Ketchum's Thirteen
02: Serena Arrives
A PikaFlash's Studio Fanfiction
In cooperation with Tai Enterprises and the Daidouji Corporation.
Disclaimer: All characters, songs and scenes belong to their respective owners...
An A/U Crossover Type fanfic...
A/N: In case some who never saw the 4Kids dub of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Chazz Princeton (aka. The Chazz) is Jun Manjorme (.aka Black Thunder).
Six Months Later...
A plane arrives at Domino City airport and Serena Tuskino walks through the airport. She caught a cab and made her way to Tai's mansion. In a waiting room, Serena meets up with Ash and Sakura.
"Thanks for coming, Rini," said Ash.
"Thanks for the hundred grand," replied Serena. "Though we might need to renegotiate if it takes longer than a day."
Serena looks around. "So, just the three of us?"
"For now," said Ash. "We'd fi..."
"Figured that we'd have a talk with you first." Sakura finished what Ash wanted to said.
Serena crossed her arms. "I see. How stuck are you?"
"Stuck," answered Ash.
"Stalled, actually," corrects Sakura.
Ash decides to stick with his first answer. "Stuck," said Ash.
"Well, run it for me. Don't leave anything out. Give me the big picture."
"You want..." before Ash could finish his question, Sakura answered.
"It's all yours."
"Ok, where should we start?" asks Ash.
"With The Chazz," Sakura said.
In the middle of Domino City was the fanciest Game Corner ever built, taller than the other buildings in the area.
Ash: "Chazz has pull out everything to make his joint fancy. Forget the amateur duelists and players. His targets are the ones who are loaded. It's a shoo-in for the Five Star Gold Card award. The tiles were hand-picked from the best of the best and chefs stolen from the highest rated restaurant in Japan. In the rooms for the big players, the silver ware is actually gold. Chazz's greatest strength is also his greatest weakness..."
Chazz was talking to an interior designer.
Ash: "His Ego."
Sakura: "He's been spending his days checking and rechecking every inch of his property. Getting ready for the Grand Opening celebration. It's a compulsion."
Out of anger, Chazz pushes a gold vase off the table, dissatisfied with the work done in the place.
Ash: "Chazz's right-hand man is a woman. Ino Yamanaka..."
Ino was checking on the upper arm of a female worker serving drinks and Ino was able to feel some flab on the female worker.
"We're going to have to let you go," said Ino. "Turn in your uniform.
"I only gained four pounds. You can't fire me!" protested the worker.
"Unfortunately, your body-mass index is not what it's supposed to be," Ino explained as she continues to feel the worker's arm
"But Miss Yamanaka..."
"Oh no, young lady. It's your big butt that's the problem." A distance away, Yugi was observing what was going on with Ino and the worker.
James: "You can't fire a waitress based on appearance. That's not right."
Ash: "If they were waitresses."
Ash, James, Yugi, Sakura and Koji were back at Tai's mansion.
"They're actually hired to be 'Models who serve' so that Chazz can monitor their physical appearance," Yugi explained.
"It's a very cruel, cruel, cruel practice," adds Sakura.
"So between Chazz and Ino, they got the place covered," Ash said.
"When's Opening Night?" asked Keitaro.
"July 3rd," answered everyone else.
"There'll be fireworks. At the stroke of midnight, the whole shebang," said Ash.
Keitaro is confused. "But we're going in now? It's already open."
"It's a Soft Opening," explains Sakura. "To test the place before the Grand Opening."
"It is kinda like an out-of-town preview, only that it is in-town," adds Yugi.
"Soft Opening. Grand Opening, what's the difference?" said Keitaro. "When they opened the North Duelist Kingdom Game Corner, one day it was closed, and the next it was open! End of story. I know, I was there."
"It's different now."
"So when is Opening Night?" Keitaro asks again.
"July 3rd!" answered everyone else.
Tai's butler enters the room with some tea for Serena as Ash continues his explanation.
"The top three Game Corners in Domino make a profit of 3 million a day just on the floor. But with Chazz and his high level players and no limits, he's projecting 5 million. But to get the loans, he had to give up 6 of the 9 seats on the board, so he doesn't own his own Game Corner, and a couple of guys he brought in aren't friendlies, so he has to clear 500 million by the first quarter or he gets dumped out of his own Game Corner."
Serena takes her tea. "And I guess Chazz wants another 5 Star Gold Card Award, making it the fifth in a row."
Chazz was giving a piece of his mind to a cleaning maid. "Every one of The Chazz's Game Corners has won a Five Star Gold Card Award. The XYZ Game Corner, Five Stars, The Beetron, Monté Carlo, Five Stars. The Grand Ojamas in Okinawa, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Stars. And the Goldenrod Dragon in Goldenrod..." Chazz raises five fingers. "I've never not won one."
Serena: "So, how are you going to steal them?"
