善良妈妈的朋友

Chapter 23

"Man, maybe I should go seekin\' out a vampire cave myself!" Joey said as he saddled up closer to the table and rubbed his hands together.

The Judge\'s House was small but well furnished and comfortable. Two stories tall with a cellar, the main floor was mostly made up of the dining room with a kitchen and servant\'s bedroom to the right and left. Up the stairs was the master bedroom and another room that was my study and the cellar was a combination of storage area and training room. It was made up of fine wood and stone, with a large fireplace in the back. The walls were decorated with plaques showcasing all the loot I\'d managed to gather up in the last few months; namely swords and shields and other weapons taken from slain bosses. A few banners, tropheys, and other odds and ends that had been just filling up my inventory.

The gang though was more interested in the large spread that filled the long table. A roasted chicken that was closer in size to a massive turkey. A wild variety of fruits. Ribs glazed with exotic sauces. Rolls piled high with a dish of butter sitting beside them. Thick stews and creamy soups. Melons and carrots. Sweetrolls and cakes and pastries that could fill a bakery. All of these everyone but Mokuba looked at with hungry eyes.

And I merely sighed and watched them, making no move to touch a single thing.

"Seems like you\'re doing well for yourself, Edwin," Yugi said as he sat down.

"Now I am," I told him. "It wasn\'t like this when I first got here. Back then I was like you guys, with barely anything to my name. I\'ve been Judge for about 2 months now though so that helps."

"Ah, come on man, no need to sound so glum!" Joey proclaimed. "You\'re living high on the hog!"

I nodded towards the food. "Help yourselves."

Joey was the first to dig in but Mai and Yugi weren\'t close behind. Mokuba though looked at me, never reaching out to grab the food, a grimace on his features. \'He helped Seto with this... he knows-\'

"Hey!" Joey complained, his mouth full of chicken. "What gives?" He swallowed and grabbed a sweetroll, taking a big bite of it. "This all tastes like... like..."

"Nothing!" Mai proclaimed, though she had at least had the manners to not talk upon her mouth was empty. She lifted a glass of mead and drank it down, scowling. "It doesn\'t even taste like water!"

"Yeah, same for me," Yugi said.

I shook my head sadly but it was Mokuba who spoke. "This is a game, guys. Seto included all this to make it look good... we haven\'t actually made the food have taste. You can eat it but..." He trailed off.

"This has been sitting on this table ever since I got the house," I told them quietly. "Over two months. Never spoils. Never gets old. I eat a piece and it reappears the next morning." I pressed my palm against my chin while the fingers of my other hand drummed on the table. "Haven\'t you noticed that things feel off too?"

"What do you mean?" Mai asked, setting down the apple she had tried.

I waved at the group. "Look at what you\'re wearing. You\'re in full gear, Mai, while Joey is wearing furry britches. Yet you\'re not cold, not hot... nothing. It could be the coldest day of the year and both of you would be fine." I rolled my head back, press it against my chair. "There are no showers or tubs here because no one gets any dirtier than they already are or aren\'t. And even if there was you don\'t really feel it. You go swimming and its like your floating; you don\'t feel the water. Rain doesn\'t get you wet. The sun doesn\'t burn you." I shook my head. "But fire can hurt you. Remind me to thank Seto for that one!"

Mokuba grimaced at that.

"That doesn\'t sound so bad," Yugi said softly. "I mean, you can\'t get hurt-"

I shot him a dark look. "Imagine never feeling a warm breeze ever again on a summer\'s day. The comfort of a blanket on a chilly night. To never taste anything sweet or feel a warm hand in your own." I reached out and took Mai\'s hand and could tell she sensed exactly what I was getting at: she could feel me squeezing her hand but the SENSATION was muted, like wearing padded gloves. "I can\'t... sleep," I told her weakly, weariness bleeding into my words. "I go to bed, shut my eyes, and I instantly wake up 8 hours later. Doesn\'t matter where or when. I don\'t... dream. I don\'t just get to drift off and forget about anything. It\'s like blinking except the world completely changes between the fluttering of my eyelids. Don\'t even need to go to sleep... I haven\'t tried in a month. Just work, day and night, hour after hour after hour." I blinked, knowing from the way they were looking at me that I\'d begun to cry. But I couldn\'t even feel the tears. "I just... keep... going."

"For eight months," Mai whispered. "oh Edwin."

"For a time I thought I died," I whispered, thinking back to that terrible month when I\'d been sure that I hadn\'t survived the stabbing. "I thought I\'d died and this was Hell." I grabbed my head, squeezing so hard that if I\'d been in the real world I\'d have made my skull crack. But nothing. Nothing at all. Mai though grabbed my wrists and forced me to stop.

"Man," Joey said softly, pity in his eyes. "That... that would drive me mad."

