"Hey, Rebecca, it's time to wake up."

Rebecca tried to ignore the voice in her ear, but as soon as someone started shaking her shoulder, she realized trying to go back to sleep was a lost cause. With one last groan of protest, she opened her eyes and turned towards the smiling face of Yugi Muto. The King of Games looked all too happy as he greeted her.

"Good morning…or should I say afternoon. Welcome back to Japan, and happy birthday!" Rebecca was far too groggy to really deal with her travelling companion at the moment, instead fishing out her phone. Seeing as they were still taxiing to the gate, it was still in airplane mode and showed 11:15 PM on November 4th. Doing the math in her head, she added the thirteen hours needed to account for time zones and the international date line to determine the local time was 12:15 PM on November 5th. Depending on how you counted, this was either 14 or 27 hours after their plane had taken off from New York—and it put her a little over halfway through her 14th birthday.

Rebecca stretched out in her seat. "Well, I guess my sleep schedule is going to be completely messed up now. Normally I can't sleep that well on a plane, but that's one of the advantages of travelling with a KaibaCorp employee. First class is definitely the way to fly. And shouldn't I be welcoming you back home? You're the one who's from here. I'm just a girl who speaks Japanese with an American accent."

"True, but I'm returning home while you're a guest. It only seems right for me to welcome you. Besides, it's not like I'll get too many chances to talk with you today. Unless you want me to follow your grandpa's suggestion and stick with you for the whole trip?"

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "What, are you worried that because I'm fourteen now I'm just going to grab Mokuba and run off to a love motel?" Rebecca just smirked as Yugi predictably started sputtering in embarrassment. You could give him the fame from being the King of Games, the confidence from repeatedly saving the world, and even some muscles from hitting the gym alongside his dancer girlfriend, but deep down Yugi would still be the same person who was basically the world's dorkiest older brother.

Deciding to give him a break, she shook her head. "You really need to stop making it so easy to embarrass you. While I can't say exactly what the plan is for this weekend since Mokuba wants it to be a surprise, I can assure you we won't be doing anything that would make us need to study up on Japan's legal age limits. It'll be fine, and if anything bad would happen, I'm sure there will be a legion of KaibaCorp security guards within eyesight at all times."

As if to prove her point, as soon as the two of them walked through the security checkpoint, Roland was waiting for them beside one of the KaibaCorp limousines. While Mokuba had sold off much of the private motorcade—as well as all of the private jets that weren't shaped like dragons—in an effort to offset the drop in profits over the past year, he was still willing to splurge when it came to picking up his friends.

Since the Kame Game Shop was between the airport and Kaiba Corporation headquarters, Rebecca had a relatively quiet end to her ride after Roland dropped Yugi off. The manservant still hadn't fully adjusted after Seto's absence, and while Mokuba still felt a close relationship to the employee who had worked for the Kaiba family for more than a decade, Rebecca could tell Roland wasn't as close to the younger Kaiba brother. If you combined that with a naturally safe driver who preferred not to have any distractions, the spacious limo felt almost cavernous in its isolation.

Rebecca was all too glad when the ride ended at the doors of Kaiba Corporation. She breezed through the entryway without even bothering to stop at the check-in station, instead heading straight for the private elevators. A quick scan of her key card let her go up to the executive office. A few years previously, only those with the last name of Kaiba and a select few trusted employees could get within even a few floors of the CEO's office, but Mokuba was a bit more inviting than Seto had been. Any KaibaCorp employee would be able to come up here—as well as certain individuals Mokuba trusted. Rebecca was certain she fell into the latter category—unlike most employees, her card would even let her go one floor higher into the penthouse apartment.

Rebecca was certain she'd spend a little bit of time visiting the apartment before the day was through, but for now she was content with stopping a floor below. She walked right up to the door, only for Mokuba's secretary to stop her.

"I apologize, Miss Hawkins, but Mr. Kaiba's meeting is running late. I know today is your special day, but would you mind waiting just a little bit longer? You should be able to check out the R&D floor for a few minutes if that would interest you."

Rebecca just smiled back at the Egyptian woman. "I've told you before, Fizdis, you don't need to be so formal with me. How's your family doing, by the way?"

"Much better, all thanks to Mr. Kaiba. Asim is taking to the treatment very well. He may even be able to walk again soon."

"That's great to hear! I know it must not have been easy to relocate to Japan, so I'm glad everything is working out. Anyway, I'm off to the R&D department. Just tell Mokuba where I am when the meeting is over"

Rebecca returned to the elevator, taking it down a few floors and shaking her head at the sequence of events that lead to Fizdis working as Mokuba's secretary. It was an almost perfect blend of human decency, happy coincidence, and pure irony that could only be described as destiny. Fizdis's father Adom had spent his life as a sort of treasure hunter, though his dreams of grandeur often far outstripped his reality, leaving his family incredibly poor. His most notable success was finding an ancient tablet depicting a story where a servant girl named Fizdis warned a prince of an ongoing coup, allowing him to escape the palace. There weren't any other details mentioned, but the man went away from his find with a confidence he would soon strike it rich and a name to give to his eldest child.

