KaibaCorp is in relatively good condition when they return, as enough of the people loyal to Kaiba and Mokuba have taken over or work to deal with the other elements. Kaiba knows that it won't get rid of all the people who are loyal to other groups - he's not that naive - but it's a start.

What does surprise him is that no one knows where the Big Five are...they weren't on Pegasus's island, and they aren't in mainland Japan at the moment. Still, he freezes their assets and manages to get perhaps a day's worth of work out before exhaustion catches up with him and he retires to his home, leaving the new group he'd hired to run the various divisions to hash things out.

The doctor had told him not to stress himself too much, and apparently getting stuck in a card was one of the few ways to really stress his body. He thinks about calling Yugi to ask about the effects of Shadow Games, since he's never had such a bad reaction, even to the ones he's played against Yugi, but thinks better of it.

Yugi is going to make sure his grandfather and the others are alright. And from what little he heard on the helicopter ride back, everyone has their own lives to deal with. He doesn't need to bother them.

Mokuba is a bit jumpy, of course, though Kaiba can't figure out why. He guesses it's nightmares or something similar, and tries to involve his brother more often in work and his routine to strengthen himself. The week after Duelist Kingdom has him recovering back to how he'd felt when he first woke up, and getting a surprise visit from Yugi's darker side, who seems to look at that with concern.

"Comas tend to make people lose muscle mass," Kaiba said, not pausing in his strengthening exercises, "why are you here?"

"Yugi's grandfather was not in good health," Yugi's dark side said, looking at him with dark red eyes that softened a bit. "I wanted to make sure you were fine as well."

"I'm getting better," Kaiba told him, huffing and shifting to sit and get a drink of water. His doctor had already warned him about overextending himself, and he didn't want to scare Mokuba again. "Mokuba has been having a rougher time. Why not speak to him?"

"I did. He said he was 'dealing', but I suspect that he'll confide more in Katsuye than in either of us." Kaiba is silent, realizing the truth. He wonders if he should encourage it, now that he knows Jounouchi is the Katsuye who helped them while at the orphanage, and a stray thought catches him. He glances at Yugi's dark half and asks, "Why did she need the money?"

Yugi's dark side is silent for a moment, and glances to one side, as if having an internal monologue, before Yugi appears, shifting and looking a bit guilty before saying, "She asked me not to tell…"

"Tell what? She's not rich, and your family is well enough off that I could understand giving her the money for that reason," Kaiba pointed out, trying to hide his annoyance. He had made fun of Katsuye enough for still being poor, but he doubted that would get him the answers he wanted with Yugi or with Mokuba. He also had a feeling that Yugi's other self didn't know what was behind Katsuye's motivations, hence the arrival of Yugi.

"No," Yugi muttered, "it's...her sister's really sick."

Kaiba blinked, remembering that he'd only seen or heard about the sister before, when Katsuye mentioned they were both 'older siblings' and had to take care of their younger ones. He also remembered that Katsuye had tried to get them into the orphanage, and it had resulted in a bit of a fight between her and an older lady.

"The money could pay for an operation, to help her sister keep her sight," Yugi continued, looking a bit like he wasn't sure how much he should tell Kaiba, "She...she told Mokuba and I about it, and Mokuba wanted to help out as well. I don't know if she's been able to get in contact with her mother or sister yet, though. She went to set up a fund with the money, and to talk to someone about it."

It explained some of why Mokuba was talking to the people in finance, though he wasn't getting any good answers. He glared a bit at Yugi before saying, "Will it be enough?"

"She said it would, but I think she's more worried about not seeing her sister," Yugi admitted, looking ashamed. "She's been really happy, and she normally gets overly excited when something's wrong."

It was something for Kaiba to remember, next time, and he nodded before saying, "Thank you for coming by. I am getting better, at least."

Yugi smiled again and closed his eyes, shifting back to his other self who nodded and looked a little happy, at least. "If anything comes up, please call me."

