if this conversation is anything to go by. Though it is… odd… that you don't have the upgrades."

"Upgrades?" Mokuba asked.

Des nodded, tapping his finger just to the side of his right eye. "Biomechanical implants. I don't need to even use that computer because I have one running all the time in my head. Its how I'm making sure the Broken Symmetry remains outside of the mulitverse proper and off Wyatt's radar."

"Who is-" Seto began only for Mokuba to cut him off.

"So you are friends with our counterparts on your world?"

"Yeah. Which is good because my world… I think I would have gone crazy if I had to deal with it on my own."

"What do you mean?" Mokuba pressed.

Des sighed, leaning back in his chair. "On my earth almost everyone is stupid. Obsessed with this prophecy or that new ritual or some brand new illusion."

"Magic," Seto said with a scoff.

"Exactly," Des said, surprising him by huffing himself. "Its all lies, of course. A few powerful people figuring out that the masses are dumb so they can disguise technology as magic and the peons will gobble it up. They thought a magnet was a powerful totem. A magnet. And even when I showed them it was just science they still declared that because MAGic and MAGnet start with MAG then they must be connected." He shook his head. "Idiots, every last one of them."

"So… there's no magic?" Mokuba asked softly.

"Just technology people don't understand. And that wouldn't be bad, mind you… some people don't need to know how technology works. Others can't handle that."

"Wheeler?" Seto asked.

"Wheeler," Des confirmed with a slight smirk. "But like I said there are people who abuse technology and make the world think its magic… and that 'magic' means they should be worshiped."

"Like who?" Seto asked, finding himself honestly curious about the world this Chaos came from.

Des began to tick off the points. "Maximillion Pegasus claimed that he had developed the ability to read minds. Took a lot of time and effort but we were able to prove that he'd developed microdrones that latched onto duelists so he could see their cards. Marik Ishtar said he could control minds and his sister claimed she could see the future. Subsonic Hypnosis for the former and not even technology for the latter but cold reading combined with a crack team of aides that helped stage events she 'predicted'. Claimed it was an 'Ancient Egyptian Secret'… they were from Ohio. Ohio." He said the name in disgust. "We were dealing with some Atlantian Cult Leader trying to start up a new religion when I was forced to duck out. I barely had time to let Seto know what was happening but he said it was fine, he had it handled."

Seto considered the man for a long moment.

"Edwin and his friends… they have these bands…"

"The Duel Bands. You and I made them. I'm guessing you don't have them… let's get you outfitted."

"Lead on," Seto said, deciding that maybe, just maybe, he could actually grow to like this Chaos.

'I wonder if I could swap…'

~MC~MC~MC~

"These are your rooms if you want to get away," Edna said, walking the large group down the hall. Much to no one's surprise Yugi and his friends had decided to stick together while the other adults and duelists had wandered off to inspect the ship. Considering all that had happened to them it wasn't a surprise that the group clung to each other for support. "Pick whatever one you want so long as it isn't claimed, the plate will change to have your name on it." She pointed towards one that said King Edwyn Chaos.

"King?" Tea asked, looking at the long haired Chaos who was dressed in gear that wouldn't have looked out of place in Westeros.

"Long story," he said. "Can I just say how much I enjoy not having to fake a British accent at the moment?"

"You keep mentioning it so no, you can not," Edna teased.

"Yo Ed!" Joey called out. "Er… or… Fem Ed. Fedwin? Ed Gal?" He scratched his chin. "I'll figure this out."

"Please don't," Edna said dryly only for Joey to wave her off.

"Where's the cafeteria? I wouldn't mind getting some grub."

"I'll show you but it isn't needed," Edna said with a shrug even as Tristan pressed his hand again a door, causing his full name to appear. He opened it up and looked around only to frown.

"Hey, why isn't there a bed in here?"

"Ship only makes one if you are with someone you wish to be intimate with," she stated. "You aren't desiring that so it doesn't make it."

Tristan frowned at that, looking over the room again. "But what if I want to sleep?"

"Oh, that's not happening," Edna said with a laugh.

"Huh?" Tristan said, confused.

