Chapter 19 – Escape the City!

The gang quickly ran outside to see what the commotion was about and soon saw the city was in a complete blaze. People were screaming as they were running for their lives, trying to escape the terror that was chasing after them. Emergency vehicles could be seen heading towards the danger in a quickening speed, trying to contain the violence.

"What da hell is going on?" yelled Joey as he was scanning the area around.

"It seems Aeru has begun his attack and is starting with Domino City," answered Bakura.

Seto was clenching his teeth and turned to face Roland, "Roland! Take me to Kaiba Corp right now! Those fools are going to burn down my building!"

Roland nodded and hastily ran towards the company car, turning on the engine. Kaiba hurriedly opened his door, but before he could step inside, Michaela quickly followed.

"I'm coming with you! I'm not leaving you and Roland alone!" exclaimed Michaela.

"Kaiba! Is this really the time? The whole city is in danger and you want to protect your precious company?" asked Tristan.

"Nice to see you got ya priorities straight," mumbled Joey.

"I don't expect you idiots to understand. I let those punks attack my company once and I'm not letting them do it again," explained Seto.

Seto quickly let Michaela inside the car and soon stepped inside behind her, slamming the car door shut. The gang simply stood there and watched Roland drive the two away, eventually becoming out of sight.

"Well what do we do know?" asked Tea, "The whole city is filled with those creeps and we don't really have a place we can escape to."

"We can head to my game shop. I have a helicopter waiting at the rooftop. Once we leave Domino City, we can come up with an actual plan," suggested Duke.

"Where did the pharaoh go?" asked Solomon.

"I'm over here," answered Yami right away. He appeared to be carrying a huge gym bag with one strap hanging over his shoulder, "It's too dangerous to leave the Millennium items behind."

"Alright then. Let's mosey outta here and stop Aeru!" exclaimed Joey in excitement, "That punk is going to pay for what he has done!"

Bakura groaned and placed his hand flat on his face, "I'm going to ignore the fact you said mosey."

Outside the city limits, three motorcycles pulled over and noticed Domino City had a weak, but noticeable red glow emanating from it. The three riders looked at each other and nodded in agreement, quickly speeding off towards the city.

Outside Kaiba Corp's main entrance, Roland quickly paralleled parked the car, and hurriedly stepped outside to open Kaiba's door. Once Seto stepped out of the car, he quickly walked towards the entrance and pulled out his keycard, pressing it against a card reader. The light turned green and the doors automatically opened.

"Roland! Lock all entrances and have the main power switch into emergency," ordered Seto as the three stepped inside.

Roland nodded and separated himself from Seto and Michaela into another room. Seto headed towards the elevator and once again pulled out his keycard and pressed it against a card reader. The elevator door opened in response and the two stepped inside, with the elevator door closing behind them and moving up.

"So what's the plan Seto?" asked Michaela curiously.

"Right now Roland is locking the company. The only reason why everything is still functioning is because of my special keycard," explained Seto, "However, my keycard has a special function. I can completely lockdown the entire company and the only way to lift up the lockdown is with two keycards."

"Two keycards?"

"Mokuba also has a special keycard with the same function."

The elevator came to a complete stop and opened its doors. The two stepped outside and Michaela recognized the area. This was Seto's office floor and as the two went through the door, Michaela watched Seto sit behind his desk, turning on his computer, and inserting his keycard.

"This is Seto Kaiba, activating 'Emergency Protocol Type A!' Code number is 0511997 'dash' 9 'dash' 1025!"

Code and voice recognized.

Emergency Protocol Type A has been activated.

All data and vault have been securely locked.

Any force entry or unauthorized access will result in immediate termination.

To bypass security is with the two keys registered to the Kaiba brothers with the corresponding code.

Keys must be used at the exact same time.

Failure to match precise timing with the keys or incorrect code will also result in immediate termination.

Do you confirm Mister Kaiba?

"I confirm," replied Seto.

All of a sudden, the computer screen went completely black and the whole room turned red. Michaela rushed outside the office and saw the entire hallway was red and turned to face Seto. Before she could say anything, Seto spoke first knowing what she was going to ask.

"Everything is in complete lockdown now. I can no longer access the company unless Mokuba is with me," said Seto, "However the emergency power is still active so we can still use the elevator and such. Let's hurry up and meet with Roland."

All of a sudden, there was a huge explosion that sounded like it came from the ground floor and the two quickly rushed out of the office. The two then spotted Roland coming out of the elevator and quickly locking it down.

"Roland? What's going on?" asked Michaela in worry.