I let out a laugh, a hollow sound even to my ears. The amusement of a broken creature. "Oh, I went crazy for a little while. Got bored of it. So I went sane. VERY sane." Something must have flashed across my face because everyone cringed and I shook my head almost violently, like I was trying to physically throw the look from my features. "But don\'t worry... I\'m feeling MUCH better," I told them, quoting Harry\'s birthfather from Night Court. They didn\'t look amused so I decided to change the topic. "So, I\'m assuming you guys came on a rescue mission for me and Seto?"

"Yeah!" Mokuba exclaimed, perking up at that. "We\'re going to get you two out of here."

Mai nodded. "Doctors are working on you right now. They said even when you get out of here you\'ll be knocked out while they finish... so no waking up in the middle of surgery."

"Well that\'s a relief," I muttered. I had been worried about that, once I\'d become sure that I wasn\'t actually dead and trapped in some Hell Loop. Being stuck in the game world was a pain but I would endure it for as long as I needed to if it meant not waking up to find some stranger wrist deep in my innards.

"Wait!" Mokuba suddenly proclaimed. "If you have been here for 8 months that means Seto has been here even longer!"

"Man, and if Kaiba was already-" I kicked Joey under the table before he could finish that comment. It didn\'t actually hurt him but it get his attention.

"We\'ll get him free, Mokuba," Yugi proclaimed. "We just need to find where the Big 5 are holding him and break him out." He stood up, as did the others, and began to make their way to the door.

"You\'ll be dead in 2 days if you try and take on the Big 5," I called out to them. "It\'s a video game... you can\'t take on the boss in the tutorial and you JUST got out of that."

"Hey, we\'ll manage," Joey proclaimed. "Four of us... ain\'t nothin\'-"

I stood up and with a flash summoned the Swords of Concealing Darkness, throwing them at the group and pinning all four of them in place. A wind began to blow as I marched towards them, putting my mask back in place, glowering at them as I felt the magic I\'d learned in this world swirl around me.

"Is that so?" I said before lashing out, kicking Joey and sending him rocketing through the door and out of my house. I followed after him at a more leisurely pace, rolling my neck to work the kinks out. "Those swords are a Level 5 reward. That kick was enhanced with a Level 3 buff."

"Edwin!" Yugi called out and I threw out a hand in a gesture to get him to stop. Not that he could do much, pinned as he was.

"You all need to see this." I tilted my head. "Well Joey? Think of me as the Mini Boss. Get past me and you can go on your way." Around us the town folks scattered... though I could just make out others going about their day despite the battle that was occurring.

"Alright then, bud," Joey said, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. "Let\'s see how ya handle this! Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

The giant ebony dragon appeared in a flash of light... and in another shattered as a bolt of lightning crashed down and destroyed it.

"Ragaki. I unlocked that when I hit Level 10." I continued to walk towards him. "If Effect Damage happened because of a monster being destroyed by an effect you\'d be dead now, Joey." That seemed to get through the blonde\'s head as he stumbled back before finally looking at me, actually looking at me. "I\'ve been here 8 months fighting. And you\'re Level...1? 2? The Big 5 not only have been here longer but they can hack the system and basically turn on God Mode. You do no one any good getting yourself killed."

"...yeah, okay," Joey admitted, holding up his hands in defeat. "I get it." He rubbed the back of his head. "Man, I need to do a lot to get to your level. That 10 stuff-"

"Is what I got 7 and a half months ago," I informed him as I dismissed the swords pinning the others in place. "I\'m at Level 87 right now."

Joey\'s jaw dropped... literally. I wasn\'t for sure if that was because of the game world or the anime world but there it was, nearly touching his belly button.

"So there\'s no hope?" Mokuba asked softly.

"I didn\'t say that," I told him in a gentler tone. "I know where we need to go next: across the Great Desert. But its locked out to anyone not at Level 4. I can go but you guys can\'t... and even at my level I can\'t get to Seto by myself. I\'m strong but not \'take out the entire army of the Mythic Dragon\' strong. So you guys... need to grind."

"Oh, I get it!" Yugi proclaimed. "We need to get some experience so we can reach Level 4!"

"Right. And after that I have some tricks that will help you guys out even more... but they won\'t work in the village."

Mai folded her arms over her chest. "So what exactly do we do then, Edwin? We encountered the Ghostrick monsters in the graveyard and that gave us Exp and loot and such..."

"Right. And you need to do more of that. Luckily, since I\'m the Judge of this village I know all the different missions that are available in the area." I waved my hand in front of me and a menu screen popped up, much like the pause screen in a game. "And because each of you is a different class than me there are a ton of missions I couldn\'t access that you can." I pointed to one that said \'The Bard\'s College\'. "See, every class has certain tasks only they can get. I got a bunch of stuff for the Bard\'s College which is why I\'m now their leader... the Lord of Song. Open up your menus."

"Right, I remember Seto telling me about this when we were discussing ways to make people want to come back and play the game all over," Mokuba said. "Hmmm... The Society of the Quiet Hand. To join I need to... steal a valuable statue from the Judge of the Secret Village of the Spellcasters?" He looked at me and screwed up his face and I just shrugged.