Edna clapped her hands together. "Right, forgot that part. Sorry, normally we aren't able to get this many people from a world onto the ship. So… the Broken Symmetry rests just outside the boundaries of the Multiverse. Remember that weird sky and those lightning bolts?"

"The ones that showed dem freaky images of us doing weird things?" Joey asked. "Like the one where we were all little people 'cept Yug who was huge?"

Yugi, not liking the teasing, shot back with a smirk, "or the one where we were all dogs."

"Hey!"

Yugi continued on. "That wasn't us though, Joey. Those were different universes, right?"

"Different parts of the Multiverse. The lightning is what happens when someone travels from one universe to another. We are right now sitting on the edge." She paused, rubbing her hands together as she thought of her words carefully. "Okay, so think of it like walking down this hall. Every room here is a different piece of the multiverse. This room is mine, where all of you guys are the opposite genders."

"Wha?!" Joey exclaimed. "Ya mean I'm a chick!?"

"A version of you is," Edna said.

"I bet I'm a sexy woman," Tristan stated.

Joey whipped around. "No way, pal! I bet I'm the sexiest woman! With huge boobs and an ass that won't quit!"

"This is my life," Tea said, head held in her hands. "This is my life now and I'm never going to escape it."

"Aw, don't feel bad Tea," Joey said with a wave of his hand. "I bet you are a stud of a man! All muscular and tough and with rock hard pecs and a huge-"

"Joey!" Yugi hissed, gesturing at Serenity.

"Oh… heh, right. Nevermind."

Serenity though frowned. "What? Edna's Tea has a huge chick-splitting dick?"

"SIS!" Joey screamed in horror.

"On that cheerful note," Edna said dryly, "back to the topic at hand. What you saw out there is the multiverse. Now, while most of us out traveling the multiverse are either nice people just looking to help or poor buggers falling into a new reality there are some real pieces of work out there. Lot of nasties mucking about that would like to cause harm. Normally I and a few others can handle them, especially after Edwin helped out a while ago deal with a mess. But then you run into something truly wicked and powerful and fighting them is something you want to avoid. Not just for protecting the universe you are in at that moment but yourself as well."

"Shouldn't that be the other way around?" Koyo asked.

It was Tea who answered. "Chaoses I'm guessing tend to be self sacrificing."

"Got it in one," Edna stated with a sad smile. "In order to protect ourselves from that I had Desmond build this ship. Now, if you weren't in the Broken Symmetry you would be naturally pulled to one of the universes. That space out there… it doesn't like things that aren't it. It pushes while the universes pull. Even using my Millennium Ring to make portals it is… a trip." She grimaced, the gang able to tell she was speaking from experience. "But Des was able to make it so that when the Broken Symmetry fell out of his universe it was able to remain between the different universes."

"That… doesn't explain why there are no beds," Tristan said. He paused, a frown forming. "Or does it and I'm missing something."

"You are missing the final part," Edna stated. "The different universes all run at different speeds. Arno, Edwin, Josiah, myself, and a few others all fell roughly the same time into our new universes. But I'm already done… my version of the Pharaoh… well, spoilers." She winked at them… very obviously. It was rather offputting. "Josiah just got done with his version of Duelist Kingdom. Arno meanwhile has been around for 40 years."

"40 years?!" Joey exclaimed. "I can't even imagine being around that long!"

"Yeah, it's a scary thought we all might be dealing with this insanity for decades," Edna admitted. "Now, last time I met up with Edwin I got some tech that freezes universes. I've been using it to undo that and I also used it to set a few universes on the same… clock… for lack of a better word."

Yugi nodded. "Right, so Edwin could see his brother and dad and they'd all age at the same rate."

"Exactly," Edna stated. "The Broken Symmetry is another version of that. While we are here all of us are basically frozen in time. We don't age. We don't get hungry. We don't get sleepy. We CAN do those things but they aren't needed."

The others stared at her.

"That… went over your heads, didn't it?"

They all nodded.

Edna sighed and the gang watched her struggle to figure out how to explain things. She began to mutter to herself and if there was any doubt that she and Edwin were the same person just with different genders her pacing and mumbling proved it.

"The Pharaoh!" Edna suddenly exclaimed.

There was a flash and the being in question took over. "Yes?"