"Those hooded freaks bombed the entrance and entered the building. I was fast enough to escape from them by using the elevator. I also turned off the other elevator so they wouldn't be able use it, but they might be coming up using the stairs," explained Roland.

"Then let's go the roof and we can escape using my jet," exclaimed Seto.

The gang was sprinting through the alleyway with Joey carrying Yugi's grandpa on his back. Just then a group of black hooded figures cut them off in front of them and were ambushed from behind. Tristan and Duke held their fists up and covered the gang from behind while Bakura walked towards the front ready to use his dark magic.

"These punks just keep coming," groaned Tristan in annoyance.

"We won't be able to make it to my shop if we keep getting jumped like this," exclaimed Duke angrily.

Tristan and Duke begun exchanging punches with the hooded ghouls and Bakura used his dark magic. Two ghouls were able to go through Duke and Tristan and were about to attack pharaoh and the gang until two more figures jumped out of nowhere and knocked the ghouls out.

"Mikey? Vince?" asked Yami.

"Sup! Fancy meeting you all here," smiled Mikey brightly.

"Mind if we help?" asked Vince calmly.

"Damn straight you can help," laughed Joey.

Mikey took the front to help Bakura while Vince went behind to help Tristan and Duke against the ghouls. After a minute of fighting, the hooded figures gave up and quickly retreated. Everyone cheered happily, with the exception of Bakura of course.

"So you are all heading to Duke's shop and flying out of Domino huh? We can give you guys cover till you get there," smiled Mikey.

"Are you insane? You guys are coming with us," said Tea, "We can't just leave you two here."

"Actually, this may sound odd, but I would like you two to come with us and help with something. Would it be alright?" asked Yami.

"Help with what?" questioned Vince.

"We can explain later. We need to head to my game store first," said Duke, "We are here anyways."

The gang entered Duke's shop and as everyone stepped inside, Duke quickly locked the door and lead everyone towards the elevators.

"Lucky your store hasn't been attacked yet Duke," said Joey.

"So you guys are planning to attack the boss? Shouldn't you let the local authorities handle that?" asked Vince.

"If we attack the boss and win, we'll be in the newspaper and be treated as heroes," laughed Mikey excitingly.

"Still think it's dangerous," mumbled Vince.

"He kidnapped people we care about and we need to save them. I understand if you do not wish to come," explained Yami.

"Nonsense! What kind of person would I be if I turned down help," smiled Mikey. Vince sighed in frustration, but decided just to roll with it.

All of a sudden there was a huge explosion coming from the entrance and the entire gang looked behind them. Dozen of hooded figures began storming inside the building and began their chase. Duke cursed under his breath and hurried to the elevator. The elevator doors opened and everyone quickly stepped inside. Duke pressed a button to close the elevator doors and began to ascend to the roof.

"Damn, they'll pay for that," mumbled Duke under his breath.

'I wonder how Kaiba and Michaela are doing,' thought Yami.

Seto, Michaela, and Roland reached the roof and headed towards the hanger where the Blue Eyes White Dragon jet was being kept at. Seto quickly climbed up inside towards the front seat and began turning on the engine. As the jet was warming up, Seto called out towards Michaela and Roland.

"Roland, you'll sit in the back! Michaela you are going to seat with me in the front!"

Michaela's face turned a slight red at the thought of sitting on Seto's lap, but her blush instantly disappeared when there was a loud banging noise coming from the door they just came out of from. Roland quickly rushed towards the door and used himself as a barricade.

"Mister Kaiba! Miss Michaela! You two get out of here! Hurry! I can't hold them for very long," shouted Roland.

"We are not leaving you by yourself, right Seto?" asked Michaela.

Seto started clenching his teeth in anger and tightening his hand into a fist. He groaned in frustration and faced Michaela, "Hurry up and get in! Roland is giving a chance to escape! Those punks will pay for what they've done!"

"Are you serious? We can't just abandon him!" cried Michaela.

"I'll be fine miss Michaela! Please help mister Kaiba find young Mokuba," responded Roland calmly.

Michaela looked at Roland in complete worrisome and was reluctant to leave, but she quickly ran towards Seto's jet and climbed into the back seat. Seto flipped a switch and the glass cover above the cockpit began to close down. As soon as they were able to take off, the door finally burst open and Roland fell on the ground. The hooded figures emerged, but before they could get any closer, the jet moved forward in an instant and took off into the sky. One of the hooded figures saw Roland and held him by the collar of his shirt.

