Seal of Power

Author's Note: A short 'what if' fic about Joey meeting Dartz and being offered the Seal of Orichalcos.

Joey is offered the chance to know what power feels like. The kind of power that Yugi, Marik, and Kaiba all got to experience.

Can Joey resist the temptation to have a taste of power for himself- or will the Orichalcos darken his heart?

Joey arrived at his apartment. Well actually, the apartment he shared with Tristan.

Tristan must not have come home at all that day. That would explain why a package with Joey's name on it was just sitting on the porch collecting dust.

"That Nimrod," Joey muttered to himself, carefully picking up the box.

That was weird. Whatever was inside it didn't feel very heavy...

Joey was curious to see what was in the box, so he quickly got the apartment door unlocked.

He placed the box on the coffee table in their small living room and began peeling off the tape.

Even more astonishing was what he found inside the package.

A video tape...

He experienced a shiver of a deja vu, remembering Yugi's tape from Pegasus, and gingerly picked up the tape.

He brought it to the VCR and pushed it in.

Joey kicked back on his couch casually, but the tape's message soon had him on the edge of his seat.

"Greetings Joseph..."

The speaker was a man with heterochromia and long blue hair. He sounded very formal.

"I send you this message with an offer," the suited man went on. "I'm sure it's an offer you won't refuse..."

The scene in the video flipped to a dark room that looked something like a jail cell.

Joey's heart fell to see Yugi in that cell. He looked weak and coughed feebly.

"Joey," Yugi's voice pleaded.

"Yugi!" Joey exclaimed and jumped up.

The video switched back to the suited man.

"Don't worry," the man spoke. "He's fine, for the most part. Though I daresay he has a bit of a cold coming on. My name is Dartz. Why don't you come by the Domino Museum and we can discuss the conditions of his release? Today at 5 o'clock. I have no doubt this tape will have reached you..."

Joey looked at his watch and almost panicked. It was already 4:15!

He didn't even think to call Grandpa Moto and check on things. His sense of protectiveness for Yugi kicked in and drowned out everything else.

He was out of the apartment with a dash. His feet moved as his lungs and heart protested.

He just had to reach the museum!

Finally, after several blocks of running he was able to stop. He doubled over to catch his wind, but dared not take too long.

Joey's breathing steadied and he collected himself. His watch now showed 4:35.

He wiped at the sweat on his forehead from running and started ascending the museum steps.

He wondered why this mystery man would meet him here at the museum during business hours.

The inside was packed with a considerable crowd of couples and young friends.

He approached a woman seated behind a desk.

"Scuse me," he spoke. "I'm looking fah a guy named Dartz. You seen 'im?"

She looked at Joey strangely and blinked. Then recognition dawned and she smiled.

"Oh right," she said brightly. "You're Joey Wheeler!"

"Da one and only," Joey enthused.

She laughed lightly and beckoned for him to follow.

She led him past several exhibits to a small door against the museum's back wall.

Taking out a pair of keys she opened it and instructed him to take the stairs down.

"We rent the basement to high paying clients sometimes," she explained. "See you around!"

Joey took the stairs down to the basement floor, which was a large open space for hosting private exhibits.

A man with long blue hair and a suit was facing away from him, as though absorbed in thought.

"Welcome Joseph," Dartz greeted. "Or should I say, Joey?"

Joey's fingers bawled into a fist and he started stomping forward.

"You can say Mista Fist!" he exclaimed angrily. "If you don't release my pal..."

"Relax Joey," Dartz said with an amused chuckle. "I only said that to get you here. Yugi has never left his house!"

Joey gasped with surprise.

"You tricked me?" he asked.

"Not hard to do," Dartz remarked. "However, I didn't bring you here to take shots at you. You could say I deal in the same business as Seto Kaiba and Maximillion Pegasus- duel monsters."

Now Joey was definitely confused.

"Duel monstahs," he said slowly. "Why didn't ya just say so?"

"Forgive my methods," Dartz apologized airily. "I wanted to be sure you'd come because I have an offer I know you're going to like."

Joey was a little suspicious.

"Go on..."

"I've watched you for some time Joey," Dartz said. "I know all about your time in Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. My organization recruits dueling talent like yours. I know for example, that you faced off against a considerably dangerous opponent in Battle City. I believe...Marik Ishtar?

Joey nodded.

"Yeah and I woulda mopped da floor with that spiky hair of his!"

Dartz chuckled with amusement.

"Quite," he said as though he agreed with Joey's statement. "I know my money was on you. I said all this because I'm quite familiar with your deck."

Dartz proceeded to a nearby suitcase of rather large size and sorted through it.

"Ah!" he said. "Here..."

He handed Joey a deck of duel monsters cards.

"I think you'll find most of the same cards in there you already use. However, I customized it for better balance and power. I do hope you'll accept this gift as my apology for bringing you here like this?"

Joey jerked up the deck gleefully like a schoolboy with a new present and started flipping through the cards.

"Awesome," he said.

"Glad you like it," Dartz said. "I'd also like to offer you something else, but you needn't accept it. It's entirely up to you..."

Dartz produced a card from his pocket and an odd green crystal on a chain.