"No… well, you can stay but not what I meant. You are all like the Pharaoh in the puzzle right now. You don't need to eat, or sleep, or do anything. Because you exist but your bodies keep running."

"So… its like we're ghosts?" Tea asked.

"Kind of," Edna admitted. "Its hard to explain if you aren't willing to wrap your head around things. Michael might be able to explain better; his costume does the same thing already."

The group fell quiet and after a moment Edna went back to the tour. She showed them the pool, the library, a gym…

Joey whistled. "Man, sometimes Ed has the best luck-OW!" He rubbed the back of his head. "Tea!"

"Best luck?" she demanded, glaring at him. "Joey, Edwin was SHOT! And there is a crazed bounty hunter after him! You call that lucky?"

"Well nah, of course not!" Joey said quickly. "I ain't talkin' 'bout that! It's just…" He gestured at the ship. "Ed already gets a lot of breaks in our world and now there's an entire multiverse dedicated ta him?"

Edna chose that moment to speak up, however. "Edwin is PART of the multiverse… it isn't dedicated to him."

"Yeah," Koyo chimed in, "but there seems to be a lot of focus on him."

"That's only because we are grouping it as such… hmmm… Annie?"

"On it!" a voice chirped and the teens leapt back at the AI hardlight hologram appeared, smiling and waving. She had long brown hair, white skin, and was dressed a bit conservatively but still looked very pretty. Also innocent. "Hi Pharaoh! Hello everyone else. I'm Annie! I'm Edna's phone! Only Troy and I have gained the ability to take physical form but we're hoping that Joel and Abed get it next… they are partnered with Arno and Josiah, by the way."

Edna shot her partner a look. "Annie… the Chaosverse?"

"Right!" Annie said with a grin, chuckling before she summoned a map. "So the multiverse is… gigantic. Like… goes on forever! If I asked you to count every drop of water in every ocean and lake and river on your planet, catalog it and document it… you'd be at a fraction of a percent of the total scale of the multiverse!" She grinned at them all, clearly pleased by her analogy. "Now… in order to deal with that its easier to break down the Multiverse into parts. Now, you could do it based on similarities to worlds. For example, all the Earths that are similar to your own but with minor tweaks. Like your Earth, Josiah's Earth-"

"Where Tea is bonded with the Queen," the Pharaoh said, making Tea do a double take.

"Exactly! And ones where Tristan solved the puzzle or Joey or Duke or Serenity!" Annie waved her hand and lights appeared on the map. "Buuuutttt… that can get confusing because where do you draw the line? What about worlds where you don't play Duel Monsters but something else? Or ones where none of you exist and its completely different except the Dark Magician is there? Are those a part of it or not?"

The teens just blinked.

Annie though was patient. "Now, we could do it based on just a single person. A… Joeyverse, for example, where its just Joey Wheelers." Joey grinned at that, liking the sound of meeting a ton of alternate versions of himself. They could team up and beat up Kaiba! "But… then you have overlapping groupings. For example more often than not if there is a Joey Wheeler there is a Yugi and a Serenity and a Tea and a Tristan."

"Right… so a Tristanverse would overlap often with a Joeyverse," Tea said.

"Exactly!" Annie said brightly. "But we have found there are certain people who have a… well, let's call it a similar 'backstory', for lack of a better word. They tend to resonate with others like them and its easier to group them. They tend to get Verses named after them." She began to pull up images. "The Spiderverse, the Sanchezverse, the Fordverse. Chaoses are just another one that's unique… people ripped from their universes and forced into a different one, inserted into the world. Thus… the Chaosverse!"

Tristan frowned. "I got like… a tenth of that."

Edna sighed softly, a kind look on her face. "Its fine… we've had a long time to research it here."

Serenity raised a hand. "So how long have you… been here?"

"Yes," the Pharaoh said, staring at her with concern. "For us it has only been a day but I get the sense it has been longer for you."

"… a lot longer," she admitted. "A lot longer."

~MC~MC~MC~

"This isn't really necessary," I complained as my dad pushed me around the… spaceship? Timeship? What did one call a ship that traveled through multiverses? I couldn't even call it a Tardis. "The suit took most of the blast, after all. Come on Kurt… Josiah… whatever… you watched the show with me!"