"You're overly worried after what happened with Pegasus," Kaiba mused, Yugi's other side frowning and looking unhappy.

"Pegasus was using the Shadows...poorly. Taking someone's soul from their body is not something that is done lightly, and it's often better to put them into something that resembles a body - like a doll - or in something they value."

"Like their Deck?" Kaiba asked, the memory of what happened after he lost a game still raw in his mind.

"Something like that," Yugi's other self said, shrugging. "You're a technological mind, Kaiba, and I'm not. I have no point of reference to explain it to you, only that I can tell you what I know. I do what is considered equal in the games - I don't force a person into any Shadow Game, nor do I stack the game against them. If they play fairly, they have every chance to win. If they cheat, the penalty is harsher."

"But Pegasus didn't let a person back out," Kaiba pointed out, recalling how he'd been dragged into his own fight, and what had happened because of it.

"No. And he manipulated the game to his own ends...either by not using the Shadows until the end, or trying to feed off energy he didn't have to make the game harder." He looked upset about something before adding, "I don't like it, though…"

"What?"

"We've encountered five Millennium Items so far, at varying times - my own, a Ring that housed a thief-spirit, a person wielding two Items, and Pegasus."

"Two?"

"An Ankh and the Scales. He claimed power of Anubis, something I was not comfortable with when he was here. I managed to defeat him twice, but that doesn't guarantee he won't return. Pegasus was being influenced by him as well...it was where he got the Eye."

Kaiba considered for a long moment before saying, "I could do what I could to track him. If he is using the Millennium Items for...something...then that would help. And I'd rather not run into any of them again. Scientific mind or no, I don't enjoy being used as a pawn or having my soul taken in some sort of power-play."

Yugi's other self smiled a bit at that, nodding in agreement before saying, "We do need to leave, however. Tomorrow we have to run the store while Sugoroku recovers. Have a good day, Kaiba."

He nodded as Yugi headed out, contemplating what he'd been told. He didn't know how many other Millennium Items might be out in the world, and he didn't like that he might have to worry about something like that when his main focus was on KaibaCorp and working to make his company better. Too many years of working just for the military of other countries had left far too many things behind, and Kaiba was determined to use them for bettering people's lives, rather than destroying them.


Jounouchi is in a foul mood for most of the week, enough that she does her best to go work in the stock room or simply sweep up after customers come in. Yugi isn't sure what's going on, beyond the fact that she's had to work with a lot of financial people to deal with the money she got and to talk to them about using it for her sister's operation.

It's only later, when she's talking on her cell to someone and becoming more and more agitated, that he realizes it might also be because Jounouchi and her mother are not on the best terms. He doesn't know enough about her past to really feel he can offer much beyond making sure she doesn't interact too much with customers, or that, when she asks to spend the night, she has a place to rest.

It's been a week since he spoke to Kaiba about what's going on, since his other self had stopped worrying as much about how the darker Shadows had effected the Kaiba brothers, and while he hasn't heard from Kaiba in that time, that's not really something for him to worry about. He wants to focus more on helping in the store, on looking up what they can about the Millennium Items, and he really wanted to make sure Katsuye was alright, especially after she had been in such a bad mood.

"Hey, Yugi," Katsuye says after a moment before the shop begins to close up, shifting a bit as she finishes sweeping up the inside, "is it...ok if I stay here?"

"Huh? Yeah. I something wrong?"

Katsuye was quiet, shifting a bit before saying, "Just...I need a day away from the apartment, and from...phone calls."

Yugi frowned at the admission but nodded. Grandpa was still in the hospital and Mom was staying with him, so really the only ones in the house would be himself and his other self.

Yugi wasn't so sure about his other self, though recently he'd been much nicer to him, and after the near-death experience during the Shadow Game against Pegasus, Yugi found himself growing stronger, at least a little. Yami didn't like it, but he did his best to help Yugi out anyway and be ready in case of another such run-in. While they weren't sure, Yami had the idea that there was at least two other Millennium Items were out in the world, and not knowing who had them or what effect they might have on them was worrying.