Unfortunately, things never quite worked out according to plan. After Adom's wife died giving birth to a son with a degenerative nerve disease, he threw himself more into his work just to try and keep his family alive. His drive nearly killed him, until Fizdis stepped in and did whatever she could to help. In her case, she started managing her father's schedule and reviewing any contracts he tried to sign. While Adom often didn't even know the language of the contracts he signed, Fizdis made sure to teach herself so her father wouldn't get caught in something too dangerous or too illegal.

This pattern continued, right up until a rather shady Japanese billionaire needed to excavate a piece of lost jewelry and had enough money that it wasn't technically illegal anymore to dig up a Pharaoh's personal treasure. While that particular job had its fair share of negative consequences, it resulted in Mokuba Kaiba finding out about Fizdis's skill with logistics and language. After the dust settled, hiring her both filled a position of need and allowed Asim access to the world's best medical care courtesy of Kaiba Corporation's employee health plan. Mokuba also privately laughed at the irony—the tablet telling the story of the ancient servant girl Fizdis dated to around the same time as the Tablet of Memories. In ancient times, Fizdis had likely saved the life of a relative of the Pharaoh Seto, and now a relative of the modern Seto was saving the life of a relative of the modern Fizdis.

Rebecca dearly wished she could be in the room when the elder Kaiba brother found out that particular connection. Mokuba had rather gleefully told Seto all about it hoping for some reaction, but considering the circumstances it wasn't a surprise he hadn't responded. Still, she was eager to see yet another one of the vehement denials of ancient connections and hoped she would be able to see it soon—for Mokuba's sake especially. She was a little lost in the thought as she wondered off of the elevator, but the sight awaiting her in the research lab made her do a double take and banished all other thoughts from her mind.

Kaiba Corporation had been a natural habitat for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon for the last five years, so it wasn't unexpected to see it everywhere in the building. Between the statues, jets, and coffee brand, Rebecca thought she would never be surprised to see any Blue-Eyes variant ever again. That belief was shattered at the dragon before her. In basic structure, it looked remarkably like a Blue-Eyes—that is, if a Blue-Eyes got drunk, mixed up Christmas and Easter, and went out dressed half like a snowman and half in a bunny suit.

There were three of the cunicular dragons within the testing field, under control of one of the many duel robots used to test out the duel disks. However, the human opponent didn't add any more clarity to the situation. Sure, it was impossible not to recognize the lead developer's platinum-blonde hair, and Gwyneth had used a dragon deck back when she was the Welsh regional champion. Still, Rebecca was certain a card like this had never been released to the general public. Luckily, Rebecca didn't have to wait long to at least find out a little bit more about the monsters, as Gwyneth called out to them.

"Okay, Rabidragons, time for the first human test of the new feedback system. Sequential Bunny Blizzards!" The three dragons launched their attacks at Gwyneth, with the icy blasts strongly resembling a Blue-Eyes's White Lightning. All three converged on the programmer shortly after each other, but unlike her own experience almost two months ago Rebecca noticed the programmer was able to keep her feet. That probably wasn't a coincidence, so Rebecca announced her presence once the holograms faded.

"Hey Gwyneth, did Mokuba really assign tweaking the feedback system to you? Sure, it's nice to know things are getting safer based on what happened to me, but I'm sure there are better uses of your time."

Gwyneth spun around at her voice. "Wait, are you Rebecca Hawkins? It's on honor to meet you! Your work on encryption is amazing!" However, a look of suspicion crossed her eyes a second later. "Wait, how do you know my name? I could understand if Mr. Kaiba talked about me, but everyone here calls me Sara since my middle name is much easier to pronounce in Japanese."

Rebecca mentally smacked herself. Of course she would forget that she had never actually introduced herself to Gwyneth before, so now things were bound to get awkward. "Right, I'm going to let you know right now that I probably know more about you than anybody else here. Considering your employment history, the board wouldn't hire you unless someone could prove there wasn't anything shady about you. I got pulled in to help with the background check."

Of course, Rebecca had gone well above and beyond what would have been legal back in America, but that wasn't exactly something you shared with someone you just met. As it was, Gwyneth just paused for a second and blinked owlishly. "I'm…not sure how to feel about that. I mean, I got the job, so you obviously did something to help me get hired despite what my programs have done. Still, I would have thought I would still get at least some form of privacy here…"

Rebecca rubbed the back of her neck, then noticed she had picked up one of Yugi's awkward habits. "Well, the sad fact is I'm pretty sure you're better off with the level of checking that happened. It's not your fault that people kept taking your programs and doing crazy things with them, and luckily the Kaiba family has enough experience with megalomaniacs that it's par for the course really."

