Important Author's Notes:
For anyone who's read this story before, thanks for your interest in coming back! You may like to know that I'm in the process of editing this story, mostly for dialogue tag errors and small issues to make it an easier, more pleasant read.
Whether or not you've read this story before, I'd like you to know that I am in the process of another edit, much more significant:
I have decided to include an alternate ending. You'll know when it's up because this story will have twenty-eight chapters, and "Alternate Ending" will show up at the end of the chapter list. I'm very excited to take on this micro-project, although it may be a little while before it's ready.
Therefore, anyone dissatisfied by the current original ending, or anyone interested in a different twist, please feel free to SKIP chapter 27 and go straight to chapter 28 when you reach the end. Or, read both! Think of it as a "Choose Your Own Adventure" story. But please understand, to avoid confusion, that both chapters 27 and 28 will pick up immediately where chapter 26 leaves off, and aren't both compatible pieces of the same story.
Thank you so much for your interest and your support! I'd love to know what you think of the new ending!
~ohmygodagiantrock
A refreshing early autumn sun shone its rays across the quiet grounds of the KaibaLand amusement park, a cool contrast to the recent hot summer weeks. The crisp air typically meant shorter lines and overall thinner crowds, and sometimes the patrons got lucky with lower admission prices as the summer season came near its end.
For Yugi Mutou and his group of friends, the weather was rarely even considered. Still, handfuls of people comfortable with the weather ventured to the park on chillier days. Rarely was the place deserted.
Taking full advantage of the discounts, Yugi, Anzu, Honda, Jounouchi, and his sister Shizuka spent the later part of their morning and early afternoon together, tiring themselves on the various rides and attractions.
Once they'd enjoyed a satisfying number of rounds on all their favorite rides and eaten their fill of discounted carnival food, the teenagers wandered around the vicinity, bickering playfully among themselves while they tried to regain their spent energy.
Anzu yawned. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty worn out from all the rides. I could use a break."
Shizuka, walking alongside her, nodded in agreement. The guys with them tried not to advertise their fatigue, but every now and then as they walked one of them could be caught yawning. Anzu kept her eyes peeled for a bench to rest on, but didn't see one in the immediate area.
"We may have overdone ourselves today," Jounouchi conceded, "but I had to show off for my sis!" he quickly explained. "It ain't every day she gets to come with us! She ought to go on every ride she wants."
Shizuka smiled up at her big brother, but something behind him caught her eye.
"Oh, what's that?" She asked, pointing.
In the distance, tucked away behind one of the group's most frequented rides was a small tent. The back of the tent adjoined with a permanent structure behind it, appearing to be a storage facility of some sort.
"That doesn't look too strenuous," she said with a smile for her friend.
"Let's go," Yugi suggested.
Curiosity arose and the teenagers approached. The tent was open in the front, displaying a rectangular table with paperwork stacked in neat piles.
"Good afternoon! Welcome to KaibaLand!" Greeted a cheery woman manning the tent.
She wasn't tall, but certainly a good head and a half taller than Yugi. Her hair, pin straight and silky black, was cut short and neatly framed her delicate face.
Yugi smiled warmly at the employee.
"Thank you!" Anzu responded. "Good afternoon to you too."
The young woman's attire was similar to a few other workers they'd seen in the park, managing rides and serving food at booths—neat dark slacks and a white button-up top—but this employee was equipped with a badge on one sleeve. Yugi couldn't get a clear view of it, but vaguely wondered what it meant.
"Do you come to this park often?" the woman asked, shuffling through some papers.
Honda answered excitedly despite his oncoming fatigue, "Heck yeah, we come here all the time!"
"'Specially when my little sis' is in town," Jou smiled and threw a lazy arm over Shizuka, who smiled and hugged her brother's waist.
The woman behind the table laughed lightly at the enthusiasm.
"Well, then! Since you're such faithful customers, perhaps you'd be interested in participating in beta-testing our newest attraction. That's what this," she gestured to her table and surrounding tent, "is all about. We won't be offering this exclusive testing for long, so I encourage you to try it!"
Anzu shot Yugi a skeptical glance, but he shrugged it off, glancing excitedly around the tent.
"Excuse me, miss...?" Anzu hesitated.
"Ah. My name is Yori."
"Miss Yori. Exactly what kind of attraction is this?"