"I\'m the richest guy in the town so it makes sense. I\'ll just go to sleep. I think the world will keep going for you while I\'m completely out of it. Just be quiet and grab it... I\'ll send my servant out on errands to make it easier." I waved my hand and one of the servants, an Apprentice Magician, walked over and with a mental command I sent him on his way to run errands for the next few hours.

Mai quickly opened her own menu. "Forest Guardians. To join I need to hunt the Dark Grey that lives in the forest. Alright, that\'s a low enough mission for me."

"Hmmm," Yugi said. "I think I\'ll tackle \'Legacy of the Lost Sword\' for The Mystic Edge. That looks like it might be full of several smaller quest."

Joey was last. "Slay the beast that lives in Jirai Gumo\'s Cave in order to be made a Stronghand. Meh, I can handle that easily enough!"

I clapped my hands together and led them back into the house. "Awesome. Get on that and I\'ll see you in five days." Before they could say a word I sat down, activated the SLEEP option-

~MC~MC~MC~

"Edwin?" Mai said, poking at the man\'s head. He just sat there, slumped in the chairs, eyes shut and unresponsive. "That... that is really creepy. It\'s like he\'s dead."

Yugi shrugged. "He said that it wasn\'t actual sleep. For him when he opens his eyes it will be like no time passed."

"Still, Mai\'s right," Joey said, lifting Edwin\'s hand up only for it to flop down. "It\'s freaky." He paused, a smile forming on his lips, before he bent Edwin\'s finger\'s until only his index finger was sticking out before he moved it to poke at the man\'s nose.

"Stop that!" Mai said, smacking Joey\'s shoulder.

"Aw come on, it\'s funny!"

"It is not!" Mai muttered. Joey shot her a look though and she finally sighed. "Okay it\'s a little funny but remember he was able to shoot lightning at you so it might not be... on second thought go right ahead, Joseph."

Joey, however, quickly waved his hands in surrender. "Never mind! I\'m good."

"Alright, so we have 5 days to do as many quests as we can and then we meet back here," Yugi said, adjusting his armor. "Remember to be careful... we don\'t know what will happen if our Lifepoints drop to zero."

Mokuba frowned at that. "You should be booted from the game but with the Big 5 controlling things..." he trailed off.

"Then we don\'t let that happen!" Joey declared, placing one hand on his hip and thrusting the other out. "To adventure!" And with that he ran off.

"Normally I\'d insult him for that but he does have a point," Mai said before heading out, though at a far more leisurely pace, Yugi and Mokuba following moments later.

...only for Mokuba to return and grab a statue that was sitting on one of Edwin\'s end tables.

"Heh... that was easy. If Seto made all the quests this hard we\'ll level up in no time!"

~MC~MC~MC~

Mai cursed as her arrow went wide and the Dark Gray she\'d been tracking took off once more into the force.

"Oh come on!" she complained, notching another arrow and watching as it bobbed and weaved despite all her efforts to keep her hand steady. "Okay, I\'m going to invest in that Steadyhand perk the first chance I get..."

~MC~MC~MC~

"I would love to give you the key to Lost Light Mines," the Dian Keto told Yugi as she leaned over the boiling pot in her kitchen. "But I\'m rather busy trying to make this potion for the blacksmith, you see. Very important... very important. Though I am lacking an ingredient... the Red Medicine. I hear that there is a goblin who has it but I don\'t have time to travel to his village to get it. But if you could..."

"Of course!" Yugi said with a grin. "That won\'t be a problem at all!"

~MC~MC~MC~

"AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Joey screamed as he fled Jirai Gumo... who turned out to be a massive spider that loved to eat barbarians.

~MC~MC~MC~

Mokuba frowned as he looked over his cards. He had been tasked with going back to the graveyard as it seemed that the Ghostrick monsters not only had a mansion but a museum as well and the Quiet Hand\'s Profitmaster wanted him to steal a staff that belonged to a mummy that called the museum home.

"Alright, now what spell will help me get in there..."

~MC~MC~MC~

Mai grumbled as she looked at the bubbling mud before reaching down and scooping up a massive handful of it and smearing it all over her face. "I\'m going to have to use some of my loot to buy a room at the inn just to shower," she complained as she worked on covering any exposed skin before readying her bow and moving to stalk into the Berserk Gorilla\'s territory. "Hopefully this time he won\'t smell me..."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Yes, yes, I have the Red Medicine," the Robbin\' Goblin croaked, his voice cracking like glass with every world that came out of his old lips. "But I can\'t just give it up for free, you know! Give and take!"

"Well, how much does it cost?" Yugi asked.

"1 million! Hehehehehe!" the goblin said, clapping his hands.

Yugi\'s jaw dropped at that. "One... one... there is no way I can get that much money around!"