It's shortly after Jounouchi asks to stay that the storm that had been threatening to break for the past few days finally does so, storming so badly that Yugi is instantly grateful that Jounouchi was already staying over, not wanting her to get caught in the rain.

They're playing with her new Deck, which has a bit more of a gamble theme in it and a few more spell cards that allow her to fall back on the defensive as needed, when there's a frantic knock on the door. The two blink before Yugi heads to the door, opening it and blinking when he sees the person on the other side. Jounouchi, though, is quick to gasp and pull the soaked Mokuba into the house, looking him over. "Mokuba! What the hell are you doing out here?"

"It's Nii-sama...he's in trouble...and I...I didn't know who else to go to. I only knew this address, and...and…" he starts crying, hugging Jounouchi and getting her shirt a bit wet as she hugs him back, and gives Yugi a started and worried look.


Earlier that day, Nii-sama had gone to look over one of the new Kaibaland areas that had been built while he was asleep. Mokuba had gone with him, despite the late hour, to try and talk to him about maybe helping Katsuye. He isn't sure if she managed to help her sister or not, and Mokuba wants to help her. They owe her, and that means that Mokuba is going to bug the crap out of his brother until he does help her.

Seto is at least nice about Katsuye now, and doesn't try to argue with Mokuba about how she's not really Katsuye or how she's too something or other that doesn't matter. At the same time, they're still fixing up KaibaCorp to be better, still dealing with a few bad people, and while Mokuba had to run the company as best he could when Seto was asleep, he also at least doesn't have to worry about it anymore, or at least not as much. He wants to keep helping, for as long as he can, and so he's convinced his brother to let him see as much about running the company and about the theme parks that Kaiba wants to build around the world. The first Kaibaland had still been doing great, and the second one, located a bit further out of town and with more room to spread out to some degree, was more for those who couldn't drive too far into the city or who lived further away. It was part of Seto's decision to repurpose a lot of the old KaibaCorp properties into something that would help the world. Mokuba had already managed to turn one of the former manufacturing plants into a weapons disassembling plant, and that had been instrumental in helping end a few conflicts or in dealing with dangerous materials that otherwise would have gone right back to making the world dangerous. This particular plant was one that was already equipped with some of the virtual technology that Seto had created early on, and would have been used to show off as military training and working with drones and automated systems for European and American groups, and a few militants who had enough money or expertise to use such things. It had been the reason for Seto to break from Gozaburo, and what had created such animosity between him and Gozaburo that resulted in the man's death and in Seto taking over the company and changing so much.

Mokuba didn't know the details of it, because Seto wasn't about to tell him, and at the time, Mokuba had just been glad that man was dead. Now, though...now he wasn't so sure if he shouldn't talk to Seto about it, or talk to him about getting help about it. Because Seto sometimes had to hide behind that cold mask that Mokuba hated, and other times, Mokuba was sure that he was still having problems dealing with what happened and how it happened.

He'd pushed those thoughts aside when they'd gotten to the site, the two frowning as they read out the information that had brought them both here. The computer read that there was at least three areas, big areas, that were unaccounted for as far as the layout went, and they seemed to be pulling in a lot of computer power from a variety of places, many of which were huge and went from a little older than Seto to the latest and best available on the market.

Still, the question remained of what the place stored and why it had been set up, especially with some of Seto's Solid Illusions inside of the mainframe, or at least most of the basic writing.

Seto frowned as he looked through the coding, pausing before saying, "It looks like this is more a virtual reality than I thought."

"Huh?"

"The basis is my programming, but it's made more like an area that can be manipulated. A full virtual reality in a confined space, or by managing to connect to a person's brain and influence that."

Mokuba blinked, his eyes going wide. They had created something that sophisticated before Gozaburo's death?

"There are flaws, though," Seto muttered, looking through it, "the interactions are limited, just like a larger world."

"What do you mean?"