"Oh, behind me," the woman pointed out a curtain along the entire back wall of her tent that undoubtedly opened into the structure behind it, "is the entrance to the testing area, where we begin by screening our participants. After a few brief moments in the screening stage, you'll be able to start the gaming experience.
"We'll have several consoles set up in an environment specially designed to promote higher enjoyment and vastly decrease potential outside distraction. Our company, which focuses on games and innovative technological entertainment, believes that immersion into the various game worlds is essential to getting the most out of your experience." She finished with the same cheery note in her voice, but sounded like she'd given the speech a hundred times already.
Yugi's eyes began to light up at the mention of such an environment, and he eagerly accepted the paperwork the woman handed out.
"If I can get any willing participants to fill these papers out so we can move on to the screening process and get you into some games, that would be terrific."
"Sure, Yori," Jou said and accepted the papers. "But, uh, what's all this?"
"It's just a quick waiver form we'll need you to sign in order to begin. It's nothing important—just stating that if any health issues arise, Kaiba Corporation is not responsible for park inhabitants who've willingly agreed to join in the testing of pre-market products. But I assure you, there's no cause for alarm," Yori said with a light, cheerful grin.
"What kind of health concerns is KaibaCorp anticipating?" Anzu questioned further while she filled out the form.
"None, of course, but we have been advised to be wary of seizures in epileptic subjects, and some of the more interactive varieties of video games can cause motion sickness if played for longer than our company advises, but we haven't had any issues thus far! It's all legal mumbo-jumbo anyway! Just to protect ourselves from lawsuits."
Anzu, pacified, signed the waiver and handed in her paperwork with the rest of her friends. "What's the last page for? It's all blank." She pointed out the last piece of paper in her stapled packet, indicating that it had been printed with no ink whatsoever, and appeared to serve no purpose at all.
"That's for when the process is complete. While KaibaCorp enjoys giving sneak peeks of our products to selected individuals, what the company thrives on is feedback. We'll hang on to your papers while you're in the testing area, and when you're satisfied that you've sampled enough of our products, I'll hand them back for you to add your comments on that last page and they'll be submitted to KC headquarters for processing. The comments you write may very well determine the quality and features of these products once they hit the market. As you can imagine, these beta-testing sessions can be invaluable to us!"
"I bet!" Yugi chimed in. Stars glistened in his eyes at the prospect of helping KaibaCorp make the games he was sure he would love. His contribution would be small, he knew however, but he was pleased about the idea nonetheless. "Where do we go from here?" he asked enthusiastically.
"Ah!" Yori looked down at the sheets in her hands. "Well, you see, normally we begin our testing in three-hour intervals, and you've just missed the mark for our most recent session. But I see you're Yugi Mutou, King of Games! I would be happy to squeeze you and your friends in."
"Alright! Let's play some games!" Honda shouted, and the boys cheered excitedly with him, while the two girls stood by and smiled.
Jounouchi yawned as they were ushered into the testing zone. "Hey, uh, Yori? I'm all on board for this whole thing and all, but how long's the screening thing supposed to last? I just had, like, six tacos and a couple of milkshakes… I don't wanna fall asleep on some guy's desk while he's asking me questions or whatever."
"Oh," Yori laughed at the inquiry. "No worries, sir. The screening process only takes a few minutes. We'll separate you each into your own booth," she said as they descended a set of stairs and entered what seemed to be the basement of the unmarked building. The room was dimly lit and lined with doors spaced very near one another. It appeared much bigger on the inside than anticipated. "You'll know when it's over and you can start with the games immediately. Right this way, everyone, and you can each find your way to a private booth. There, you'll find a chair you can have a seat in."
Each member of the party did as directed and found themselves an open stall. Once inside, as promised, a comfortable-looking leather chair sat in the center of the tiny cubicle. Jounouchi, still fatigued from his adventurous day, sprawled out in the chair and sighed. Once his door was shut behind him, the small room became dark. Not long after, his lids began to feel heavy. He began to doubt if he would even make it to the games.
He could hear Yori's voice giving the group instructions from outside his closed stall door, and he vaguely heard mention of a helmet he was to wear. With a heavy arm he brushed his arm along the wall until he found the hook it was hanging on and obeyed, slipping the helmet over his head. The helmet was connected with wires to somewhere else on the wall that Jou didn't pay attention to. He let his eyes close while the woman outside the room continued to speak.