"I know! I know! Which will mean you\'ll be more willing to assist me in... a favor I need." The Goblin reached into his sack and pulled out a scroll, a sinister, dark, evil smile flashing across his lips. "You see... I ordered a bicycle but sadly I don\'t have the money to pay for delivery. If you would be so kind as to get it for me?"

"Right," Yugi said as a new quest, "Where\'s My Bike?!" appeared on his Star Menu. "No problem."

~MC~MC~MC~

"WHY?!?!" Joey cried out, ducking as the Mermail arrows flew over his head. "WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS!?!"

"You tried to kill my grandpa!" one of the Mermails yelled at him.

"...okay, yes I did!" Joey admitted, still running because he was no fool. "But there was a bounty on his head and GAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed as the bombardment intensified.

~MC~MC~MC~

\'Don\'t breathe... don\'t breathe...\' Mokuba thought to himself as he waited for the guard to go by. He forced himself to be utterly still until, finally, the armored man walked past and he was able to pull himself from behind the cabinet he\'d hidden behind and make his way towards the counter across the room, snagging the bag full of coins before darting out of the office just as he heard footfalls.

~MC~MC~MC~

"What do you MEAN now you have to hunt me?!?" Mai exclaimed before realizing that instead of wasting the countdown the other Forest Guardians were giving her it might be a good idea to actually get RUNNING.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Why isn\'t the shop open, officer?" Yugi asked the Beat Cop of the Underworld. "I really need to get a bike in there delivered."

"Sorry but the owner\'s coin pouch was stolen by some short man with spiky black hair," the cop said, showing Yugi a picture of Mokuba. "If you could get it back..."

Yugi groaned.

~MC~MC~MC~

"...okay, this feels very unsporting," Joey said, nudging the Danger!? Jackalope with his furry shoe.

Said Jackalope twisted around and sank its fangs into his foot.

"WHY?!?!"

"Run away!" the knights that had hired him to slay the beast cried out.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Well, the money disappeared but you still passed the test, young man. You are now the Leader of the Quiet Hands."

~MC~MC~MC~

"You evaded us, Mai, and that makes you the Queen of the Forest Guardians!"

~MC~MC~MC~

"Ah!" Dian Keto said as she drank down the potion she\'d just made... and turned into a 35 your old MILF prison guard for some reason. "Now I\'m ready for my date! Here is the key to that mine, sword\'s on the left after the first intersection! I think that makes you head Paladin or something." She gave Yugi a kiss on the cheek and skipped off, leaving him befuddled.

~MC~MC~MC~

Joey threw down the head of the Luster Dragon. "Loot now," he grumbled.

~MC~MC~MC~

-and opened my eyes to find the gang all sitting around my table, looking at once confident (Mokuba), smug (Mai), somewhat bashful and befuddled (Yugi), and stern (Joey). And tired... very tired.

"So... have fun?" I asked.

"We\'re all at Level 10," Yugi said, showing off that his LP counter had risen to 6000 to reflect their Level Boost. "managed to grab an extra few levels while we waited for you to wake up."

"Neat. So now we can-"

And that\'s when all of them decided to go to sleep themselves.

"-go." I rolled my eyes. "Idiot." I shrugged and grabbed a book to read while I waited.

~The Next Day~

The Niwatori squawked as we made our way across the desert. Once everyone had woken up (and I\'d mocked them for not paying attention to what I\'d told them about sleep not actually occurring in this gaming world) we\'d said goodbye to the Secret Village and made our way through the forest until it gave way to the desert. I honestly couldn\'t remember what happened at that point in the show, though I did remember Crossdressing Mokuba Princess and the flying machine happening before we could get to Seto and the castle.

\'I really wish I had watched these episodes more,\' I thought to myself as we continued along on the back of our weird chicken mounts, the great Desert Temple looming before us. \'I\'d much rather know what we\'re getting into than going by the seat of my pants.\' That was the problem with establishing that you were a cocky know-it-all that could scheme and scam his way out of any situation: the illusion began to die when your number one trick (insider knowledge) abandoned you. \'Of course it doesn\'t help that things are already changing rapidly.\' I remembered that in the anime Joey had gotten his costume because he\'d competed against Mai, who\'d been in the program for a while as a beta tested, in a gladiator match only for her to decided to work with him and they\'d stolen the cards needed. But everything had changed... Mai never became a beta tester because Mokuba had helped Seto develop the gaming world more and thus it was both larger and not as far along into testing. There was no Village, no grinding... and certainly no \'Lord of Song\'.

I strummed my lute (which responded to my thoughts and not me actually playing which was good as the last instrument I\'d played was a trumpet and that was at least a decade and a half ago) as I thought that all over.

"Hey, what is that song, Edwin?" Yugi asked me.

"And how are you getting other instruments to play?" Joey asked in confusion. "Because I not only hear a guitar-"

"Lute," I reminded him for the fifth time that day.

"-but also a flute... and another lute?"

