C.N. April 2014: Digital Distraction Part 25

It wasn’t hard to lose the other three players who were starting on the same strip of beach as he was. They wanted to head straight for the castle where the boss was, spurred on by the promise of a prize for the first ones to make it into the building.

Yami had no interest in the castle, outside of the fact that it could have been where they had been holding Yugi for the last two days. Instead he and Tea headed for the rendezvous point that he had been told about. He wasn’t stupid. He knew that it was a trap. The likelihood of them actually handing Yugi over was slim to none.

It didn’t help his mood that he hadn’t been able to convince Tea to stay back and let him handle the situation. With the others all spread across the island, she had been determined to stay with him and give him a bit of backup, even if there wasn’t much she could do.

He arrived at the cave entrance that had been mentioned well within the half an hour and was frustrated to find that there was no one there to meet him. Considering their insistence that he had to be there on time, it was rather rude of them to keep him waiting.

“I’m sure they’ll be here.” Tea told him as he paced the entrance to the cave, keeping an eye on the interior as he did so. “They told you to...”

Both of them froze as a pained cry emerged from the back of the cave. Yami knew the voice it belonged to, knew it better than he knew his own and he darted into the caves as a second cry could be heard. Yami darted around the tall pillars of stone near the back, only to find a tunnel that led further into the cave system.

Tea was hot on his heels as a third yell, weaker and softer than the first two echoed down the corridor, drawing Yami onwards until he emerged into a large chamber where a group of men in black, hooded robes were waiting for him, one of whom was stood over the fallen form of his light.

“Yugi!” Tea took in a sharp breath as Yami went to dart to the teen’s side only to have to stop short when one of the goons pointed a gun at his light.

 “I wouldn’t.” The ringleader sniggered as Yami tore his eyes away from the battered, bruised, bound and blindfolded form of his other self to glower at the speaker.

“Let him go!” Yami demanded. Yugi whimpered at the sound of his voice, only increasing the Pharaoh’s anger at the men who had dared to lay a hand on Yugi.

“About time you got here, Yugi.” The ringleader laughed viciously, “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show.” A soft groan emerged from Yugi, distracting the Pharaoh. “I’d almost convinced him of it too.”

Yami let out a low growl at that, his hands balling into fists. He would never, ever leave Yugi in danger and that the man in front of him had even tried to convince Yugi otherwise royally ticked the Pharaoh off.

“What do you want from me?” Yami demanded, trying to calm down, knowing that staying furious wouldn’t help him work out a way out of the situation. There had to be a way out of the trap but Yugi was hurt and he couldn’t risk them shooting him.

“First off, hand over your deck and the Puzzle.” The ringleader informed him, holding out his hand for them.

Yami hesitated for a moment. If he handed over his deck and the Puzzle, he was giving up not only the most dangerous cards in the game, but Yugi’s most prized possession and the, so say, most powerful Millennium Item.

“Yami?” Tea asked, putting a hand on his arm. He could feel it trembling, though he couldn’t be sure if it was her trembling, or him.

“Of course if you don’t want to...” The ringleader shrugged, gesturing to the man closest to Yugi, who drove a boot into Yugi’s stomach. Yugi loosed a pained, winded gasp and tried to curl in on himself to shield his stomach from any more abuse.

“Leave him alone!” Yami snapped, ripping the Puzzle off and tossing it to the ringleader before his minion could kick Yugi again.

“And your deck.” The man smirked at him as he snatched the golden item out of the air. Yami, who hadn’t yet slipped his deck into his DimDisk, pulled the stack of forty cards out of his deck holster on his belt. He took a deep breath and stepped forward, offering the deck to the ringleader, hating every minute.

His foot hit a stone which skipped along the floor and, much to Yami’s shock bounced through Yugi. Yami was stunned for just long enough for the fact that the Yugi on the ground was a hologram to sink in, then he pulled back his deck, slipped it into his DimDisk in one smooth motion and called up his magic, pure fury unleashed at being tricked.

“Where’s Yugi?” He demanded, letting the Shadows run wild, swirling past Tea, leaving her unharmed, but blasting the minions away and slamming the ringleader against the wall, pinning him there.

“You’re Yugi.” The ringleader yelped, struggling, trying to free himself.

“My brother.” Yami growled at him, “The real Yugi, where is he?”

“Real?” The man looked confused before letting out a pained screech as Yami directed his magic to shock him. “I...”

“Yami!” The Pharaoh wheeled around to find Tea being threatened by the same mook with a gun who had been threatening the hologram of Yugi.

“Let him down.” The mook snapped at him, pressing the gun against Tea’s temple.

The Pharaoh glowered at him but did as directed, dropping the ringleader and drawing his magic back in, unable to do anything while his friend was in danger.

“You bastard.” The man behind him snarled as he picked himself up. The Pharaoh ignored him in favour of keeping his eyes on the mook next to Tea.

That was a mistake.

The ringleader drove something sharp into Yami’s arm and Yami reacted too slowly, blasting the man away to late to prevent him depressing the syringe and dosing him with something that caused his world to spin.

Yami staggered sideways, ending up leaning against one of the rock piles, as his mind swam and his vision blurred.

“Yami!” Tea struggled against the man holding her, frightened as she watched the Pharaoh’s legs give out, “Yami!”

“I...” He tried to get up, to fight whatever it was he had been drugged with, only to slip back to the ground, too dizzy to be able to get his feet under him properly.

“Take them both.” The mook holding Tea sounded smug as he lowered his weapon and Yami wanted to blast him, but he couldn’t see straight enough to trust his aim and he didn’t want to hurt Tea.

Several mooks advanced on him and Yami tried to push past the fact his world was swimming to defend himself, only for someone else to dose him and his world slipped sideways as he fell on his side. As he blacked out he was at least treated to the sight of Tea decking the mook who had made the mistake of letting her go.