"The helmets you've put on is the instrument conducting the screening process, which works by measuring and analyzing your brain waves. This will continue while you play, as well, so that KaibaCorp may receive the most beneficial amount and quality of results."
Jounouchi found himself struggling to stay awake, too fatigued from his day's adventures, and too comfortable in the soft seat beneath him. The words Yori spoke began to blur and fade.
"We want to understand… customers … deliver … best products…"
He thought vacantly that he would be disappointed to miss out on the games, but sleep was becoming far too persuasive. His mind steadily grew fuzzy as he drifted into sleep.
Honda stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at a piece of trash lying idly on the ground as he walked along the pathway of KaibaLand.
He observed his surroundings and decided that something felt noticeably off. The park was fairly underpopulated for the time of day and season. He wondered if there wasn't some other event in town attracting the usual KaibaLand patrons away. With Shizuka in Domino City for the past week, no one had been paying much attention to the local news—or much of anything but one another's company, since it was such a rare event for her to stay so long. He hoped there wasn't anything wrong.
"Honda!" A quiet female voice called from behind him.
Honda snapped to attention and spun to face the source of the voice. He suspected it belonged to Yori, coming to question his reason for leaving the testing station, but as the woman came closer into view he recognized Anzu's short brown hair.
"Oh! Anzu!" Honda blushed with surprise. "What are you doing out here? Are you done with the testing?"
Anzu rolled her eyes at her schoolmate. "I was going to ask you the same thing," she chided flatly.
"Well…" Honda puffed out his chest defiantly. "I asked first."
Anzu sighed. "I heard you leaving the area so I came to make sure you're okay. But you look just fine to me. So what are you doing out here?"
"I think I had a faulty game corner. I put on that helmet but nothing happened." He decided not to explain that he had also been trying not to nap in the cubicle.
"And how long did you wait?"
"Like…" He paused to recall, "Five minutes!"
Anzu groaned at her friend. "That was the screening, idiot! Nothing was supposed to happen yet! It was busy measuring your brainwaves."
Honda deflated. "Oh. I, uh, I guess I missed that part of the instructions."
"Apparently. Some game fan you are! That testing was supposed to help KaibaCorp get feedback on their up-and-coming products."
"I'm not as into gaming as the other guys are," he admitted quietly. "But what's your excuse for skipping out? You never answered me. Aren't you interested in the games?"
"I never said I wasn't! They just... didn't have the kind of game available that I'm in the mood to play now..."
"And what kind of game is that? One of those dance-battle arenas?" He laughed.
"Hey, don't laugh!" She noticed that Honda seemed to be scanning the area, and used the motion to readjust the focus of the conversation. "So what are you doing out here instead?"
He seemed to have already checked out, his attention on whatever he was looking at, so the question caught him off-guard.
"Oh, um… nothing much," he said distantly.
"Uh-huh," she said with skepticism. "That's why you're so obviously looking for something. Or someone? Shizuka's still at the testing site, you know," the girl teased.
"Yeah, I know. That's… kinda why I snuck away."
"Wait... I thought you liked her."
"I do!"
"Then…?" Anzu pried.
Honda looked down at his feet, then at the few crumpled bills he was holding in his hand.
"Wait a sec! Were you trying to buy something for her? I don't get why you'd have to sneak away to do something like that."
"I… I was trying to win her a prize. But I didn't feel like I could do that with Jonouchi breathing down my neck about leaving his sister alone."
"So, what then?" Anzu asked with a teasing tone. "You thought if you "happened" to get a faulty console, you would have an excuse to come back out here and find some other games to play?" His cheeks reddened and he turned his face away from her. "I get it. And then you'd give the prizes to Shizuka? Cute, but transparent."
He snapped back to attention. "Transparent? What do you mean?"
"I mean that your tactic is obvious."
"Maybe now that I've explained it to you!" Honda defended.
Anzu rolled her eyes again. "Whatever. Ignore my advice and keep up your strategies. They're working great. After all, you've got a great track record when it comes to winning over the girls you have a crush on!" She teased.
Honda tried to laugh off his embarrassment.