"This card is something I have full confidence you can use," Dartz explained, handing it to Joey with the crystal necklace. "You see, this card will give you something that until now you've only watched other people enjoy. Power..."

Joey curiously looked at the card, and something like hunger awakened in him at Dartz's words.

Joey found himself wanting to know what power felt like.

"I can have power?" Joey asked slowly, pointing to himself.

"Oh yes," Dartz said with a smile. "Power like Yugi, Marik, and Pegasus have all enjoyed in front of you. Take it from me Joey- you'll love power."

Joey's hunger seemed to bubble up and spring into desire.

"Power that Kaiba has arrogantly paraded in front of you," Dartz went on with a clever look. "Of course, power is a heavy thing. This power might change you forever."

Something like warning lept within Joey.

"Whatta ya mean?"

"Just that power does that to people," Dartz explained smoothly. "Once they get a taste, they never know how they did without it. They love it!"

Joey looked at the Orichalcos card and felt a desire to play it now. He wanted to taste this power that Dartz was offering.

Suddenly he had the thought that with power, Marik couldn't have taken over his mind. Joey could have used his power to overwhelm Marik instead.

Maybe this power would even place him on a more even playing field with Yugi...

Joey was beginning to understand that power was something desirable to him. Something that he may even need, but he'd never been offered it before now.

"I wanta try it," he told Dartz, sounding not entirely sure. "I mean, it could change me, but sometimes- change is for da better!"

"Well said," Dartz said as though he couldn't agree more. "Be warned that power also has a price. Are you willing to pay it?"

Joey felt unsure again, but he could at least try and see.

"I can pay it once," Joey said like it was no sweat. "That's the only way to know if it's worth paying..."

Dartz smiled widely.

"How wrong Kaiba is about you," he said. "You're very wise, in your own way. You already know much of power..."

"Well I'm Joey Wheeler!" Joey exclaimed proudly. "Dats me! Wise and full of insight!"

Dartz inclined his head toward the crystal necklace still in Joey's hand.

"You'd better put that on," he suggested. "It's what powers the card..."

Joey did just that. He slung the crystal over his head and pulled it down, til the string was against his neck.

"Shuffle your deck," Dartz instructed. "...and get ready to taste that power! Make sure you shuffle that card in. I'll fetch your opponent!"

Dartz stepped into an adjecent room and returned with a young man at his side. Someone a little younger than Joey, still in his teens.

"I've paid you for this match," Dartz told the boy. "Now give it all you've got!"

"Right," the boy said and took his place across from Joey.

Dartz brought them both duel disks.

Joey noticed that strangely his duel disk was different. It seemed to be made of fine glass and had weird symbols on it.

"My organization uses these special duel disks," Dartz explained, handing Joey his. "It's just to identify ourselves. Remember your own words Joey. You have to pay the cost of power once. That's the only way to get your first taste..."

Joey nodded and slung out his arm, admiring the way his new duel disk extended on it's own to reveal the playing slots.

He drew five cards and faced his opponent down.

"Duel!" he and his opponent said together.

Then Joey started things off.

"I'll play this card face down! Then I summon my Rocket Warrior..."

The monster was summoned to the field.

"Your move," Joey told the boy.

The teen nodded and drew a card for his turn.

He threw a monster face down in defense mode and ended with that.

Joey drew a card and was disappointed to see he hadn't drawn the one Dartz gave him yet.

"Rocket Warrior, attack his face down monsta!"

Rocket Warrior sent out a burst of flames and went flying across the room.

A light errupted from the face down card, and a repulsive insect creature caught Rocket Warrior dead in it's feelers.

"My Man Eater Bug destroys it!" the boy taunted. "...and now, since your turn's over! I draw! Then I'll use Man Eater Bug to attack you directly..."

Joey braced himself for the blow, and felt a force like wind knock into him, taking a small bite out of his Life Points.

He clenched his hand in a fist and made a frustrated noise.

"Not cool!" he shouted at his opponent. "All right! Play time's ova now!"

He drew and his heart lept at the card he now held.

It was the strange seal. He read the name of the card, as his heart hammered.

'The Seal of Orichalcos'

Joey read it again, and something in him like doubt manifested.

Could he do it? Could he pay whatever the price was going to be?

'I won't know,' he thought to himself. 'Until I do it! I hafta play it..."

Joey raised the card high.

"Now I activate...da Seal of Orichalcos!"

The field slot on his duel disk opened to receive the card.

As soon as he played it, a weird circle appeared above his duel disk and turned with a strange whirring sound.

A larger seal began to descend from the sky, as though summoned by his duel disk.

It descended around them and encircled their playing field.

Green lines extended from the circle's center and crossed, making a hexagram shape on the ground.

Joey's crystal necklace glowed with a green light, and his body flooded with new energy in a massive burst.

It was like a livewire was pumping him full of it. Whatever this power was.

His body seemed to wake up. The power made his head pound and his mind rush.

Eventually, the energy seemed to even out in him. It was like an ocean of untapped power had opened in him, and his mind was directed into it.

He felt...different.

Something hot seemed to bore into his forehead.

