Chapter III: Outside Involvement
Hello, again, GX fans! Welcome back to "Bittersweet Victory." Again, thank you, faithful reviewers! Your support means a lot! Anyway, this story is growing! I'm not always sure how long a particular story will go and this one is definitely no exception.
This new chapter will largely take place back in Domino. One of the scariest moments when you are a caregiver of children in whatever capacity and you love them is when they're hurt. Your heart is in your throat, if it doesn't feel ripped out of your very chestHow much worse would it be to know that your older child has inflicted the wounds on your youngest?So, how will Sy and Zane's parents react? I felt strongly that it was necessary to show adults beyond Chancellor Shepherd, Dr. Crowler, Miss Fontaine and even Professor Bonaparte...
Author's note: The Truesdale parents are Darla and Justin. Darla is an OB/GYN at Domino Children's Hospital, while Justin Truesdale is an accountant. The Rhodes parents are Jean Louise "Scout" and John Patrick "Jack" Rhodes, a pediatric surgeon and stock broker, respectively. The Misawa parents are Hiro (a celebrated eye surgeon) and Molly (a horticulturalist). Jaden's mother, Jayda, a pediatric oncologist, died when he was eight and his father, Hisoka, is currently in a mental hospital because he is battling a severe case of depression. This information is consistent with my version of the Yugi-verse that I've written in other stories.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. If I did, I wouldn't have my stories here… or would I?
Chancellor Andrew Shepherd sat in his office, hovering between anger at himself and disbelief. I should've known this tournament was a bad idea, but how could this have happened? How could Zane have attacked his own brother? Why couldn't I see it, that he was so damaged? Andrew, you idiot! Shepherd forced himself back together and quickly pulled up Syrus's emergency information so that he could call a mother and let her know that her younger son was near death at the hand of her older son. And then he would call Kaiba Corp and Industrial Illusions…
At Domino Children's Hospital, Darla Truesdale was sitting at her office desk, taking a well-deserved break. This morning, she had delivered the 1500th baby of her medical career, and it had been a very easy birth for the mother. So now, Darla was taking a little time to relax and recharge. Darla had aqua-blue hair which was pulled back into a bun and warm gray eyes which needed the aid of spectacles. Other than the white lab coat, pants suit and sneakers (as well as height and obvious feminine characteristics), she looked like her youngest child. She looked at the picture on her desk of her family and smiled. The picture was several years old, taken when her boys were both in grade school. Zane had returned from his trip to the Himalayas and looked so serious, while Syrus looked happy but a little nervous. Darla's husband, Justin, was standing behind the two boys with her. Justin looked like Zane, but with a bit more humor around the eyes and mouth. He too was dressed in a dark suit, but had a bright red tie on and was smiling, proud of his wife and boys.
Darla was remembering all those happy times and wishing she had her boys close to her again when the phone rang. She didn't pay attention to the caller ID and picked up. "Good afternoon, this is Darla Truesdale…Oh, Chancellor Shepherd! How are you..? Yes..? Yes..? What?! Oh, my goodness..! How did it happen..? Okay… Yes, I can be ready… I'll call my husband immediately… Thank you… Oh, Lord, why..?" she pleaded with the Almighty after she hung up the phone.
"Darla? Darla, what's wrong?" Jean Louise Rhodes, popularly known as Scout, stuck her head into Darla's office. She looked like a pleasingly plump version of her daughter. Scout had been a pediatric surgeon at Domino Children's for many years and had been Darla's friend for that long. "Darla…" Seeing her friend so upset was a shock.
"I just got a call from Chancellor Shepherd… Sy's hurt and Zane… Zane is the one who did it… Oh, God… Scout…" Scout pulled her arms around her best friend.
"How did it happen?" Scout asked in disbelief.
"You've seen how Zane's been lately. I thought it was just because he was trying to act tough after what happened with that Aster Phoenix, but now… Zane went to Duel Academy to participate in the GX tournament and he and Syrus dueled. Whatever happened, Syrus might…" Darla choked up and couldn't say any more. Scout, for her part, was in shock. Atticus had emailed her a few days ago, telling her that he'd dueled Zane and something seemed different about his best friend and it wasn't good.