"Look, as long as we're out here, we might as well try your approach," Anzu suggested. "Anyway I don't think they'll let us back in once we've interrupted the testing. There's not much else to do but wait for everyone else to finish up. Too bad that could take Yugi and Jounouchi hours, where games are involved."
"Yeah. But there's a problem. I've been walking around for a bit now, and all the game stations I come across seem to be closed already. I mean, where's the ring-toss, the balloon darts—heck, I'd even settle for a duck pond at this point! But all the booths I come across are closed up."
"There's got to be something around here somewhere. Let's go look. I'll help. Where haven't you tried yet?"
Honda pointed, and Anzu pulled him along by the elbow.
The pair didn't get far when Anzu paused in her stride. She noticed something small and black on the ground, to one side of the path, near a patch of grass. It immediately looked out of place compared to the cement pathways and perfectly manicured lawn. She leaned in closer to the ground, still a yard away, to get a better look.
"A feather," she said, idly. "From a crow?" she questioned.
Honda paid the discovery no attention and chose not to stop, but Anzu seemed fixated.
She allowed her gaze to sweep the path in front of her, and spotted a few more tiny patches spread about.
"Look," she said, pointing to where the the tiny bits appeared to form a sort of messy trail.
Anzu, frowning, leaned down closer to examine the trail, but pulled herself back with a gasp and gripped Honda's arm.
"What is it?" he asked, finally turning but without much concern. He peered over her shoulder to where she pointed, with her other hand covering her mouth. A closer glimpse revealed the color red tainting clumps of the feathers and parts of the walkway in little messy smears.
While Anzu grappled with her panic, Honda glanced around the path for the source. It didn't take him long before the short trail led him to a grimy cluster of tiny bones. He recognized the frame of bird's wings, still covered in most of their silky jet-black feathers, but little else remained of the tiny creature.
Reluctantly, Honda pointed out the bones to Anzu, who could only manage an initial glimpse before she had to turn herself away from the evidence completely.
"It's just a crow. It probably just got attacked by a wild animal – even a stray cat could have done that." But KaibaLand should have a more effective beautification committee and get this mess cleaned up, Honda thought to himself.
Anzu's concern shadowed him and he was inspired to follow the direction the trail had been leading, past the little corpse. He inched away from his friend while she stood by with her eyes squeezed shut, trying to get the image out of her head.
Beyond the bird was a set of bushes decorating a lamppost, and Honda spotted a few more feathers stuck on the leaves of the bush. He brushed one branch aside and peered into the depths of the foliage with caution. He looked on expecting to find some small animal, one which would probably leap out and scurry away.
Instead, to his own unexpected horror, he discovered a heaping pile of feathered remains, although there was not much left to each bird to call 'remains'. Bones—clean of any meat, more wingtips with feathers still attached, and other scattered parts lay discarded in a mound about the size of both of his shoes laid together. He could estimate that the mass was made up of the remains from nearly fifteen birds.
Honda was amazed that, despite the awful mess, the pile of bones was neatly gathered and stacked. By the brightness of the red blood, Honda deduced that the birds had been harmed not long ago. Still, a swarm of black flies hummed away around the pile, guarding what was left as their own.
Honda could not imagine an animal that would leave such a neat, oddly organized display, but was relieved that it hadn't been around long enough for him to detect much of a smell.
Anzu called to him, but when he looked back at her she still had not turned to face him. He moved back to her side on the path.
"What were you doing, Honda?" She finally looked at him.
He suspected his face must have gone pale from the concerned way her eyes searched his. He shrugged to try to put her at ease.
"I thought I might find whatever did this," he gestured to the first little clump of feathers, "hiding in that bush. But whatever it was, it's gone now. We'd better go too, before it comes back."
Anzu agreed and clasped her hands behind her back to try and still their shakiness. She moved on with Honda, and the two of them circled the area, trying not to move too far from the testing booth in case their friends came looking for them.
Half an hour passed since Anzu and Honda crossed paths, but still they were unable to find what Honda was looking for.
"Maybe they're getting ready to close down. The park is nearing the end of its season," Honda commented as they passed another unmanned games booth. The pair was running low on areas close enough to their friends that they hadn't searched.
"Maybe it's the weather," Anzu suggested.
"It's not really that cold out, but... maybe. Come on, let's keep-"
"That's not what I meant. Look at the sky," Anzu said.