For the first time in his life, Joey didn't feel unfocused and obnoxious. He felt calm and sure of himself.

He was aware of his blonde hair parting on it's own, to display whatever he could now feel against his forehead.

"Now I summon Baby Dragon," Joey spoke.

...but somehow, even he didn't think he quite sounded like himself. His voice sounded slower.

The power was causing a strange change in his brain and nervous system.

Baby Dragon appeared on the field and became enveloped with a green aura.

Joey noticed his monster's attack display increase the values by five hundred, and quickly caught on.

"Now thanks to the Seal of Orichalcos..." he said. "...his power's boosted."

The boy looked at the monster and Joey with horror.

Joey wondered why the teen looked so scared all of a sudden.

"Y-your monster," the boy stammered. "What have you done to it?"

Joey wasn't sure how to answer. The power of the seal was still pulsing in his head, clouding his concentration.

"You lost me," he told the kid.

"You've got a weird seal on your forehead!" the teen exclaimed.

Joey didn't know why, but he smiled at that. He knew somehow that it was a twisted and malevolent smirk.

"Why yes," he said, feeling a strange glee awaken in him. "This is the power of the Orichalcos. My newest magic trick! Now it's time for you to pay up for this new power of mine. Baby Dragon, attack!"

A large fireball engulfed the teen's Man Eater Bug and burned it to cinders.

"Your monsta is gone," Joey taunted the boy, feeling a sudden joy in mocking his opponent.

The teen gulped and drew a card.

"Right, my turn! This should be strong enough to take out your Baby Dragon! I summon Vorse Raider!"

The monster, so well known to Joey because of Kaiba appeared.

He felt a sudden rush of anger because of Kaiba and made a fist.

"Not so fast punk!" Joey spat. "I activate the face down card I played. Ring of Destruction!"

A ring enveloped Vorse Raider and the entire monster exploded into bits.

"I also lose Life Points," Joey said with a smirk. "Still, that's a small price! You're now defenseless..."

Joey realized suddenly why this power made him feel so happy.

It wasn't just that he loved the taste of power. It was like an old friend had returned thanks to the seal.

Namely, the boy he had once been before he met Yugi. A boy that took everything he wanted, just like Kaiba.

Joey thought now that maybe that had been the right way after all. Hadn't his loss to Marik proven that good intentions don't mean jack?

Joey smiled at his hidden thoughts and drew for his turn. His opponent's wide eyes spoke of terror, while his gaze didn't move from Joey's forehead.

Joey loved the fear he saw there. He didn't even bother to deny it to himself. He loved it!

"Now feast your eyes on the end punk!" Joey promised him. "I use Monster Reborn to bring back your Vorse Raider under my control! Then I sacrifice it and my Baby Dragon to summon this..."

The two monsters turned into energy and jetted into the air.

"Meet my Guardian Angel Joan," Joey said. "With 2800 attack points, you're toast!"

"No!" the teen yelped with fright.

"Yes!" Joey shot back. "Now watch the seal give this angel the cool look..."

A green aura enveloped Joan and a radical transformation began.

Her white wings turned black like ink, while her fair skin turned purple and aged.

Her hair turned a sick acid green, and her power shot up to 3300.

"Now that Joan looks coolah," Joey said. "Attack his Life Points directly!"

The teen boy cried out as the now fallen angel monster tore into him.

His Life Points dropped through the floor, hitting zero.

The seal began the whirring sound again and began to close.

The teen cried out and pulled at his hair as though he were in the throws of burning torment, as the seal shrunk to encircle only him.

"You lost!" Joey explained. "So now ya get to pay da price for my power!"

The teen gasped and fell forward, not moving as though he were dead.

Horror at what he'd done suddenly filled Joey as his mind began to clear and return to normal.

He ran the the collapsed boy and shook him.

"No," he denied. "What did I do!"

A hard hand squeezed his shoulder.

"Don't deny it Joey Wheeler," Dartz said harshly. "Don't deny who you are! I watched you during that duel. You loved it! You loved using your new power to crush an opponent. You loved watching the seal suck out that unworthy shell's soul!"

Joey found himself nodding.

"I did," he admitted in a whisper. "I did love it."

"Of course you did," Dartz encouraged. "That's because that was the real you Joey. Think back to what you and Tristan were. You let Yugi change you!"

Joey felt somehow empty inside with a new resentment toward Yugi, but he didn't deny a word Dartz said.

He was beginning to realize that now that he'd tasted the power- he would want to taste it again and again.

Already he felt deprived without it. He felt hungry...

"I never realized power could feel so good," Joey said.

"That's right," Dartz said. "Feeling good is what matters. What are other people next to your happiness Joey? Putting others before your happiness is the mark of having no spine and hating yourself."

"You're right," Joey agreed, hardly believing he was free to say it.

"Now you're going to join my organization," Dartz concluded. "Because only I can bring you the opportunities you crave to taste your new power. To use it! The more you use it, the more you'll love it..."

Dartz was absolutely right on all counts.

Joey knew he was going to go with the man and fully embrace this new existence of power.

Power had made him feel more fulfilled than he ever had in his life.

Now he finally understood why someone like Marik had liked it so much...