Chapter Two: Monsters and Creatures

"Hey, Joey, make your move already!"

Joey shot Tristan an angry look. "Shaddup; I'm just tryin' ta figure out what move ta make!"

"C'mon, that's easy: Make the one that'll make your loss look the least pathetic."

"You win a duel for once; then you can talk."

Yugi and Téa glanced at each other with knowing grins; in the corner of his mind's eye, Yugi saw Pharaoh give off a small smirk as well with regards to their friends' antics. Tonight everyone had gotten together at Yugi's home to celebrate the glorious beginning of the summer holidays. Grandpa had been kind enough to order a pizza, desserts, and a few DVDs to keep the four out of his hair while he cleaned the Game Shop and stocked it for the next day. Yugi and Joey were currently in the midst of a duel while Tristan and Téa looked on; from the long time that Joey had been staring at his hand, it was clear that his loss seemed inevitable.

"Mmm…okay, got it!" Joey pulled out a card from his hand, flipping it onto the coffee table serving as a temporary duel area. "Since I've got Masaki the Legendary Warrior and Flame Manipulator out, I can use the magic card Polymerization to sacrifice those two..." He picked up the two Monsters on his side of the field and promptly placed them into his graveyard, "…so I can summon THIS!"

He grinned triumphantly as he smacked the card of the muscular warrior in orange and blue onto the field. "Flame Swordsman, in attack mode!" He leaned back and placed both hands behind his head. "Your move, King of Games!"

"Okay, if you insist," Yugi smiled. "I'll sacrifice Celtic Guardian and Mystical Elf…" He took his own two monsters and put them into his graveyard, "…and I'll summon this." He pulled one card out of his hand and turned it around to show Joey the monster clad in violet. "Dark Magician, attack mode."

Joey stared in disbelief, almost falling in shock onto the living room carpet.

"And since I'll have it attack, that means your Flame Swordsman is sent to the graveyard."

Sulking, Joey picked up the Flame Swordsman from the field. Tristan sympathetically placed one hand onto his shoulder. "Look on the bright side, Joey-you've lost so many times already, another defeat won't be a major blow to your record."

"Shut your trap, ya big-"

Joey's further spray of insults was interrupted by a shattering of glass coming from the Game Shop. The four glanced up in shock towards the living room doorway. "Grandpa?"

The authoritative voice of the Pharaoh spoke in his mind, warning clear in his undertone: Yugi, I just sensed an evil presence within the Game Shop. It's gone now, but it was a strikingly powerful force…

Yugi dropped his hand onto the coffee table and dashed from the living room to the Game Shop, his three friends close behind. Inside, the four were greeted by the cool nighttime breeze blowing through the shop's broken windows. Grandpa lay moaning on the tiled floor amongst scattered cards, fallen from the recently opened boxes now lying on their sides on the checkout counter.

"Grandpa!" Horrified, Yugi knelt down by his grandfather's body and saw a small trickle of crimson running down his cheek where a neat row of gashes had appeared. "What happened?"

"Yugi…" Grandpa groaned softly, "something…a kind of creature just burst in here; I don't know what on earth it was…like some kind of half-human, half-beast…"

The four friends glanced at one another in astonishment. Their faces all bore the same silent question: Half-human, half-beast?

Yugi took one of Grandpa's hands into his own; Joey knelt down and took the other, gently helping his friend help his grandfather back onto his feet. He wobbled before gaining just a slightly steady stance, shaken badly by the beast's surprise attack.

"Grandpa, do you know why this…thing came?"

Grandpa raised a shaking finger towards a shattered display case, slivers of glass shining from their spot on a red cushion. "It swiped my Blue Eyes White Dragon card…said something about how it would do for Moreau's revenge against that damn Kaiba Corp whistleblower…"

"Geez, just how many people can Rich Boy's company tick off that much?" Joey said disgustedly.

Grandpa started shuffling towards the shop's door, but Yugi quickly reached out and gripped his arm to stop him. "Grandpa, you're hurt. You stay here and we'll go see if that thief comes to Kaiba Corp tonight."

Grandpa opened his mouth in protest, but he suddenly winced and knelt on one leg towards the ground. "Ah, my leg…blast, must have twisted it when that creature shoved me…"

Yugi knelt down and again helped his grandpa stand up. "C'mon, Grandpa; we'll help you back into the house. You can rest while we go to Kaiba Corp."

"All right…" Grandpa murmured in assent. "You kids be careful, though. That creature's power…I've never seen anything like it…it was too unreal…"

Kaiba paused his furious typing at his keyboard for a quick moment to glance in the screen's corner at its digital clock. Ten minutes to eleven. If that asylum-bound freak decides to come tonight, then he'll be here soon.

He smiled smugly as he went back to typing various figures into the spreadsheet covering his screen. Almost immediately after the detectives had left, he'd made a call to the Kaiba Corp security department to issue specialized commands in preparation for Moreau's upcoming 'visit.' Every last available guard would be on duty throughout the entirety of the night, the majority posted at the front and back entrances to the building, and the rest along the corridor leading to his office. One guard had also been called up to his office; Kaiba had given him the briefcase filled with his deck, including the three Blue Eyes White Dragons which he'd carefully placed atop the other stacks before snapping the case shut, and ordered him to lock it inside of one of the many security boxes within the ground floor's heavily guarded walk-in safe. If Moreau was in need of 'experimental equipment,' he certainly wasn't going to get it from him.