Honda paused to see where Anzu was pointing, off in the distance. He had noticed the sun wasn't as bright in the sky, but hadn't bothered to examine the clouds.
He had never seen anything like them before. A front was moving in across the sky, but it didn't resemble the rain clouds Domino was used to receiving. The formation was off, unlike any of the clouds he had learned of in school. Instead of the expected wall of vapor of an overcast sky, the billows appeared wispy like smoke and formed deep waves, not unlike an aurora display. However, also like the aurora, the sky was dusted a concerning greenish-yellow hue.
"What is happening?" Honda whispered.
Anzu couldn't stop staring. The sun still shone through uncovered patches, and the water droplets weren't so dense as to darken the sky utterly, but Anzu still began to fear for safety.
Although the air throughout the day had been quite still, a sudden breeze brushed against their cheeks just then, carrying on it the hint of an unfamiliar, and unpleasant, scent. Honda couldn't place it, but found himself reminded of the birds he'd seen.
He shivered when he finally realized they hadn't seen any live birds all day.
"We shouldn't be here," Anzu whispered.
Honda nodded.
"Let's go warn the guys and get out of here. I'll gladly take a page out of everyone else's book today and go home early."
But the pair had only moved but a few steps when Honda spotted a figure in the distance, moving at a quick pace across the park. Honda could make out a short build and dark head of hair.
"Hey, that looks like a kid."
He pointed the figure out to her, and she visibly relaxed upon seeing another person moving about. The quietness of the area had begun to get under her skin.
"I hope his parents know where he is," Anzu said.
"Maybe we can ask him if he know what's going on here," Honda suggested.
"Yeah, definitely. And we can get him safely inside somewhere, too." Anzu squinted her eyes to gaze in the distance as she watched the figure move.
"Hey Anzu, I think… I think that's Mokuba Kaiba!"
"I think you're right! Hey! Mokuba!" Anzu waved to the figure. "Mokuba, is that you?"
The figure seemed to have heard her and paused in his movements, just long enough to look her way. He then veered from his path, resuming his pace but in the direction of the two teens.
"Hey you guys!" The figure, a boy, called urgently when he was in range.
"Mokuba!" Honda shouted. "It is you!"
"What are you two doing here?" The young boy asked once he reached them, with an air of alarm as though their presence was a crime. His breathing was heavy and his violet eyes were wide.
Honda pointed out the unusual cloud formation, which the boy had clearly already seen. He was about to explain the event with the feathers, without revealing the contents of the bush to Anzu, but didn't get very far before Mokuba stopped him.
"There isn't time for that!" Mokuba interrupted. "Look, I can't explain everything right now, but you should both follow me." He pushed past them, intending for them to accompany him.
"Wait a minute, Mokuba!" Anzu called, not moving her feet. "Has something happened?" Are my friends ok? she thought, but found herself afraid to voice the question. The past had already held too much danger and pain for them all.
"Just come with me!" Mokuba called again, the same tone of urgency in his voice.
He moved away from the teens, urging them again to follow, and finally they obeyed.
Mokuba continued to run ahead of the two teenagers until he reached the entrance to a small building nearby shaped—like many structures within the park—like a Blue Eyes White Dragon, the elder Kaiba's signature monster. Above the roof of the building ran a dragon-shaped monorail train which provided transportation around the entire park, and the small building appeared to be the station from which to board. Like much of the rest of the area, the building seemed to be empty and non-operational.
Mokuba slipped an electronic identification card from his pocket and swiped it through the lock on the door, just as the out of breath teenagers caught up to him.
"What's the deal, kid? Are we getting a private tour or some–-"
"No." Mokuba stopped Honda mid-question with a dark tone.
The three slipped inside the structure and Mokuba entered a quick code to lock the glass door behind them.
The young boy turned back to the others. His eyes matched the darkness in his voice, and Honda knew something had to be wrong. His suspicion was be validated even before Mokuba spoke.
"We're in trouble."
Anzu wasn't surprised to hear the words, but feared them nonetheless. Worry for her friends pulsed through her heart. What if they can't get to safe grounds before something bad happens? she wondered frightfully.
An image of the crow feathers and bones flashed in her mind for an instant before she had to push it away. She tried not to imagine just what kind of new storm was heading for Domino City. Would her friends once again become prey?