"We're not," answered Sakura.
Sakura, Serena and Ash were walking down a corridor. "We thought about it for a bit and we decided that it was..."
"Impossible," finished Sakura.
"But he's not going to be winning anymore. Tell Serena about Blair," said Ash.
"Yeah, tell me about Blair," said Serena.
"Blair Flannigan is the concierge at The Chazz," Sakura said. "She's very ambitious. In a good way..."
Sakura and Blair were at a bar at The Chazz.
Sakura: "For us. As soon as I said the words 'General Manager' and 'Celadon', she was in. And I put a cherry on top to make sure."
Sakura hands an envelope to Blair. Blair looks in the envelope to make sure the contents are legitimate
Sakura: "We also found out who'd be reviewing the hotel. We're going to get to him before Chazz can."
Sakura takes out a photo of the reviewer and shows it to Blair.
Meanwhile in Tai's mansion...
"I feel bad, like it's torturing him," Koji said as he puts on the uniform of the Chinese Restaurant at the Chazz as Keitaro was tinkering with a remote.
"This is war, kid," Keitaro said as he finished with a screwdriver. "There's going to be collateral damage. But he'll get the Meowth at the Airport."
"Yeah, but he doesn't know that," said Koji.
Keitaro scoffs at Koji's comment. "So what? He has to know why he won so that he can enjoy it? Who says?"
"Ok, would you go through that for 10 million?" Koji asks.
Keitaro shakes his head. "Nope. I would for 11 million." Keitaro picks up a speaker and presses a remote, causing the speaker to make dog barking and growling noises.
In the kitchen, Ash, Sakura and Serena were having some snacks. "Now, we found out that Chazz has tapped into the Federal Fingerprint Database," said Sakura.
"Highly illegal," commented Serena.
Sakura continues. "We came up with a way to piggyback his system in-between firewall checks. It's very interesting stuff out there.
Serena wasn't interested. "Yeah, yeah, what else?"
"We're going to get his main target audience," said Ash.
"How?" asks Serena.
"Ash had a word with Ken Ichijouji."
"Ichijouji? After what he bragged about you guys to Naruto and caused that whole mess?"
"We need him," said Sakura.
At a bar, Ash was sitting next to Ken Ichijouji.
"I should have kept my mouth shut," Ken said. "And then I saw that guy walking around and I didn't know who he was and he looks like just some guy to me and I guess I pissed him off..."
"Ken, there was no way you could have known who he was."
"Aw, come on, Ash."
"Just let it go, Ken."
"Anyway, I got the other stuff taken care of. It's all straight," said Ken. "I got the eighteen rich Digimons, I spoke to their handlers, I spoke to their managers. I spoke to their assistants. Everyone of them is going to leave. We're doing it in two tiers. I leave first, and then they follow."
"Ok," said Ash.
"But you got to make sure they win, because these guys usually lose. And when they lose, they get real nasty."
Ash smiled. "They're going to win big."
"How big?" asks Serena.
"500," answered Ash.
"Million? That much with the group?"
"No, it's a Reversed Pot of Greed."
"It doesn't matter if we win..." said Sakura.
"As long as the Game Corner loses," finished Serena. "Yes, that could actually work. So you need to rig..."
Ash smiled. "Duel Monsters, Dungeon Dice Monsters, CapMon, the lot."
In another room, Eriol was showing Koichi a cube of ice in a glass. "Now this polymer reacts to ultrasonic pulses, and since it's not metallic, the compasses won't detect it and it won't affect the weight when they check the dice. Now this?"
Eriol shows the lighter to Koichi. "Not really a lighter?" asks Koichi.
Eriol flips a switch on the lighter, with the sound of the lighter causing a cube of ice in the glass to jump.
Serena: "But dice are controlled by the manufacturer all the way to the floor."
Ash: "Which is why we went all the way to the manufacturer."
Digi-World Dice Making Factory
Koichi was measuring some materials used for dice making and had to wear a mask to cover his face. But the heat in the factory was a bit too much for him to bear. So he decides to speak to one of the Digimons, an Agumon, working there. "Hey guys, can any of you turn up the air conditioning?"
Agumon laughed. "This guy wants the air conditioning." The other Digimons laughed.
Agumon sees the supervisors in their office watching them. "You better put your mask back on or it will be dangerous for you, my friend."
Koichi looks towards the supervisors. "Ha, danger is my middle name." He puts the mask back on.
Back at Tai's mansion.
"That's not your problem. So, you jam it on Duel Monsters?"
Sakura spoke up. "We've embedded Metabee into a shuffling company."
Sakura hands over a microchip to Metabee. "Stick this to your leg and you can step on it during the control questions to create a slight jolt which would simulate the same stress levels as your false answers."
Metabee puts the chip under his left foot. "How much is this going to hurt?"
"If done correctly, you'd be in excruciating pain."