"Yes and while I know you always wanted to be a Power Ranger…"

I scoffed as I looked up at my brother. "Said Captain America. Your Tea told me all about your sick shield moves."

"Sick?" Mai asked. "Not tubular or radical?"

I rolled my eyes at that. "I'm an old man, sue me." Sometimes my extra ten plus years on Mai really showed and were felt. No matter what my body looked like I had always felt like I was the wrong age; when I was young I had an 'old soul' according to my grandparents while now, spiritually in my thirties, I felt like a teenager most days who had never grown up and was faking it. "Dad, seriously, I don't need this chair-"

"You had a concussion," he said stubbornly.

"Had!" I pleaded. "Had! Not anymore. Once I morphed I was good and ready."

"You were shot."

"Suit protected me."

"You aren't winning this," Mai said, patting my shoulder. "I'm on their side."

I growled under my breath and pouted as they wheeled me along.

"He's just grumpy we are going slow," a new voice said and I started when a beam of light shot out of my pocket and formed into-

"Donald Glover?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion as my dad came to a stop.

"Troy," the figure said.

"…Community. Holographic projection of my phone's AI. You have a physical form I can touch?" Troy reached out and tapped the back of my hand. "Cool cool cool." I reached out and grasped Troy's arm in a Spartan clasp. "Good to finally be able to see you face to face."

"Good to be here!" Troy said as he let go, stretching. "Come on, Annie said Edna wants to discuss the entire Wyatt Chaos situation with us."

"Right." My dad began to get us going again. "So Troy, who is attending this?"

"Well, all of us from the Blimp," he stated only for me to cut him off.

"All of them?"

"ALLOF'EM!" Troy exclaimed, voice changing to be that of King Piccolo for a moment. "Yeah, everyone but the KaibaCorp staff and the Ishtars." Something must have flashed on my face because Troy quickly added, "Its fine. Because we are outside of the Multiverse time there isn't move. We can return the moment we left. Annie says the only one that could do anything is Wyatt himself… some kind of automatic yank out, don't ask me to get into details as it would just numb your brain."

"Fair enough," I said. "So long as the staff is okay."

"If they weren't we'd yank them here," my brother told me. "We only grabbed as many as we did because they were all with you."

"What about Odion?" I asked. 'If we could get him healed up…'

Troy though sighed. "Different from you. Med bots said that the Egyptian God Magic that hit him is messing with their ability to heal him. He's stable but ain't waking up."

"Damn it," I muttered. "Okay, the meeting. Who else?"

"I saw several different… Chaoses." Mai shook her head. "That is never going to be normal."

"Yes goddess," I teased and Mai had the decency to blush at that reminder.

Troy moved around us as we continued on. "Edna is here, of course. Doesn't have anyone from her world. Same for these two."

"Too risky," my dad stated.

"And weird for Yugi to change his own diapers," I joked.

"King Edwyn. Des Chaos, he's the creator of the Duel Bands and this ship. You are going to be annoyed by him, he's basically Kaiba-You."

"Fuck," I muttered.

"Hey," my father said sternly.

"Mai has heard me swear, dad!" I complained but he merely shot down at me a disapproving stare and I was left to pout.

"Michael… I'll let you discover that one yourself. And then there is Slash."

"Slash?" I asked.

Troy's face twitched. "She's… different. As in like your dad and brother."

"So someone I know but not an alternate me?" I asked, trying to think who might have come. Not my mom, from the way my dad and brother were acting. They wouldn't be cruel and hide that we had gotten her back.

"Like I said… she's different."

Troy didn't get to say anymore as we wheeled around a corner to find Pegasus talking to someone who could only be Slash. She was wearing blue jeans and a jacket, and while her hair was black rather than dyed purple as I had seen it last and there were a few differences in her facial structure I recognized her pretty quick… even if she was 11 years old.

"I must say the multiverse is strange, Cassandra," Pegasus said.

"First off no one calls me that," Slash said sternly, jabbing a finger at Pegasus. "Second, how did you know my name?"

"Because you sound like my friend," I said, getting her attention. "Cassie?" She turned and I found myself tongue-tied. I could only openly gape at the girl who sounded so much like the younger version of Cassie Fox from work, Lore Mistress and office drunk.