Something Rebecca would probably never tell Gwyneth was the fact that her former employers' use of her technology probably helped her get the job instead of hurting her. Between her previous work as an intern helping on the Virtual World program for the Big Five and her later employment at SIC where she had a big hand in creating Kingdom, she had twice created virtual worlds that were used in attempts to either kill or take the souls of the Kaiba brothers. That kind of experience certainly stuck with future employers. Once it was proven that Gwyneth had no knowledge of the nefarious plots of many of her former bosses, Mokuba had aggressively recruited her for the lead developer position.

Not wanting to drive Gwyneth away with more of the sordid truths of the world she worked in, Rebecca decided to switch to a hopefully safer topic. "Well, I'm sure things will get less crazy going forward. If you don't mind me asking, what monsters are those that you're using? I thought I knew every dragon in the game, but those are new to me."

Gwyneth seemed relieved at the change in topic, and held out the card to Rebecca. The young duelist saw it had 2950 attack and 2900 defense while the older woman explained. "Well, it was never released to the general public. The three Rabidragons that I have are the only ones that exist."

Rebecca looked more closely at the card. "Okay, now this is just getting too strange. I thought they looked vaguely like a Blue-Eyes before, and now you're telling me there are only three copies of this Level eight, Dragon type, Normal monster with more than 2900 attack? Is your dad doing that thing he does where he likes to see just how much he can push Seto Kaiba's buttons?"

Gwyneth let out a little chuckle. "Well, when you put it that way, it certainly sounds like something he would do. Although in this case, it's all a coincidence. These cards were a gift from my brother a little over a year ago. He must have found some of my old belongings from the orphanage, because he made the cards based on a sketch he found in one of my old notebooks. Five-year-old me was not exactly a talented artist."

She paused for a second with a thoughtful look in her eye. "You know, maybe Yako is taking after Dad's sense of humor. It would certainly explain this last cards he sent me. After all, how can a card named Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon not be referencing Blue-Eyes White Dragon?"

The statement itself was innocuous enough, but with what had happened at the Phoenix Invitational with Yako's duel spirit, Rebecca was on high alert for anything strange coming from the Industrial Illusions executive. Especially since he had brushed off any attempts at communication over the last month. While there hadn't been any real conversation before the tournament, the sudden silence now was more worrying. It was as if Yako either didn't believe their story or at least wasn't taking the threat seriously—which was a red flag for someone who had first-hand experience getting possessed by a Duel Monster previously.

"Has Yako been doing anything strange lately? I met him at the Phoenix Invitational, and everything seemed fine, but Yugi noticed something off about him." Seeing Gwyneth's eyes harden, Rebecca immediately threw up her hands in mock surrender. "It's not what you think! Yes, Yugi dealt with your brother back when he had his breakdown, but Yugi didn't think it felt like that. It was more like Yako was under duress than anything else."

Seeing Gwyneth continue to glare at her, Rebecca just sighed. "Okay, fine. I'm sorry I brought it up. Just, please keep an eye on your brother? I'm really hoping I'm wrong, but he might need some help again." She spun around and headed back to the elevator, shaking her head and trying to swallow her frustration. She didn't even stop when Mokuba stepped out of the elevator to greet her, instead pushing him back in and pressing the button for the main lobby.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Mokuba's words snapped Rebecca back to reality. She supposed it was rather obvious that something had been bothering her, so she didn't bother asking how he knew. Instead, she let out another sigh.

"Does it ever bother you that some people just refuse to believe the truth of the world? I was just talking with Gwyneth, and even though things have been weird with her brother, she treated me like I was being crazy. Of course, I could go into the full details, but then I'd just be the latest in a long line of crazy people she worked with that believed magic was real. Even though it definitely is, I can't say anything without coming off as a total nutjob."

Mokuba blinked in surprise before smiling. "Okay, I can actually help with this one, because I've had this same argument with Seto a few times. I was all for ripping off the band-aid and making it public, but Seto stopped me—and this was after he would stop categorically denying anything magical. I like to forget about this particular period of my life, but do you know what really got the ball rolling on our holographic duel monsters technology?"

The elevator dinged as they arrived in the lobby, but Mokuba grabbed Rebecca's shoulder before she could step out. "Actually, I need to pick some stuff up from the apartment before we head out. You good to head up first?"

Rebecca just rolled her eyes and pushed the button for the penthouse apartment. As soon as the doors closed, Mokuba continued his story. "The hologram technology actually has its basis in magic- specifically, the Pharaoh's magic. The whole televised affair with Death-T wasn't my brother's first duel with the Pharaoh. That came a little bit earlier, after my brother stole the Blue-Eyes White Dragon from Yugi with a lot less fanfare than the second time around. The Pharaoh dueled him, and used his magic to make the monsters appear real. Seto lost, and his penalty game was getting trapped in an illusion that all the monsters were real and eating him."