"Where is Seto Kaiba heading," asked the hooded figure angrily. Roland gave no response, which frustrated the hooded figure even more, "Fine. Don't talk. It doesn't matter. Everything is going according to plan anyways."

"The helicopter is right there!" yelled Duke as he was making a dash towards it.

"Keep going! Will handle these guys!" shouted Joey as he got into a fighting stance.

Tristan, Mikey, and Vince joined in the fray as well and prepared to fight off against the hooded ghouls. Duke made a quick dash to the controls and started the engine with the others quickly stepping inside the helicopter. Duke gave the thumbs up through the window to let the other guys know he was ready to leave.

"Yo! Duke says it's time to go! Mikey! Vince! Hurry up!" shouted Joey.

"Yeah, yeah! Don't have to tell me twice!" shouted Mikey back. He quickly knocked a ghoul out and dashed towards the helicopter as Duke began to lift off the ground. Vince followed behind and the two quickly boarded and were finally off the roof, beyond the ghouls reach.

"Nyeh! Can't catch us now losers!" laughed Mikey as he stuck his tongue out towards them.

"So what now? Domino City is under siege and we need to set up a base of operations. Any ideas where?" asked Vince as he was hoping to get an answer from anyone.

"We head to Duelist Kingdom. That is our best bet and after that, we track down Aeru," replied Yami.

"How are we supposed to find him pharaoh?" asked Joey, "Those four generals said we need some kind of key to unlock this door."

"We already have the keys. The only thing we are missing now is Seto's Dark Millennium item," answered Yami as he patted the bag he was holding that carried the original Millennium items.

"Then will be able to save Mokuba, Serenity, and Yugi as well from that punk! He is going to pay for messing with us!" yelled Joey.

"I hope you guys will help us out in our time of our need. We know you just met us, but any help will make a difference," pleaded Tea as she stared at Mikey and Vince.

The two looked at each for a second and both nodded in agreement to help. Bakura on the other hand couldn't help but stare at the two newcomers. Something didn't seem right about them, but for the moment he simply brushed it aside. The gang remained silent from that point on as they headed towards Duelist Kingdom and Yami was lost in his thoughts. Aeru's deck was powerful and Yami believed he only witnessed the tip of it. If he were going to face Aeru again, he would need powerful cards to make the duel into his favor. But could he really defeat Aeru? Should he defeat Aeru?

"Pharaoh? Is something the matter?" asked a worried Tea.

"Just lost in my thoughts," replied Yami softly.

"It's about Aeru isn't it?" asked Tea feeling she knew what he was thinking.

Everyone turned to face the pharaoh to hear what he had to say.

"Yes. I know Aeru must be stopped, but he is my only brother and the key to discovering who I was, who I am. I can't help, but think perhaps I really am the one at fault for putting him onto this path. Despite having no memories, I feel…hurt and guilty, but at the same time, this doesn't feel right. Like it's not suppose to be this way," answered Yami.

"Forget about your pestering feelings pharaoh. Our main objective is to beat Aeru and that is all. It's bad enough I'm helping you fools out, but helping you has more benefits than working with a madman throwing a tantrum around," groaned Bakura angrily, "Besides, he seems very determined to destroy you once and for all so I doubt he would ever want to listen to you."

"You're wrong Bakura," replied Yami hastily, "Maybe Aeru does have the right to be angry at me. Thinking of nothing but revenge after all these millenniums, but I know what I can do to save him and admit his wrongdoing."

End of Chapter 19

Next Chapter – Preparation for the Final Confrontation! (Is Darkness What Awaits?)

Ugh. UGH. UGHHHHHHH! After countless millenniums, I finally updated! Argh, never go to school! Well, go to school because that's important and if you finished school, good for you! I need to finish this story as quickly as possible. I really want to finish this, but I never get the chance to. This is my first ever story I published on this site and I want to end this after all these years. To those who waited and waited, but found other things to do while waiting, I'm sorry to keep you waiting and hopefully this time I won't keep you waited any longer. It's a new year and it's a new chapter. This chapter was supposed to be called 'Preparation for the Final Confrontation', but figure focus more on the gang escaping Domino City at the moment. Working on the next chapter right now. Don't know how long it'll take, but I will say this, next chapter shouldn't take that long since it'll most likely be a short one. After that, the fun awaits because it is nothing but straight up duel chapters. YAY (Not yay)! But I already have a sense what the chapter duels will be so that shouldn't take as long as it should be. Anyways I'm very sorry for making you wait, especially when it's getting close to the end. I would buy you all gifts if I ever met you! Again, thank you so much and hope to see you again next chapter!

~GB