Slash turned and stared at me in surprise. "Huh. So its not just NONE who has doppelgangers? I do too. Tell me they at least are in the right gender."

"Uh… I think?" I asked, a bit confused.

The young girl let out a huff before pointing at my brother. "You tell it, I'm sick of explaining myself."

"You only had to explain it once."

"And I'm already sick of it."

My brother merely smiled at that. "Slash came from S-I-Ash. As in Self Insert Ash. Which isn't 100% accurate since that makes it sound like any of them had a choice"

"…oh fuck they stuck you in an 11 year old boy's body," I said, suddenly not bothered by ending up in a 22 year old's body.

"Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is the transition while dealing with Team Rocket?" Slash grumbled. "Misty was all confused by it… Brock surprisingly got on board pretty quick and has been super supportive. Oh, Misty has been too she just… I needed to explain several times that I wasn't the right gender."

"I am assuming Team Rocket was actually decent and never taunted you about that?" I growled in annoyance, feeling my Papa Wolf tendencies rearing up.

That caused Slash to do a double take.

"What?" I asked, anger fading at her open surprise and a flash of… hurt… that came across her features.

"You just… you reminded me of NONE."

"Who is NONE?" Mai asked.

My brother spoke up. "Slash's part of the Multiverse is one Edna plans to look into. There is something… wrong there."

"Wrong?"

"Its stuck in a time loop," he informed me, Slash turning away from me, body posture screaming rage and frustration. "Whatever is causing it, some outside force according to Edna, makes it that someone is ripped from the Multiverse and forced to live the life of Ash Ketchum."

"And by forced?" Pegasus asked.

Josiah grimaced. "They don't obey-"

"They die," Slash growled low in her throat. "And you get fair warning. A… I call it the 'Gauge'… will show you your horrific death. You can do little things but for the most part you have to follow the rules. You don't and you die. And you know it will be horrible."

"And the time loop?" I pressed.

Josiah sighed. "If someone completes the journey through Ash's life the world restarts… only to SI is now a legendary."

"…pardon?"

"What he said," Slash grumped. "My reward for doing all this is I become a fucking Luiga or a Ho-Oh or… something. Those are already taken."

I gripped the armrests of the wheelchair. "We fix this. As soon as we can."

"Edna is working on it but it's a tangled mess," Josiah told me.

Mai spoke up. "And this… NONE?"

"Edwin Chaos," she stated. "My version. He… did the loop a long time ago. A very long time ago. He's never flat out told me how many times he's gone through it all but I get the feeling its millions of years. When he first woke up after completing his loop and realized that not only was he still trapped but all his friends and family were gone…"

"He destroyed the entire world," Josiah stated. "Killed everyone and reset it."

"God…" Mai whispered only for Slash to whirl around and jab a finger in her direction.

"Do NOT judge him," she commanded. It would have been funny, the tiny little thing standing up to Mai, if it hadn't been the rage and the tears that colored her features. "You have no idea how hard it was for him. He spent so long alone…" She suddenly seemed to collapse on herself. "I was his first friend. He was… so broken when I found him."

"I get it," I said softly.

"No… no you don't." Slash shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I just want to find him."

"Wyatt… took him too?" Pegasus asked. "NONE had the power to wipe out all life on his earth and Wyatt captured him?"

"Captured or convinced him the only choice was to go with him," Slash said stubbornly. She grimaced. "Or he got bored. He's… you ever see Hazbin Hotel?" I nodded my head. "He's the Radio Demon. I'm his Charlie if Alistair truly, 100% cared for her and only her. If I had been there when Wyatt showed up he would have snuffed him out like a candle. But I wasn't and he probably got curious…" I could tell from her tone she was trying to convince herself of that.

"You love him," Pegasus said.

Slash scoffed. "Get your mind out of the gutter. He's a million years old and I'm stuck as an 11 year old that only recently fully transitioned."

"There are other kinds of love," Pegasus pressed.

The young woman deflated at that. "Yeah," she admitted softly. "come on, let's get to the others so we can get you guys up to date on the situation."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Captain," Renard said as Edwin was rolled into the large conference room that Edna had set up for all of them. Solomon and Brom were chatting quietly to the side, Rex was off by himself just watching, Yugi and his friends were talking to one another in hushed voices, while Seto and Mokuba chatted with Desmond 'Des' Chaos.