"Ouch. When you put it that way, making the murder park almost seems like a reasonable follow-up. But for someone who spent around three years vehemently denying magic was real, it seems strange that your brother would focus all his investments on something to recreate it."

"And that goes into the reasons why Seto didn't want to make the knowledge public—he has first hand experience with two of the possible negative reactions. Back before Yugi helped us come out of the old cartoon supervillain days, he saw magic and thought 'I can use this to make a ton of money and also kill a bunch of kids'. Then, when he woke up from the coma, he had to spend years grappling with the reality that there were forces outside of his control—and in order to assert some semblance of control in rebuilding his life he was forced to deny all of them."

Mokuba took a breath before continuing. "Basically, making magic common knowledge would be too devastating for the general world. While some people would be understanding like you and be able to roll with it, others would probably have an existential crisis at the fact that a trading card game is far more important than just about anything else. And that's for the people who don't try to use those powers for their own gain. Digging up the Millennium Items again nearly ended the world, and those we can at least keep an eye on. Who knows what could happen if someone looks for Orichalcos stones or pulls a Scott Irvine and finds their own way to channel that power for destruction?"

Rebecca just sighed as the doors opened to the luxurious apartment that was serving as the residence for the Kaiba brothers. As they stepped into Seto's room, Rebecca got yet another reminder that even when magic wasn't harmful, it still affected the world in strange ways. Mokuba was just stopping by to say hello to his brother, but Seto was still comatose and thus unable to respond. His brain activity on the EEG was higher than the doctors expected for a coma patient, but that was far from the only abnormality. What Rebecca found the creepiest was his heart rate—which had remained at a constant 60 beats per minute over the past six weeks. The doctors had a whole other host of strange things they were tracking about their patient, but Rebecca wasn't privy to all of the medical information and Mokuba didn't exactly share every detail he knew when it came to his brother's medical care.

After the brief check-in, Mokuba lead her into his room. He then smirked at her and went into his closet, waving for her to follow. Rebecca just quirked her eyebrow as she stepped into the walk-in closet, wondering what exactly her friend was getting at. She decided to follow after him, unsurprised to see a closet full of white suits with a scattering of other formal wear. She was a little surprised that Mokuba didn't have anything more comfortable since he liked to dress like a normal teenager when he could, but that surprise faded when Mokuba opened a secret panel on the wall. Rebecca rolled her eyes as Mokuba swiped his locket and entered a keycode to open a hidden room from the back of his closet.

"Okay, I thought you were dealing with decreased profits. Is there any reason you decided to put in a secret closet at the back of your regular closet?"

"First off, this room has existed for years, so it's not like I'm frivolously spending money to turn my apartment into a secret lair. Secondly, it's not a secret closet—it's a panic room that I've happened to convert into extra storage. And it's an absolutely vital step in our plans for today."

Rebecca wondered how exactly that could be the case when she glanced into the room and it looked like the dream home of a regular fifteen-year-old boy—complete with a giant entertainment system and what looked to be a fully stocked refrigerator. The closet within the panic room was stocked with sweatpants, jeans, graphic tees, and sweatshirts in comparison to the formal wear outside, except for—

"Okay, is that what I think it is? It looks like that's a dress for a Disney princess. What's that doing here?"

Mokuba smirked. "That, Rebecca, is something left over from one of my earlier attempts at what we are about to do. I'm hoping you can keep a secret, because I'm about to open your eyes to the Adena Maneuver."

The name was vaguely familiar, but Rebecca couldn't place it. Still, it sounded quite a bit different from what she was expecting. "I thought we were just going to the mall for my birthday. This sounds a little bit too complex for that…"

"Not to sound too full of myself, but you do realize I'm Mokuba Kaiba, right? I can't do something as simple as go to the mall without having an entire security team following me and two different kidnapping attempts targeting me. Which is why if I'm going to take you to the mall, I have to do it completely off the grid, and I can't do it as Mokuba Kaiba."

"The idea started back after the first time we dealt with the Big Five in the virtual world. The princess in the game was programmed to look just like me, which let me disguise myself as Princess Adena to infiltrate the enemy base and rescue Seto. After that worked so well, I wanted to see if I could pull it off in the real world, and it worked great. I used to disguise myself and head out whenever I needed to get away from everything to enjoy a normal life. I've stopped going out as a girl after I started getting some strange looks—I'm guessing I don't pass quite as well as I used to—but with the right amount of preparation I can go from being teenage CEO to just a regular teenager."

Rebecca blinked owlishly as she tried to process this. "You mean you went through the whole setup of turning a panic room into a secret closet—as well as learning how to walk in high heels—just to get a chance to live life as a normal teenage boy? We really have a strange definition of normal now."