Metabee is now in a lie detector test.
"Are you a Medabot?"
Metabee steps on the chip, causing a slight electric shock to simulate some stress. "Yes," answered a slightly stressed Metabee.
"Is the color of your body yellow?"
Metabee steps on the chip. "Yes."
"Have you ever been involved in the commission of a crime?"
"No," lied Metabee.
"Have you defrauded or attempted to defraud the Gaming Industry?"
"No," Metabee lied again.
The questioner looks at the lie detector technician. "Well?"
"He's clean."
The questioner looks back at Metabee. "Well, from looking at you, you seem to be up to something, but the machine says your clean."
Metabee smiled. "I'm just a little nervous. I really want this job."
"You can relax now. Welcome to DuelDisk Co."
Metabee shakes hand with his interviewer.
Back at Tai's mansion.
"DuelDisk Co. That won't be the last I hear of them." Serena looks at Sakura and Ash. "Well, if Duel Monsters is not your problem, then it must be the Slots. These progresses run on computer chips, so we're going to have to program a trapdoor. I can probably find you someone who can do that."
"Thanks, Rini, but we've already got someone on the inside," said Ash. "Someone named Izzy. He's got a little too much downtime."
Near an alleyway, Ash was talking to Izzy Izumi.
Sakura: "He's run up a nice long online gaming tab and he won't be able to keep it a secret much longer."
Izzy was eating a burger. "Well, now I got no...well, it's crazy."
"How bad is it?" asks Ash.
"It's bad. I owe 30 thousand US dollars, so make it a hundred thousand US."
"Deal." Ash tosses an envelope full of money to Izzy. "We'll call it a hundred."
Izzy catches the envelope. It feels like cash inside, enough to clear Izzy's debts. "Thanks Ash."
"It's my pleasure," Ash said. "Now tell me how you're going to program that trapdoor?"
Serena: "If that's not the problem, then it must be CapMon."
At The Chazz, a player dressed in fancy clothes was playing CapMon while making bets on the outcome.
Serena: "To bet and play at the Game Corner, one must use only the capsules they get from the place itself. Now, if one could use an infra-red scanner in the shoe wired to a microcomputer on the person. Figures the probability of the level of Monster and chances of victory in the capsule within three digits."
Suddenly, two security guards attack the cheating player as a disguised Ash and Sakura watched from a distance.
Ash: "Yeah, we tried that."
Sakura: "But in all fairness, the way he was dressed didn't really help.
Ash: "Not very subtle, this guy."
Ash and Sakura walked off.
Serena, Ash and Sakura were near Tai's pool.
"So, you're stuck on Capmon," said Serena.
"No, we're going to go with the Byakugan. Have the machines rigged so that only the Game Corner gets the weak monsters."
"You're kidding. How are you going to deliver?" asks Serena.
Sakura raises two fingers. "Two stages. First, we position a man of our own. There's a Gaming Expo on the day of the Grand Opening which Chazz is committed to attend, to show what a 'Regular' guy he is. James is suiting up as the Gamer."
Domino City Gaming Expo
James is setting up a stand that is offering a new type of Game for Game Corners: Gotta Catch Em All Pokémon Domino Game...
"The men who make the decisions are very hard to impress," James explains to a group of female volunteers at the Expo. "That's why I'm asking each and every one of you to help me sell it, by being the most classy, genteel ladies. The image we are looking for are tasteful elegance."
The volunteers were confused. "What exactly do you want us to do?" asks one of the volunteers.
"Raise those skirts up by 3 inches," James said.
Sakura: "Second part, we tie James to one of theirs. A manager with sticky fingers."
Meanwhile, at a pawn shop, an orange-haired manager puts a bag full of gold silverware to be pawned. "How much for these?"
As the manager collects her payment and leaves the pawnshop to get to her car...
"Does Chazz Princeton know that you're stealing his flatware, Nami?"
Nami looks up to see Ash leaning on a wall.
"How did you know my name?" asks Nami.
Ash shrugged. "Well, we know a lot of names. I know that you got a boyfriend named Luffy. You love treasure and tangerines. We know that you're the head manager at The Chazz."
Nami was at a loss for words. "But...what..."
"We don't want to hurt you, we want to help you. We'll double your salary, all in one night," Ash offered.
The offer is very tempting for Nami. "What do you need me to do?" asked Nami.
"Right now, nothing," Ash said. "Go home, do your job. And at the appropriate moment, someone will present themselves. Gotta Catch Em All?"
Nami nods. "Gotta Catch Em All."
In a lounge in Tai's mansion...
"Who will be the pusher to rope Chazz?" asks Serena.
"We're still looking," answered Sakura.
"We can find someone," Ash said.