Yuri frowned as she saw who was pushing Edwin around. "You're dad's here?"

"Real one, from my world," he said. "Got sucked into the madness like me. Same with my brother. Dad, Josiah… this is Renard Volpe and Yuri Gardner. Guys, this is my dad."

"Arno in this world," his father stated.

"Josiah. Don't be surprised if Edwin slips though and calls me my real name."

"Of course," Renard said with a smile. "You're the last to arrive."

"Duke?" Edwin asked.

"He's well. The shot didn't hurt him as much as you because he was further away."

"Makes sense, I guess," Edwin said. "So, who do we have? I already met Slash."

"Only two other new faces," Renard told him. "Desmond Chaos. Goes by Des. He is an inventor."

"I was told he was like if me and Seto did the fusion dance."

Slash frowned. "We did not word it like that… and yet that oddly works."

"And then there is Michael Jon Carter," Renard stated, gesturing at blond man with a very athletic build dressed in a gold and blue costume, a football-shaped flying robot buzzing around him.

"Heh cool, a world where I became Booster Gold," Edwin stated.

Michael turned to them and flashed a confident and excited grin. "Oh, its better than that."

"Huh?"

Michael gestured at the two of them. "We are Booster Gold."

"I just said that."

"No… what I mean is we are the original Booster Gold."

Edwin just stared, eyes slowly going wide. "Wait… you mean-"

"DC's Earth-1 is, per Edna, Earth 52 of the Chaosverse."

The robot, Skeets Renard remembered his name to be, hurried over. "As far as we can tell Earth 52 has a stable time paradox. Michael here reads the comics, gets pulled into the life of Michael, and performs the adventures that he went on to read."

Edwin seemed to be alternating between giddy excitement and Blue Screening. "Wait, so you knew Rip-"

"Since Day One. Finally revealing that mess is gonna be fun."

"…Max?"

Michael's smile fell. "I knew about him too. Was… hard to not take him out. But Skeets and I did arrange a few things…"

"Fake Ted's death?"

Michael merely nodded.

"So even with the crazy gunman after us this just became an awesome day," Edwin replied.

It was at that moment that Edna spoke up. "Wyatt isn't crazy. Far from it." She gestured at the conference table and everyone took a seat. "Let's go over the details." Her AI, Annie, suddenly appeared and waving at the wall like she was Vanna White caused a projection to appear of the very first volume of something called 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' that had Yugi's face on it. But Renard noticed he looked a bit older, a bit more stern. Much like when he dueled.

'The Pharaoh,' he thought to himself. 'That has to be the Pharaoh.'

"In Edwin's original world all of your lives were told in this manga, Yu-Gi-Oh!." She paused. "Which he never read."

"I watched the anime," Edwin stated.

"We had an anime?" Joey asked, excited.

"Focus, Wheeler," Seto and Des said at the same time.

"Aw great, now we gots two of them."

Edna continued, showing now a version of the manga but with a woman instead. "This is the manga of my world."

"Okay, nevermind, Yug is the sexiest chick of all of us!" Joey proclaimed, Yugi cringing and slinking down into his chair, cheeks red with embarrassment.

The screen changed again to show another cover but now showed not a manga but Tea dueling Mai Valentine, the latter having summoned three Serpent Night Dragons. "Josiah comes from a world where the roles were filled differently. His Tea gained the power of the Millennium Belt and her rival is Mai Valentine. Serenity is Tea's best friend, her big brother is going deaf, so on." Before anyone could comment on that the screen switched again, showing Solomon Muto dueling against an Egyptian Man that held the Millennium Rod. "In Arno's world Solomon Muto solved the Puzzle in the 40s and he, along with Arno and Arthur Hawkins, fought against Marik and Ishizu's father.

"I bring these up so you understand that in the multiverse things can become radically different. It is one thing to see us," she waved at everyone gathered, drawing everyone's attention especially to herself, Des, Michael, King Edwyn, and Edwin, "and realize that lives can go in different directions. But the multiverse… its endless. And heroes and monsters and everything in-between can rise up from the most unlikely of spots."