I chuckled. "Lord of Song has perks as I kept moving up the skill tree. My power is all through music... and as I leveled up I gained the ability \'One Man Band\'. That means when I play," I strummed out a few more cords causing all sorts of instruments to play, "the muses join in. As for the song it is an ancient and haunting melody first crafted by five youths of the rear alleys." I smirked behind my mask and began to sing. "You are... my fire... the one... desire. Believe... when I say... I want it that way." I jabbed a finger at Mokuba. "TELL ME WHY!"

He stared at me in confusion before the power of my music took over and he couldn\'t help but sing, "Ain\'t nothing but a heartache."

"TELL ME WHY!"

Now it was Yugi who was forced to sing. "Ain\'t nothing but a mistake."

"NOW NUMBER 5!"

"I never wanna hear you say!" Joey proclaimed.

"WHOOOOOOO!"

"I want it that way!" all of us sang.

"Goosebumps... and also proof that I should NOT be given power over... anything." Mai shot me a look, obviously remembering that I did have control over a mystical Egyptian artifact, but I merely shrugged; it was true, not my fault Shadi was an idiot and had trusted me with the Key. I had been open that I didn\'t want the power it held, fearing I\'d abuse the hell out of it. "Each of you, if you stay long enough in this game, will level up to gain powers and abilities."

"But hopefully we won\'t be in this world that long!" Mokuba declared. "We have to find Seto and defeat those jerks that kidnapped him!"

"Right," I said with a nod, Mokuba urging his mount ahead while Yugi moved to ride beside me.

"Do you think it will be that easy?"

"Not in the slightest but no one tells the kid. He needs the hope that we can find Seto soon."

Yugi frowned at that though. "He\'s been in this world longer than you. And you nearly went mad."

"Did go mad. Only way to cope."

"What about Kaiba?"

"If he is smarter than me? He knew about the sleep trick and just keeps doing it." Yugi blinked at that. "I didn\'t do it because I knew eventually you guys would be coming in and I needed to be overleveled to help you out. Once I was sure this wasn\'t Hell. But if he\'s in a dungeon or something the smart thing would be to just keep going to sleep... make it feel like only minutes had passed." My mount stopped at the stairs of the Temple and I slid off the saddle. "On the other hand Seto is a stubborn basset hound so he might have stayed awake the entire time just to taunt them."

Yugi chuckled at that as he got off his chicken as well. "Yeah, I can see that." He squared his shoulders as he looked at the temple. "Okay, so now we just need to-"

And that\'s when the temple exploded.

All five of us were sent flying backwards, slamming into the sands hard though for the first time in a while I was glad that in the game world there was no actual pain as I really didn\'t want to think how much I\'d be aching after being sent tumbling like that. Stone and sand rained down around us for several moments but the worst of it was over by the time we were all sitting up, staring at the wreckage... and the massive form of the Gate Guardian that had burst out of the ruins of the temple and caused the explosion to begin with.

"Well... that\'s new," I said dryly before going for my duel disk. "Alright guys, let\'s take this sucker out!"

"Wind, thunder, and water," Yugi said to himself as the massive boss monster looked down at us and bellowed a challenge. "That means we need to use monsters and attacks that can hurt those elements."

"Man I got this!" Joey declared, holding up his duel disc. "And Yugi, I hope ya don\'t mind but my new deck has a card that is perfect for this... and borrows a trick you love to pull! Come on out Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning!" The card appeared in Joey\'s hand and he threw it out, causing an altered version of Yugi\'s Summoned Skull to appear, though this one was cloaked in lightning and had glowing red eyes. "And thanks to my Barbarian perk, that increases his attack to 2900! More than enough to take out Suijin! I remember our battle against the Paradox Brothers... you take out one piece at a time!" The lightning arced from the Archfiend\'s horns and struck Suijin, easily shattering it.

"And now its my turn!" Mai declared. "I summon my Harpie Lady 1 and use Elegant Egotist and Triple Ecstasy Spark it create my powered up Harpie Lady Sisters, which then attack Kazejin!" The trio of winged warrioresses let out screeches before throwing themselves through the air at the Wind Monster, easily ripping it from Sanga of Thunder and destroying it.

"I\'ll finish it off!" Yugi declared, selecting a card. "Dark M-"

I grabbed Yugi\'s hand before he could finish. "No. Watch." He stared as Sanga of Thunder crackled, electricity racing along its body. "Joey\'s attack... Lightning. It destroyed Suijin but it also powered up Sanga." Sure enough Thunder Monster seemed to swell and a display appeared revealing its attack was now 3300.

"Aw man, I\'m sorry guys," Joey said as he saw what had happened. "I really messed up."

"This time it really wasn\'t your fault, Joey," Mai told him, taking a step back. "None of us could have seen this coming."

"But how do we defeat it?" Mokuba asked, going through his cards while Sanga prepared an attack.

"And how do we ensure we aren\'t using our best cards when we\'ll need to use them later on to save Kaiba?" Yugi added.