"Well, make sure that it's someone Chazz despises,' suggested Serena. "Back to the big picture. What is your Exit Strategy? The players won't be in on the Scam, so they'll think it will be their lucky night, but you'll never get the out the door with their winnings because they'll dump it all back. That's Domino City and that's your problem."
"Well, the Exit Strategy is 'A' problem, not 'THE' problem," Ash said.
"The problem is security," continued Sakura. "We're drawing a blank and it's spooky." She switches on a lamp to illuminate the room.
Somewhere in Germany
Yugi was leaving a taxi talking on a cell phone.
"The Specs aren't on the Grey Market, the Black Market or any other Market and all I've keep hearing is that there's never been a system like this. Now I found out where they designed it but I can't even get past the front door. I've blown all of my buy money, my bribe money and four of my best IDs and I'm getting nowhere." Yugi looks to his back. "And not only am I nowhere, I'm pretty sure I'm being followed."
Ash was on the other end of the call. "Do you have anything?" asked Ash.
"Yeah, I think I have a name, but I don't even know if its right. They're calling it..."
Serena stood up back in Tai's mansion. "The 'Ayanami'. The 'Ayanami Player Tracker System'. So that's where it's going: Domino City."
Serena sighs. "I think I'll give you back the Hundred Grand."
"Why?" asks Sakura.
Serena walks to Ash. "Ash, I like you." Serena then looks at Sakura. "You too, Sakura. I mean, you got style, and loyalty. You two are the Kishimoto and Toriyama of the Thievery World and even they went off the boil. You're analogue players in a digital world. It's over." Serena walks back to her seat. "Believe me, I would love to go up against Ayanami and crush her, but it can't be beaten. It can't be hacked and it can't be beat."
"Not even by you?" asked Ash.
"With 18 months, no boyfriends, no other jobs, no distractions, maybe."
Sakura looks at Serena. "You know everything about this thing."
"Everything. Except where it was being deployed. The inventor is an old rival of mine. Her name is Rei Ayanami. That crazy Albino named it after herself."
Sakura notices a strange connection between the names. "Rei? Serena?"
"You were thinking of one of my friends, Raye Hino," Serena said.
"So what's so tough about this thing?" asked Ash.
Serena explains. "It's an Artificial Intelligence Security System. They must be field testing it."
Ash is confused. "You mean it has a brain?"
"One hell of a brain." Serena looks at Ash. "It not only thinks. It reasons..."
The Ayanami Player Tracker System
Rei Ayanami was showing Chazz how her system works.
Rei: "This system will read every face, every wager and every seat in the entire Game Corner. Bit by bit. That's why we need the floor security cameras to be perfect. They measure pupil dilation and determine if the win is legit or it's expected. It gathers bio-feedback, player's heart rates, body temperatures and it will measure whether the standard measurements of gaming algorithms are holding or someone is manipulating the odds. The Data is recorded in real time within three Super Computers which I nicknamed the Magi."
"The Magi?" asks Ash.
Serena answers the question with another question. "You know what a Supercomputer is?"
"Err..."
"It's more powerful than a regular computer," Sakura explained.
"Now, the Ayanami is housed in an impregnable room. Its shock-mounted, its temperature is controlled and it will lock down if it senses if it's under attack. If it locks down, no one will be able to get out of the room."
"Couldn't we just shut it off? Like cut the wire?" suggested Ash.
"It would work, but a better idea would be pulling the plug out of the socket."
"Seriously..." Serena interrupts Sakura.
"Look, other than walking into the room with a magnetron around your neck..." Serena looks at Ash. "You do know what is a magnetron, right?"
"Errr...something that screws up the Ayanami?" answered an unsure Ash.
"Well, other than that..." Serena sighs. "I'm kinda shocked that this is where we are because this is a problem."
"That's what I said," said Ash.
Sakura stood up. "But if we could somehow shut it off."
"Look, there is no 'if'. It can't be shut off. You'd need a real-life natural disaster for it to work. An actual act of God.
"But if we could..." But Sakura was interrupted by Serena again.
"It can't."
"But if we did..."
"It's can't."
"You can."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Sakura."
"Hypothetically, if we could, how long would it take for Ayanami to reboot?" asked Ash.
"Because it's a sophisticated system, 3 and a half minutes.
Sakura looks at Ash. "It might be enough," says Ash.
"Pick your Natural Disaster," Sakura suggests. Then both Ash and Sakura look at Serena. Serena nods. If they can't get a real Natural Disaster, then they're going to make their own Natural Disaster.
"Get me a laptop," said Serena.
Serena shows Ash and Sakura the plan on the laptop. "Now, the drill will access through a sewer main off this road and it grinds along here into the northwest corner of The Chazz. Let it run at around 6 RPM, so you won't wake all the neighbors. When it reaches the resonance frequency, the building will act as a tuning fork. For the people inside, it would feel like an Earthquake. That will disable the Ayanami and there's your Exit Strategy..."
End of Chapter 2