After a second, another thought crossed her mind. "Wait, how does this even work? I know you put a microchip in yourself so your security team would always be able to track you, and that doesn't even count things like your cell phone or credit card that would be easy to track whenever you used them. No matter how secretive this room is, people would still be able to find you."

"Not if this room completely blocked all outgoing signals. As soon as we stepped in here, we fell off the grid. So, if I take some time to disable the tracking chip and my phone's GPS, hack into the building security so I don't show up on any security cameras, and pay for everything in cash, it looks like I was in this room the whole time even if I go out to catch a movie or hit the mall for a couple of hours."

"Wow, you really have thought of everything… except one thing. It's now going to be obvious that the two of us came into this room together. So, what's going to be the cover story for what the two of us were doing in a completely private room… alone… for…"

Rebecca trailed off as she felt her face light up in a blush as she realized exactly what she was saying. Not that she wouldn't enjoy a place where she could spend some time with Mokuba uninterrupted, but it was a little bit too early to be thinking about things like that. She wasn't even sure if he liked her that way, let alone if he'd be willing to spend some time making out in his secret room.

Rebecca wondered if Mokuba's mind was going to the same places hers was, but he wouldn't turn to face her. The only thing different in his response was the crack in his voice as he started talking. "Just load up whatever DVDs you like into the player over there. It'll cycle through all three movies back to back to back. Usually I go with a Star Wars or a Lord of the Rings marathon. Anyway, I've gotta go change real quick. Be back soon!"

With that, he practically ran into the closet and shut the door. Rebecca really wasn't sure what to make of that, so she sighed and went looking through the movie collection. Mokuba certainly had an eclectic taste in movies- there were old samurai films and anime features next to things like The Wizard of Oz and modern Hollywood blockbusters. Looking through his collection at least let her compose her features and get the blush off of her face before Mokuba stepped out of the closet.

"Okay, do you seriously think that disguise is going to work? Yes, you look different than you did now, and the green eyes are a nice touch, but otherwise you look exactly like yourself. In fact, I'm pretty sure I could pull up a picture of you from around the time of Duelist Kingdom and you'd look exactly the same."

Mokuba just smirked back at her. "That's exactly why this works. No matter how good the disguise, odds are someone would recognize me eventually. But if I look like a slightly different version of myself? Nobody would believe it's actually me—why would a celebrity go through the trouble of getting a wig and colored contacts just to create such a horrible disguise? I just end up looking like someone who's copying the look of Mokuba Kaiba instead of people thinking it's actually me. If you want, you can feel free to join me—go ahead and grab anything you'd like out of my closet."

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "As flattered as I am that I finally have a friend I can borrow dresses from, I think I'll pass. It sounds like doing that would inflate your ego to dangerous levels. Just be glad I'm still letting you treat me to this shopping trip despite your little spy act."

Mokuba sighed as he eyed up the one of the few stores in the mall he had always tried to avoid. Normally on these trips, he stuck to things like the food court, clothing stores, and book stores—all places where people were less likely to recognize him. However, the pre-built excuse of 'that can't have been Mokuba Kaiba, because there's no way he would come to this place' didn't apply to the game shop in the mall. Back when Seto had first taken over the company, Kaiba Corporation would hire people to scout out any game stores just to ensure their product was properly reaching the general public. That wasn't needed as much now that the Kaiba name was one of the biggest in gaming, but Mokuba had gone on enough scouting missions himself to know the store owners might remember him.

However, somewhat desperate times called for somewhat desperate measures. There were some rather uncomfortable rumblings that were starting to get to his ears about a possible security breach in Kaiba Corporation. Of course, Mokuba knew the real reason—he had essentially hacked his own system to make it compatible with the old SIC technology to bring Seto back from the afterlife. Of course, he couldn't exactly go and announce that to the public, and the board of directors was starting to dig into the matter. Trying to run interference was eating up most of Mokuba's time, and that meant he missed one small detail about his birthday gift for Rebecca—she wouldn't actually be able to use it. While he wanted to leave the details of how she built the deck up to her, he figured he should at least give her a way to use the new card as it was within the confines of her current deck structure.

That meant he would have to get a couple of new cards—and considering Rebecca's deck had a good amount of level four monsters, the most likely bet would be to get some level three Tuners. Of course, since Tuner monsters were still relatively new, he might have to make do with whatever he could find in the store. He walked in and went straight to the large display case set up along the back wall. He started glancing through the cards without finding anything that would work for him when the clerk walked up to him.

"Can I help you with anything?"

Mokuba couldn't help it- the voice was too familiar for him not to react. He turned to face the clerk only to have his worries confirmed—this black spiky-haired teen was the same person he had met earlier today. He could see recognition cross the high-schooler's face and quickly waved him off. "I really don't have time to talk. Do you have any level three Tuner monsters for sale?"