I stepped forward. "That\'s where I come in. Ever hear of EXP Share?" I drew two cards. "Time for a demonstration of what a high level player can do in this game."

"Yeah Ed!" Joey cheered. "Send out some magicians to kick that sparkly monster\'s butt!"

But I shook my head, eyes narrowed behind my mask. "Sorry Joey but I didn\'t get my Endymion deck scanned."

"You what?" Joey exclaimed.

"It wasn\'t Endymion Mokuba and Yuri scanned in for me to us." I smirked and raised my cards. "The gates are open... and the Devil is here, Sanga! I activate first my domain... The Lair of Darkness!"

I threw out my card and suddenly the desert around us shifted. The sky was bloated out by inky blackness while the sands crystallized, turning from pale tans and yellows into obsidian that twisted into sharp jutting structures that rose to roughly my height. The winds began to pick up as ebony phantoms began to appear, their crackling green eyes and leering mouths taunting us in before twisting their attention towards Sanga of Thunder. The Thunder monster let out a cry as the phantoms took hold of him, wrapping around him before merging with him, causing his own body to darken in color while the emblem on his body turned to the Chinese symbol for Dark. Behind me I saw the same happen to Mai\'s Harpies.

"And next I\'ll summon the Wicked Warden who helps protect my Lair... come forth Ahrima!" The second card in my hand flashed and the demon dog leapt forward, howling as he flicked his dragon-like tail, his large third eye narrowed as he clashed his fangs together. "And I now activate Ahrima\'s special ability: by tributing one Dark Monster I can ensure that one dark monster that I\'d normally need to search for in my deck will be ready the next time I need it." I smirked. "And because you are in my Lair... you are now a dark monster, Sanga! So I can tribute you!"

Sanga roared as Ahrima fired a beam of corrupt energy from his third eye, causing the monster to tremble before he finally shattered. The battle done the Lair and my Warden disappeared to recharge and I turned towards the gang... to see their stunned and somewhat fearful faces.

"...went sane, huh?" Mai asked.

"Very sane," I muttered. "I\'ve done a lot of dark things to survive in this world." I removed my mask and smiled, much lighter and friendlier than it had been moments earlier. "That said... it\'s worth the rewards. Take a look."

"Whoa!" Joey exclaimed. "Look at my lifepoints! They jumped to 8000!"

"We gained two whole levels!" Yugi added.

"Of course!" Mokuba declared. "We\'re all part of the same party so Edwin\'s victory goes to all of us. And because he\'s higher level that means he can take on more difficult monsters! And other mothers shift their levels to meet his!"

"Exactly," I said, walking over and claiming the loot (some coins and three medallions with the emblems of the three Gate Guardian monsters). I tossed the medallions to Mai, Yugi, and Joey before looking around. "That will help you guys catch up and be ready to take on the Big 5."

"Oh!" someone called out, emerging from the wreckage. "Hello? Are you the brave heroes that took down my captor?"

\'Oh fuck me,\' I thought as the Princess walked out of the ruins with her fairy companion. \'I didn\'t realize how offputting it was going to be to see her.\' I mentally cringed the moment I thought that; I wasn\'t a transaphobe. If you identified as a man or a woman and that didn\'t match the gender that had been assigned to you at birth then hey, it wasn\'t my business to judge. There were far better reasons to hate someone than them choosing to wear a dress or a suit. Yet with the Princess it just was so... odd. Maybe because this wasn\'t Mokuba deciding he identified as a woman but rather Seto Kaiba deciding to create a Princess that just so happened to look like his brother. A brother that had never shown any signs of being trans.

\'I\'m giving myself a fucking headache,\' I mentally grumbled before turning my full focus on the princess who had been rambling on about how amazing we all were. The rest of the gang was of course preening at that, excited to show off their skills and how amazing they were. For my part I had dealt with all the NPCs doing this to me for months and it had lost its appeal.

"Yeah, yeah, we are the heroes of legend," I groused. "Can we move this along?"

"Edwin, be nice," Mai said in a rare reversal for us.

"I\'ve been stuck in Jumanji for far too long, so I\'d like to get back to the real world where my only concern is Tea\'s father stabbing me to death." Mai winced at that and I sighed, shutting my eyes. "Sorry, Mai. Sorry. It\'s just-"

"I get it," Mai told me softly. "We\'ll get you out of here, I promise."

"But not before we get Seto." I looked towards the Princess. "And I think you might be able to help with that."

"But of course," the Princess (\'what was her name again? Damn it I hope she repeats it because I can\'t just call her \'Princess Mokuba\') told us with a pleasant smile. "I would be happy to tell you all about what happened. Now that I\'ve been freed from the Gate Guardian\'s hold I can summon my royal guard and have them transport us to my castle!" She turned to her little fairy companion who shot into the air and released a burst of bright light. "It should take an hour for the royal carriage to arrive."

"Awesome," Joey said, sitting down... and promptly going to sleep.