Too, once all security orders had been issued, he'd made another phone call; this one was to Mokuba, asking him to come up to his office before the guard came for his deck. He wanted to tell his little brother in person that he needed to return to their house for the night. Mokuba had hesitated for quite some time before reluctantly agreeing to obey his wishes, though his opal-colored eyes were filled with unspoken concern. He hated that Mokuba was probably lying awake in bed right now, worrying about whatever event was happening at Kaiba Corp that his brother was keeping him away from, but he wasn't going to leave an opportunity open for Moreau to make Mokuba one of his freakish experiments. This was only going to be between him and the elder Kaiba brother.

After putting a few more figures into the spreadsheet, he snuck another glance at the computer's clock. Only one minute to eleven; not exactly the infamous 'witching hour,' but late enough for Moreau to move under the guise of nighttime and hone in on the one who'd discovered his disturbing 'hobby.'

In the blink of an eye, the computer clock changed from 10:59 to 11:00 PM.

Ding. The faint bell announced the elevator's arrival at the end of the corridor. Seconds later, a seeming murmur of animal-like snarling reached his ears. Rapid gunshots suddenly began to fire from all ends of the hallway; one guard's voice cried over the hail of bullets: "What the hell is that thing?!"

Kaiba immediately stood up from his desk. So, you came after all, Moreau, he sneered. I hope you and your creatures enjoy the 'welcome' I set up for you.

As gunshots continued to bang throughout the outside corridor, accompanied by an occasional scream, Kaiba opened his top desk drawer and reached inside. Hidden in the very back was a handgun of his own, stowed away just in case meetings with clients turned nasty or one of his rivals in the gaming world attempted to pull some sort of stunt. Now it could serve as means of last defense if, heaven forbid, Moreau and his freaks of nature made it into his office after all.

As his hand wrapped around the handle, a deafening crash came from directly behind him; he instinctively raised his free hand over his head to shield himself as shards of glass from his office window rained down on his back. He yanked the handgun out of the drawer, but before he could twist around and face the surprise attacker, it placed what felt like a large, furry paw onto the back of his head and slammed it down on his desk.

Bursts of dazed stars flashed before his eyes, fading away into the dark mahogany wood. He wildly waved his handgun around, firing one bullet as a warning shot. The unseen assailant hissed at him in protest; before he could let another bullet fly, he felt four sharp pinpricks dig into his hand, followed immediately by the needle-like objects quickly dragging across it.

Kaiba gnashed his teeth together as shooting pain tore through his hand; his grip on the handgun loosened with the sharp sensation, and it dropped to the carpeted floor with a soft thud.

A feminine voice hissed with an underlying grin into his ear: "If you don't want me to run those across your throat next, you'll put both hands behind your back where I can hold them. And don't bother calling your guards; Plato's taken 'good care' of them by now."

Her chilling comment brought his attention back to the hallway; he realized that the ringing gunshots had ceased, and only sounds of painful moaning were drifting under his doorway. Damnit!

With an angry snarl, he shifted both hands behind his back, clutching them into defiant fists. The assailant slid her grip around his head to clutch at his dark-brown hair and forcefully yanked him up from his desk; as he slightly winced with pain, the furry paw was lifted from his head and slid down to the other one to get a crushing grip on his wrists. Clenched in her surprisingly strong grasp, he had no chance of fighting back.

"Nikki?" A disgustingly familiar voice slithered into his office from behind the closed door. "Have you got him?"

"Yes, master. Feel free to enter."

The office doorway suddenly burst off its hinges and crashed onto the floor, sending splinters of wood flying across the room. A masculine creature leapt into the room from the door frame and greeted Kaiba with a fang-bearing sneer. Obviously it was one of Moreau's specimen; two snow-white wolf's ears protruded from the midst of his messy brown locks, similarly furry paws with amber-colored claws slightly shimmered where his hands should have been, and a puffy white tail slinked from side to side on his lower back.

The creature stood up and stepped aside to let someone else enter the room. Kaiba narrowed his eyes into an icy glare at the third intruder; passing time had etched a few wrinkles into his face and pulled back a bit on his hairline, but there was no mistaking the man with cool grey eyes that shone with a crazed gleam from a face covered with an ashen beard, especially when he wore the same white lab coat he'd worn as a Kaiba Corp personnel. Clutched in his hand was what appeared to be a silver rifle that shimmered in the dimness of the hall light.

"Seto Kaiba," Dr. Moreau sneered. "Wonderful to see you again; it's been so long since our last meeting. Tell me, how does it feel to be the one on the receiving end of an attack? I do hope it somewhat humbles your rather oversized ego."

"Those could have been brave words coming from you," Kaiba replied. "Why don't you tell your freak show to get out so you can actually prove you're not the spineless coward you've always been?"

Moreau took his rifle into both hands, aiming the barrel straight at Kaiba's chest. "I suggest you keep your mouth shut, Seto Kaiba; don't you want to savor your final moments before becoming my latest specimen?"