Luckily, the clerk realized Mokuba's intent and nodded. "I think we have some back in stock. Let me take a look in the back."

Mokuba sighed in relief. Now he really owed Makoto Fudo that scholarship. Of course, he had earned that winning the latest contest. Mokuba had suggested the essay prompt more on a whim, but it had worked surprisingly well. The question had asked for a completely new way to revolutionize dueling to see if the candidates had a creative spark in addition to academic excellence. Some of the responses were enough to make Mokuba laugh—would anybody really want to have a duel disk fold into a revolver to invoke memories of other types of duels?—but Makoto had an idea to harness energy from duels to provide power to the cities of the world. It was an idea that seemed impossible on the surface, but Mokuba had experienced actual magic connected to Duel Monsters too much to say the idea was impossible.

When Makoto returned, Mokuba was pleased to see a small stack of cards in his hand and no mention of Mokuba's real occupation. Five cards in, Mokuba saw a Dragon-type Tuner and realized he wasn't likely to find anything better in terms of fitting in with Rebecca's other cards. "Can I get three copies of Delta Flyer, please?"

Makoto went to help ring Mokuba up, and the CDO was able to get the cards wrapped up and hidden in his pocket in the nick of time. No sooner had he stepped out of the store as Rebecca grabbed onto his arm—though with the mountain of shopping bags she was somehow carrying, he wasn't completely sure this wasn't another kidnapping attempt until she started talking.

"I know you don't really need to get new cards here, especially since most of the cards that support your deck are locked up in the vault of what I'm still not convinced isn't a cult."

Mokuba rolled his eyes as he rehashed the typical argument. "Okay, as a quasi-member, I feel like I have to say it's not really a cult. It's cult-like, but even if it was a full-on cult there's not anything wrong with it. I mean, sure the commute to the Himalayas is terrible, but—"

He trailed off as he realized he probably shouldn't be talking like this in a crowded mall. He also got his first good glance at Rebecca and noticed a change in her hair—it was naturally wavy and she usually straightened it a bit before styling it, but now it had been completely straightened out except for a little bit of a flare at the ends. Also for the first time he could think of, she wasn't letting her bangs partially down in front of her face, having parted her hair to the left side of her face.

It took Mokuba a second to realize that if he was able to stare at Rebecca's bangs, Rebecca would definitely be able to see him staring at her. He decided his only option was to try and play it cool. "Well, looks like I was off in trying to guess what you got. Love the new hairstyle, but I didn't think that was even an option. I was sure all of the money was going to new outfits. It looks really good."

Mokuba tried not to slap himself for how he said the last sentence. To try and move past it, he quickly started grabbing some of Rebecca's bags to help carry them and at least do something useful. He wished he could channel Seto's composure at times like these—although with Seto's relationship history, even that might not be helpful. After meeting Yugi, Seto had been more focused on getting his dueling title back, saving his company, and occasionally saving the world than dating—Mokuba could only remember a handful of dates, and nobody made it past a second date. After taking over from Gozaboro yet before meeting Yugi, Mokuba hadn't really paid attention but he was pretty sure there were only one-night stands as Seto was on his little power trip. In both cases, Seto wasn't really a good example of how to build a lasting relationship.

Mokuba had to force himself back to the present as Rebecca turned away with what looked like a blush on her face. "Thanks. And you're more right than you think. I remembered to take into account Japan's sales tax when I gave you the price, but I forgot that unlike America, your country is actually smart enough to include the sales tax on the price tag. I decided to put the extra money into the new hairstyle."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to take some more money out of your non-existent consultant fee. So, other than the haircut, what else did you get?" He tried to rearrange the bags he was holding so he could get a better glimpse of what was inside them, only to get an elbow to the ribs from Rebecca.

"Ever think there might be some things in there I don't want you to see? I'm in this for the full-on fashion show reveal, so you aren't getting a glimpse of those until I'm wearing them."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Fine, but in exchange, you'll have to try on the dueling outfit first. I've got a couple of pet projects that need testing out, so you'll be my guinea pig."

Rebecca took a few deep breaths as she prepped herself to step out of Mokuba's closet. He had holed up in Seto's room to set up whatever it was he wanted to test, so she had had the privacy to change into her new dueling outfit. Admittedly, it hadn't been her initial choice of outfit for the big reveal—that had been one of the formal blue dresses that would have matched perfectly with a collection of white suits to evoke the image of Kaiba Corporation's famous dragon—but she still really liked the outfit and wanted to make a good impression.

She supposed she logically had no reason to be nervous. After all, she had spent most of today going into a secret room, evading a highly trained security force, dropping off the grid with no form of adult supervision, and then going on a shopping spree with more money than someone her age had any right to spend. Combine all of that and just showing an outfit to the boy you liked should really be a piece of cake compared to everything else. Still, she couldn't help but take one last look in the mirror for some last-second adjustments.