"...sometimes that man is a genius," I muttered with a smirk before doing the same-

~MC~MC~MC~

Mokuba chewed on the inside of his cheek as he walked through the halls of Princess Adena\'s castle. He was worried... worried about so many things. Mostly about his brother. Seto had been trapped in this world for what for him must have seemed like years and he wondered what his mental state was like.

\'At least he hasn\'t been captured the entire time,\' Mokuba thought as he opened a door and stepped into the royal gardens. It was a small relief that Seto had been running around much like Edwin for the last few \'months\' and had most likely only been captured a few weeks ago. According to the Princess the sacrifices had been gathered up roughly three weeks prior, which was when Adena had been captured by the Gate Guardian (who, according to the Princess, was summoned by a deranged advisor who wanted to protect her... another \'boss\' for the game that they wouldn\'t actually be dealing with during this little journey). \'Still, he was in here for at least a year... more likely a couple. I hope he\'s okay.\' Mokuba shook his head, letting out an amused huff at that.

"What is so funny?" Princess Adena asked him, making her precense known.

"I was thinking about my brother... I was worried about him being in this world. That he might crack under the pressure. Then I remembered that this is Seto... its more likely that he\'d make this entire kingdom crack before he would."

"Your brother sounds like a man of great conviction and drive. But I fear that even he may break under the torment of the Mythic Dragon. The beast won\'t be happy that it hasn\'t been given all its sacrifices... five innocents. I was to be the fifth but the Gate Guardian... the dragon won\'t claim the tributes until all five are there, meaning they will be held. But that doesn\'t mean they are safe." She suddenly blushed and shuffled her feet. "I\'m sorry... I\'ve done little to put you at ease."

"It\'s okay," Mokuba told her with a gentle smile. "I get it." And he did... it wasn\'t her fault because she was programmed to behave a certain way. Edwin had stressed to all of them during the ride to the castle that no matter how real this felt they were in a video game. The characters they were interacting with... they weren\'t real.

"It\'s cruel," he\'d told them with a sigh when Yugi had pressed him on his attitude. "I admit that. And its hard because its natural to feel empathy for them. But remember that if we have to choose between our lives... actual lives that will be able to leave this world and continue on with our lives, and a bunch of zeroes and ones that will revert right back to the start the moment this is over and some new player takes over? I choose us. Because the Princess? The villagers? They will come back to life and do this all over again. Because they aren\'t alive. We are." Edwin had shut his eyes after that but just as they\'d thought he was going to sleep again he\'d said, "And you can feel free to hate me for that."

He knew that the others had been startled by Edwin\'s comments. Seen them as cruel. Mai had quietly explained to him that it fed into the belief Yugi and his friends had that Edwin wasn\'t a good person but Mokuba shouldn\'t be concerned with that because the two of them, him and Mai, knew exactly who Edwin was. Yet it had never occurred to Mokuba to get mad at Edwin... because he was right. Unlike the rest of them Mokuba had been there when the world had been created. He\'d helped Seto create this world. He\'d written up the backstory for the characters. He\'d actually typed in many of the comments that Princess Adena had said to him already! While Yugi and Joey were getting sucked into the world and wanting to save it... all he wanted to do was save Seto.

"And Edwin," he said softly.

"What was that, Mokuba?"

He blinked, realizing he\'d spoken out loud. "I was thinking about my friend, Edwin. I want to help him too."

"The Lord of Song?" Princess Adena asked. "I had heard of him even before this began. The villagers and smallfolk all speak of him as a great hero and ally to all. What could a man such that need to be saved from?"

"Himself," Mokuba murmured. It concerned him, everything Edwin had been forced to deal with, all on his own, without anyone to help. For someone that seemed to dislike being around people at times, preferring to be alone, Mokuba knew that Edwin was just as much a social creature who needed people around him. Being without anyone other than the NPCs... Mokuba was frankly surprised Edwin was doing as well as he appeared to be.

But that didn\'t mean he was well.

\'He\'s close to cracking,\' Mokuba thought quietly to himself. \'He\'s like Seto when he found out about Mr. Muto having the fourth Blue Eyes. He\'s becomes so focused, so driven, but its making him act rashly...\' He mentally sighed. \'Well, rasher. The sooner we can get him and Seto out of here, the better.\'

And that\'s when something occurred to Mokuba.

"Princess, you said you were selected to be a tribute to the Mythic Dragon, correct?"

"That is correct, Mokuba," the princess said, bowing her head in acceptance of what was her fate. "All the people that live here have an equal chance of being selected... and if it is my time then at least I know that I will save them all from the dragon\'s wrath."

"And the dragon knows you are here now?"

"I am sure."

"Then I have an idea..."

~Two Hours Later~

"Duck Joey!"