Annie changed the graphic and they saw the manga cover again… only now it was full of faces both familiar and not, as well as hands tearing at a map of the world.

"Earth-1874," Edna stated. "In this world the rich, the powerful, and the skilled used every means they had to tear the global apart and create their own fiefdoms. Kingdoms, empires, city-states. Each one ruled by someone. All of Japan is controlled by the Kaiba Family-" the image changed to show Seto dressed in military garb, standing next to his stepfather, "-the Eastern seaboard of the United States became the Kingdom of the Grand Pegasus… no points for guessing who holds that. The Ishtars hold Northern Africa. Dartz controls the seas. So on and so forth."

"So Fist of the North Star," Michael commented.

"Kind of," Edna admitted, the reference going over Renard's head. "Wyatt ended up landing in what was once Eastern Europe, where he came into conflict right away with Alexander."

"…capsule monsters?" Edwin asked with a groan. When the others stared at him he weakly waved them off. "Long story."

"But accurate. Yes, that's him. Wyatt ended up working for him for a while before, in secret, killing him and stealing his capsule launcher. He traveled to the Ishtar lands and with the aid of the Spirit of the Millennium Glaive found where the Egyptians had forged their 41 Millennium Items."

"Fucking hell, 41?!" Yuri exclaimed. "We have enough trouble with 7!"

"Yeah," Edna said dryly. "It's a shitshow there. But now there is 42 as Wyatt used the capsule launcher and the forge to create a new item: The Millennium Revolver, his chosen weapon."

On the screen appeared Wyatt's gun and Renard was able to study it carefully. It was golden in color, with a cobra motif. It actually reminded him a bit of a trap card, Barrel Behind The Door.

"Wyatt can control any shot he fires out, making it go wherever he wants. Its how he took out Aiden."

THAT caused Edwin to slowly rise out of his wheelchair.

"He… took out Aiden?"

Edna nodded. "Its how I learned of the Chaos Contract."

"Chaos Contract?" Mai asked, looking at her boyfriend. "I don't like the sound of that."

"I'll get to that in a moment," Edna stated, gesturing for Edwin to sit down. "Because of the chaos created by Alexander's death war quickly broke out all over the global. First because the neighboring kingdoms wanted to take over his empire, then because their enemies saw this as a chance to attack their rivals as they were busy with the Alexander's lands and… well… it just snowballed. IN all of this Wyatt began to take advantage of the situation, selling himself out as a bounty hunter to the highest bidder. He's… good. Very good."

Edna swallowed.

"He got rich enough that he began to only accept rare artifacts and devices as payment. All of which he began to augment into his arsenal to become even better. When someone got him the Millennium Ring…" she trailed off.

"Welcome to the Multiverse," King Edwyn muttered.

"Exactly," Edna stated. "He began selling his services to other worlds, collecting rare items from them." She brought up a drawing of Wyatt and began to point things out. "Two Millennium Eyes. Allow him to pretty much see all and if he gets direct eyeline on you he can read your thoughts. Millennium Necklace-"

Arno licked his lips. "Far future or-?"

"No, like the one you used to have," Edna said. "Few seconds ahead to give him insane reflects and a spidey-sense. Millennium Gauntlets that can absorb and redirect power."

"That's how he was able to stand up to Selene," Duke said, rubbing his chest where Wyatt had shot him.

Brom, for the first time, spoke up. "He does it for the thrill of it, combined with a hunter's drive to not just seek new challenges but to improve himself. To seek greater game and to elevate himself to higher standing, if only in his own eyes. He has no need for wealth and I gather that due to his line of work he has no one he cares for. So all he has left is the hunt and the drive to make himself better." He shook his head. "All men dream-"

"but not equally," Renard and Edwin said at the same time.

"For the dreamers of the day are dangerous women," Edna finished. "Yes."

Des let out a sigh. "Could we get to the point?"

Edna shot him a teasing look. "Aw, do you and your new bestest buddy have a sleep over planned? Are you going to braid each other's hair and talk about Blue-Eyes?"

Seto and Des merely glowered at her.