She tweaked the cowl neck of her shirt so her choker necklace was more visible, then after some deliberation rolled up the sleeves of her blazer. While it was something she could make look professional, she didn't want to come off as too stuffy for a casual duel. She spent a few seconds playing with her bracelet before forcing herself to stop delaying. With one last deep breath, she went out to face Mokuba.

When she walked into the room, Mokuba was busy fiddling with something under an end table next to Seto's bed. She was about to get his attention when he looked up and she noticed his eyes go wide. He looked like he couldn't keep from staring, and Rebecca couldn't help smirking. The skinny jeans had definitely been a good choice.

"So, is that little thing the surprise you wanted to show me? I was thinking when you had some new duel technology that we might be dueling in zero gravity or something impressive like that, but I guess we can do it on a table."

A split second after the words left her mouth, Rebecca realized exactly how that sounded and lost all of the confidence her entrance had given her. How could she say something like that? Luckily, Mokuba probably didn't get too much of a chance to think about it, as something he was working on caused him to spring back from the table, shaking his hand and swearing. After a few seconds he calmed down and switched back to English.

"Okay, that's why I always left the wiring to someone else. I never did quite have Seto's gift for hardware. Still, should be good to go now. Care to join me for a duel? Fair warning- I'm going to be using Seto's exhibition deck."

Rebecca just smiled at the fact Mokuba either hadn't really heard her earlier slip, or was at least choosing not to comment on it. "Alright, let's see how my tournament legal deck fares against a deck full of cards that are banned." She set her copy of Five-Headed Dragon down before she started shuffling her deck, but Mokuba grabbed her hands before she could get too far.

"Just one second. The shopping trip was nice, but I already had a different gift planned for you and now seems like the perfect time. Happy Birthday, Rebecca." He pulled out a card and handed it to her. Rebecca turned it over to see the white background of a Synchro monster. Ancient Fairy Dragon was a blue serpentine dragon with butterfly-like wings, but what caught Rebecca's attention the most was the card's effect.

"Okay, so a Dragon-type monster that Special Summons Level 4 monsters and has an effect that restores life points? It's perfect! How did you even find something like this?"

Mokuba smiled. "I'm glad you like it. Although it might be a little cheating to say I found it—Pegasus designed it with my requests in mind. I gave him the idea for the effects, and apparently that sparked some inspiration. He started going on about some weird dream he got involving five dragons and then he had the design ready in a couple of days."

"Wow, so you gave me a one-of-a-kind card? Nobody's done that for me since Yugi. It's just too bad I won't be able to use this yet—if I remember correctly, I'd need to send a Tuner monster and another monster to the Graveyard with the right level combination to summon a Synchro monster."

Mokuba handed three more cards across the table. "That's why I was in the card shop today—I almost forgot about it too. Why don't you add these to your deck for now and we can get started?"

Rebecca shuffled the three copies of Delta Flyer—a Level 3 Tuner monster—into her deck. "Well, that solves that problem. Still, are you sure we want to duel here? I'm looking forward to seeing what Ancient Fairy Dragon looks like as a hologram instead of just an image."

Mokuba smirked. "Why do you think I set this up?" He flipped a switch under the table, causing a holographic playing mat to appear before each of them. "I realized something got lost in the switch to using holograms. Duel Monsters went from a game you played across a table to a game that needed giant arenas to a game where people stood thirty feet away from each other. I wanted to get back to the point where people could play without needing to clear out a room first, while still having the holograms. It's not on the same scale, but I'm hoping it's more accessible."

Rebecca nodded. "Good idea. Now let's see how well your technology scales down." She reached across the table to cut his deck, while he did the same to her. "So, since you aren't using the Cyber Dragon deck and it is my birthday, do you mind if I go first? I know that means you won't have as big of as advantage as usual."

Mokuba laughed. "Not at all—be my guest." Rebecca drew her opening hand and couldn't believe her luck. She was really looking forward to seeing Ancient Fairy Dragon, and with an opening hand of Alexandrite Dragon, Fire Princess, Delta Flyer, Silent Doom, and DNA Surgery, she had everything she needed to summon it on her second turn. The next draw wasn't as useful in the short term, but Stamping Destruction could have its uses later.

"Okay, I'll start by setting one card face-down and summoning Alexandrite Dragon in attack mode. That's it for me." A six-inch-tall Fabergé egg appeared in the middle of the field, until it cracked open to reveal a tiny jewel-encrusted dragon. Rebecca was impressed at the level of detail still available at such a small size—obviously you couldn't make out individual scales anymore, but the rainbow of gemstones was still distinguishable in the same pattern as usual.