"The more complex or massive a world, the less people you can interact with fully, or the more people who repeat only one line, maybe two. This appears to be similar to that." He typed a bit more, trying to figure out a bit more, then frowned as he came across something in the coding that immediately kicked him out of looking into it, the technicians with them looking equally confused before a screen in front of Seto flickered and five men appeared on screen, sitting around a table like they were at a board-meeting.

"Ah, Kaiba-kun," the head said, getting Seto to bristle as Mokuba glared at them, the technicians attempting to figure out where the signal was coming from, "how nice of you and your brother to join us."

"Kogoro," Seto said, glaring at how they had gone from being respectful to condescending, "So this is where you and the others decided to hide out."

Mokuba knew some of the members of the Big Five, but he knew Kogoro Daimon the most because he'd worked closely with Seto, during the days leading up to his takeover, and thus had seen Mokuba a few more times than any of the others.

"We weren't about to remain somewhere when you were probably going to be in a...bad mood," Kogoro said, another one adding when he was done, "We also needed to ensure that the goodwill present we were fixing up was ready for you."

Seto's eyes narrowed as he looked at them, as if trying to figure out if they're serious or not. Mokuba doesn't trust them, glaring at them as he waits for either Seto or the Big Five to talk. The Big Five are the first to talk, to try to placate Seto and tell him that they had only done the whole 'sell KaibaCorp to Pegasus' as some sort of test, that they would never betray Seto.

"Considering you probably told all that to Gozaburo before you sided with me, I see no reason to believe you," Seto finally spoke up, getting the Five to fall into silence. "You've all done enough damage to this company before you decided it was better to sell it than actually try a new direction. Frankly, finding you here just means that we can arrest you and deal with everything you've done - kidnapping being the least of those charges."

"But..what about the game?" one of them asks, "Surely you wouldn't pass up such a rare opportunity…."

"Don't think I can't see that this…'game' is far older than you all would claim it to be. I can find out on my own, without the five of you."

Silence before Kogoro said, "Pity. Well, I hope you have fun anyway, Kaiba-kun."

Mokuba and the others smell it as Seto turns, the doors sealing as they all begin to look for an exit. One of the lower vents isn't working, but the only one small enough to fit through it…

"NO!" Mokuba yells as Seto picks him up while a technician opens the vent, a few of them coughing and starting to look dizzy, "Nii-sama, don't!"

"Go get help, Mokuba," Seto demands, looking stern and almost scary before he coughs as well, "We're counting on you. You're the only one with access codes. Go!"

Mokuba swallows but nods, hurrying through the vent and out of the exit point, luckily outside the building. Most of it is closed off, and no one has been able to exit the place. Fearful, looking around at the darkening sky and luckily finds a small moped nearby. As he hears more cars coming from elsewhere, he quickly drives away, his mind on the only two people he knows who might be able to help him.


Mai's number had been put in Jounouchi's phone shortly after they landed, as the woman was going to remain in the city for a while and had offered to help Jounouchi out when she needed it. Her car, a convertible with a cherry red color and some expensive seats, was quicker than the moped Mokuba had driven in, and was also not one that anyone at KaibaCorp knew about.

Despite most of the people there having been hired or rehired after Gozaburo died and the whole issue with the launch of Kaibaland, Mokuba still didn't fully trust anyone. Considering he'd been kidnapped from his own home and the Big Five had tried to use him as leverage to sell the company to Pegasus, he felt this was completely justified.

Still, he was grateful for the quiet and that Mai had agreed to take them there, with few questions beyond knowing that Mokuba could get them inside and that she'd be helping Honda with keeping any hired goons or the like out during this trip.

"We're almost there," Mai said, smiling back at him from the front seat where she and Jounouchi sat, Yugi sitting behind with Honda to one side. Behind them, Honda's sister and her husband were following, with a small pickup truck that Honda's brother-in-law used in his work, mostly repairing all sorts of things. Mokuba hoped that they were enough to help out his brother and the others inside.

Nii-sama…hold on, we're coming to save you!