"Whoa! Thanks man!" Joey called out, just managing to avoid the talons of yet another monster. "This is crazy! Feels like I can\'t even turn without-EESH!" He threw himself to the ground as a large pink and yellow fiend/dragon/whatever divebombed at him, barely getting out of the way at time. "Okay, I\'m getting sick of this! Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon, roast these dingbats!" Joey threw out the card and the beast, which resembled his normal Red-Eyes save for having burning wings, appeared and began to launch blasts of superheated dragon fire at the attackers that were currently trying to take out everyone.

"We have to focus on protecting the civilians!" Yugi called out as his Magician\'s Valkyrie fired on another swarm.

"No, we need to protect ourselves!" Mai called out. "Harpie Queen, use the Harpie\'s Feather Duster to remove any equips and enchantments they have!" She notched an arrow, the card appearing in place of the tip, and fired it towards her monster. The Queen easily caught it and her wings turned into Feather Dusters that began to shattered the different armaments the attackers had donned. "These are NPCs!"

"We can\'t just-"

"They\'ll be fine, worry about the actual living people!"

For my part I stayed silent, knowing that if I said a word it would only make matters worse. My reputation among Joey and Yugi was that I cared only about myself and those close to me rather than the larger world and even though Mai was 100% correct and the two teens knew it if I began to speak that would turn them more towards their own flawed view. And that would get us killed.

Instead I made my focus the attack of the crappy McDonalds knock off toys that were currently coming at us.

\'Seriously, I get nostalgia and all that but some of the early Yu-Gi-Oh monster designs are just butt ugly and horrible.\' It was like Liefeld had been asked to design D&D monsters and given them 1980s colors; it took what should have been a scary and frightening encounter and turned it into me rolling my eyes in annoyance while my Armageddon Knight tore into them with his sword. Those that he couldn\'t take out I was dealing with by placing traps all over the field, activating them when things got sticky while leaving it to Yugi and the rest of the group to take out the stronger monsters... of which there were very few seeing as, again, this was drawing from the first few sets apparently despite the rest of the world having gotten an upgrade.

"Edwin!" Yugi called out and I spun to see a monster coming right at me; some kind of featherless demon bird with a man-like body. I rolled my eyes as I saw its low attack and began to strum my lute with a card, playing a bardcore version of the opening notes to Ring of Fire before throwing out the card, summoning two Doomsday Tokens that blocked the fiend long enough for Mai\'s Queen to take out the beast.

The attack had come suddenly and to the surprise of all... including me. I honestly had gaps in my knowledge when it came to later episodes of the show; I\'d watched Duelist Kingdom several times and of course watched a ton of Battle City over and over but it had been years since I\'d seen the show and my memory was foggy on bits. Especially Legendary Heroes. I knew Mokuba was going to get taken and the Flying Machine was coming up next but I had no memory of what had led to his kidnapping; I thought it was a random kidnapping, not an invasion. Thankfully they were low-level monsters and as an added bonus they were helping Yugi and Joey and Mai level up; I imagined that by the time we got out of the mess they would reach Level 19, having already gotten to near Level 16 with the Gate Guardian.

\'Grinding at its finest,\' I thought just as I heard the \'Princess\' cry out as she was grabbed.

"Adena!" Yugi called out. "Valkyrie, attack-"

"NO!" I bellowed out. "You strike the monster and M-Adena could fall!"

"I can catch her with my Queen," Mai told me.

Joey though came to my side of thinking. "Nah, Ed\'s right. Plus we might hit the kid with a blast." He grit his teeth in frustration. "I don\'t like it but we can\'t stop\'em. Just have to find a way to rescue her."

"Oh no!" Adena said, rushing towards us.

"Don\'t worry Princess, we\'ll save the Princess," Joey said before doing a double take and I was thankful for my mask as it hid my smirk at that little bit of comedy. "Princess Adena?!?"

"Mokuba suggested we swap clothing, so that he would be taken instead of I."

"...clever," I said, forcing myself to sound annoyed at Mokuba\'s idea. I couldn\'t let on that I approved of what he\'d done, that I knew it would all work out in the end. \'Thank God for this mask,\' I thought, the Lord of Song\'s mask firmly in place, the bonuses it gave me still churning through my digital form. "I don\'t like it but clever. He\'s a Rogue so he should be able to break out of any cell they put him in and then he can act as our inside man. We do the frontal assault while Mokuba creates chaos within."

Yugi nodded at that, though it was clear he wasn\'t happy. "I don\'t like it but you\'re right... it is our best option." He looked up at the Castle of Dark Illusions, clearly distressed. "But how do we get up there. The magical barrier won\'t let us just fly..."

"The Legendary Heroes that originally sealed the Mythic Dragon away used the Great Flying Machine to reach the castle and penetrate the barrier," Adena told us, her head bowed in grief. "But I fear that time has ravaged it and despite all our work it now sits, grounded forever."

"Heh," Joey said, looking at all of us. "That\'s all? I got this handled! Lead the way!"

And with that Joey bravely marched off, the rest of us following... and me wondering if just for once things could go according to plan.