Mokuba just smirked at her. "I take it the holograms live up to your expectations? Now it's my turn." He drew a card and looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, but I just drew my favorite card in this deck. Your little dragon is going to be toast."

Rebecca sighed. "Of course you would get a Blue-Eyes. It's practically cheating how often those monsters end up getting drawn at the perfect time."

Mokuba blinked at her. "Well, that's not the card I drew. My favorite card in this deck isn't a Blue-Eyes. Back when we were kids, Seto always dreamed of getting those dragons, and my dream was to help him do it. So, my favorite card is one that can bring forth any dragon in the game. I summon Lord of D.!"

The Spellcaster appeared on the field, and Rebecca noticed her Alexandrite Dragon bow its head to its opponent. However, Mokuba wasn't finished. "Having said that, I did have a Blue-Eyes in my opening hand, so you were partially right. I activate the Flute of Summoning Dragon to summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Kaiser Glider to the field!"

The robed monster grabbed the instrument and blew out a piercing call, which was answered when the white and gold dragons burst onto the field with a roar. "Alright, now, Blue-Eyes, attack her Dragon with White Lightning!" The small dragon couldn't quite match the signature roar of its full-sized counterpart, but the stream of lightning still shattered Rebecca's monster and took away 1000 life points.

"Now, Lord of D., attack directly with Dragonsoul Summons!" The humanoid monster thrust his arms forward, summoning forth two ethereal dragons that flew through Rebecca and took her down to 5800 life points. "Kaiser Glider, hit her with Golden Burst!" The last dragon engulfed itself in golden flames before charging at Rebecca, knocking her life points down to 3400. However, that was all Mokuba was able to do, and it was now Rebecca's turn again.

She drew her Dragon Shield, and couldn't help but chuckle. "That little barrage may have done a number on my life points, but it still won't stop me from making my next move. I just have to summon something that can withstand 3000 attack points, and thanks to you I have just the monster. I summon Delta Flyer in attack mode!" The yellow dragon with bladed wings appeared on the field, though Rebecca knew it wouldn't be there long. "Now, I activate Silent Doom to bring my Alexandrite Dragon back to the field. Lastly, my Level 3 Delta Flyer tunes my Level 4 Alexandrite Dragon to Synchro Summon Ancient Fairy Dragon in defense mode!"

Delta Flyer converted into three rings of light, while Alexandrite Dragon became four glowing stars that lined up through the center of the rings. In a burst of light, Ancient Fairy Dragon appeared on the field, accompanied by a strange humming and a rainbow aura. Even at six inches tall, it was a majestic sight—so majestic that both Mokuba and her stopped to stare at it. Rebecca wasn't sure how long that would have lasted, but a familiar voice interrupted the scene.

"Get away from my brother! Come forth, Azrael!"

Rebecca practically jumped at the interruption. It was difficult to come to terms with a suddenly-awakened Seto Kaiba shouting at her, but she was only able to question why he was telling her to move away from Mokuba for a split second. At that point, the air shimmered, and a Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared in the middle of the room. Unlike Mokuba's hologram, this dragon was fully grown—and judging from the fact that it shoved Mokuba and Rebecca backwards with its tail, it was also solid.

The sudden appearance of a living, breathing Blue-Eyes in the now cramped apartment drove Seto's recovery out of Rebecca's head as she tried to piece together what sort of magic was allowing the dragon to exist. However, the one person in the room who seemed to know what was going on was Seto, who wasn't finished yelling seemingly at nothing.

"Don't think you can get away with breaching the boundary to the afterlife in the presence of my brother and then hide away. I'll force you out if I have to!" He grabbed Rebecca's card off the table and held it aloft. "I summon the Ancient Fairy Dragon!"

Just as before, there was a strange pressure in the air before the dragon materialized—only this time, the dragon looked to be encased in stone instead of alive. With two dragons now in the room there wasn't any space to move, yet the Blue-Eyes managed to angle its neck to bite down on the petrified dragon and flood its body with lightning. This caused the stone shell to explode off of the dragon's body, though the Blue-Eyes angled its wings to prevent all the fragments from hitting the humans. It looked like it was about to attack again when a regal voice cut through the air.

"I thank you for freeing me from the spider's curse, and apologize for any trouble I may have caused. I do not sense my master's mark upon any human in this world, however. How did a human gain the power to break the seal of the Immortals?"

Rebecca had never heard a duel monster talk before, but Seto didn't seem to find it odd. "Please, I'm Seto Kaiba. It will take more than a… puny Immortal to stop…me…" His voice trailed off as his eyes rolled back and he fainted. The two dragons faded out of existence, leaving him to fall directly backward, where Mokuba only reflexively managed to catch him. Rebecca couldn't help but stare at the two brothers. It was bad enough with what had happened at the Phoenix Invitational, but what the hell was going on now?