"Right, fine," Edna said after a moment. "So Wyatt begins going around the multiverse and I do all I can to avoid him. I had enough problems with Enigma I didn't need him added to the mix. Then, a few years back relative to me, someone broadcasts something to the multiverse. The Chaos Contract."

"And I really don't like the sound of that," Edwin said.

"Oh," Michael chimed in, "don't worry… it's a lot worse."

"The Chaos Contract," Annie stated, "is a call for the capture of any Chaos in the multiverse."

"Engima," the Pharaoh said.

But Edna shook her head. "No… no this is actually independent from him. Enigma wants Chaoses dead. This is a capture contract. One Wyatt took up." She sighed. "So far, as much as we can tell, he's captured 17 Chaoses."

"Right," Edwin said. "And where are they now?"

"He's delivering them to a stronghold. No idea how it came into being… you have to understand that the multiverse has always existed, from the moment the universe began. We are… we are explorers who stumble onto stuff and try and figure out what it means." Annie projected a drawing of a structure that looked to be multiple earth buildings (roman temple, pyramid, Aztec sacrifice sites, Buddhist shrines) all merged together into a fantastical mishmash. "Its known as the Eternal Gate."

"Right," Yuri said. "So the plan is to hit that thing?"

"No," Edna said with a laugh. "Goddess no. Fuck no to the tenth power."

"…why do I have the feeling you are about to reveal your plan is no plan?" Edwin asked.

Edna let out a huff. "You don't mess around with people like Wyatt. He's… he's so far out of our league."

"We dealt with Enigma," the Pharaoh pointed out.

"We scraped his knuckles," Edna said. "He's still out there, taking more people. I just… fix the damage. Same with Wyatt."

Seto stood up. "If you think for one moment I'm going to stay here-"

"You don't have a choice," Edna snapped in frustration before taking a calming breath. "None of us do. You go back to your Earth and Wyatt will KNOW. And he will come after you to find out where Edwin is."

"And anyone who suggests we hand over the Captain," Renard growled, the threat unsaid.

For his part Seto rolled his eyes. "Let that man get what he wants? No… Chaos has too much use to me."

"Aw, thanks Seto," Edwin mocked.

"I agree with Kaiba-Boy," Pegasus stated. "While you are all charming company I don't wish to spend the rest of my existence on this ship. The dinner parties alone would get rather boring."

"Especially since we don't need to eat," Slash pointed out.

Edna slammed her hands on the table. "Okay, great. I'll dump you back in your world, Wyatt can kill you or worse. Because those are your choices: stay or suffer."

"Or fight back," Edwin stated.

"There is no fighting back!" Edna yelled, reaching the end of her rope. "He has multiple Millennium Items and years of training to use them. He has items we've never even encountered before. What are you going to do?"

"You can't duel him," King Edwyn stated. "He doesn't care about that. No challenging him to some game."

"We've thought this through," Michael said. "Been trying to find a way around it for months… some of us years. Everything we have… it won't make a dent."

Arno sighed. "Its horrible and I don't like it but… we have to think about survival."

Edwin though was focused on Michael. "Or…"

"Captain?" Renard said, a smile blooming as he saw the gears turning in the other man's head.

"We don't use the Millennium Items. Or the Duel Bands or the like. We hit him with something else."

"What… what are you talking about?" Edna asked.

"How did you become a superhero, Michael?" Edwin asked, waving at Booster. "You stole your gear, combined it together, and created something no one had ever encountered before. Why can't we do the same?" He threw his arms out. "We're in the multiverse, kids!" He pulled out his Morpher. "Why not get more of these? Or lightsabers? Or Final Fantasy gunblades?"

Des leaned back in his chair. "Hmmm… I could create a scanner… something that would allow us to learn the properties of items, replicate them."

"Or fuse them," Edwin stated.

"Fuse?"

"Troy, find me a Ducktales universe. I need The Stone of What Was."

"Edwin…" Mai said slowly, "what are you plotting?"

"We don't merely find new weapons. We create them. Merge. Fuse. And then we take the fight to Wyatt. We storm the fucking Eternal Gate and we hit him with a chaotic barrage until we take him down and free everyone."

"…it might work," Annie admitted.

"MIGHT the key word…" Edna stressed.

But Edwin was too far into his scheme. "Kids… I think its time we went shopping."