If Darla needs me, I'll go with her, Scout thought, and I have a feeling Atty and Alexis will need me too…
"Scout… please come with me… Even with Justin, I can't do this… I can't…" Darla said finally, still nearly choked by her tears.
"All right. Fortunately, I don't have any surgeries scheduled and Dr. Tsunade can take over for me, all right?" Darla nodded, still having difficulty speaking. "It'll work out somehow, Darla."
"What will work out?" asked a man with a slightly muddled accent.
"Oh, Hiro! It's Syrus. He's been hurt," Scout explained to Hiro Misawa. Hiro was Bastian's father, and anyone could see where the Ra Yellow had gotten his hair and eyes, though Hiro Misawa was shorter than his strapping son, who'd inherited his height and physique from his mother Molly's side of the family. Scout quickly explained what had happened as Darla had told her, concluding, "I'm going with her and Justin. This is unbelievable… I wish Jayda were here…"
"We all do," Hiro said softly. "I can't leave with you, but you have my prayers…" he concluded, giving the two women hugs.
"Thanks, Hiro," Darla managed. "I just can't lose my baby like this…"
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Meanwhile, the phone rang in another part of Domino…
"This is Seto Kaiba… Oh, good afternoon, Chancellor Shepherd. How's the tournament going and is Sartorius causing any trouble…? I see… You need a doctor out there..? What's the patient's status..? All right, then… I'll send you the person I trust most. She's an excellent doctor… Oh, she's my wife… Yes, Andrew… I'll be sending her out immediately… Good-bye."
Seto Kaiba got up from his desk. To the normal person, it might seem as if the news of a Duel Monsters-related injury didn't faze the now-thirty-year-old CEO. However, what Shepherd had just told him turned the young man's stomach. Even when I was at my darkest, I couldn't have consciously tried to kill my little brother! How could Zane even think of it?! He walked out of his office and headed down to the elevator. His wife should be at the Kaiba Corp gym with her friends, doing some aerobic dance. Unless they talked Kisara into having smoothies today instead… he thought, thinking that Teá, Mai, Ishizu and Serenity might be able to talk his wife into taking a breather.
However, when Seto arrived at the gym, he saw his wife with the amazingly beautiful white-blonde (yet occasionally bluish) hair doing a dance routine with her friends Teá Muto, Mai Wheeler, Ishizu Devlin and Serenity Taylor to "Makenai," the opening song to "Sailor Moon Stars." They were all dressed in leotards, dancer's tights, leather-bottomed dance slippers and skirts and each moved well and looked pretty good. However, he only had eyes for his wife of eight years. They did their finishing pose, and he clapped politely.
"Hi, honey! What brings you down here? I thought you were working…" Kisara said and trailed off, her blue eyes trying to determine what was wrong. "It's all right, guys; I needed a break, anyway," she said to her friends. They looked at her, nodded and headed to the locker room to change. "What's wrong?" He looked much as he had one day early on in their courtship when he had to go to Kaibaland to personally fix a mechanical problem and had to skip out on their date, but the young woman could tell something was far more wrong than simply missing a dinner date.
"Babe," he said, "there's been… an incident at Duel Academy. A student is in very bad shape and… Kisara, you're the only one I trust with this."
Kisara was a very good doctor and even if she hadn't been his wife, he would've sent her. He'd met her when they were eighteen and he'd returned from Egypt with who he'd once called "the dork patrol." Yugi had gone into a major depression after losing Atem (Seto sort of understood—he didn't have to imagine how it felt, losing a brother—Pegasus had given him a taste of that) and had ended up in Domino Children's after a suicide attempt. It was there that Seto had met Kisara Jenkins. What had obviously drawn him to her at first was the resemblance to the young woman who'd died in ancient Egypt. But then he'd found her to be sweet and kind as well as incredibly smart. Seto had asked her out, and by the time Yugi had been okay to leave the hospital, he and Kisara were dating seriously. They married two years later and had three children and were working on having a fourth.
"Honey, what happened?"
"Do you remember the duel at the Kaiba Dome a few weeks ago when Zane Truesdale dueled Sam Robins?" He was referring to a duel where the opponent had been down and out cold for a few minutes after the duel. He had needed a night in the hospital due to his injuries.
"Yeah, I do. Why?"
"This time… he hurt his little brother. Chancellor Shepherd called me and he says Miss Fontaine is doing everything she can, but she feels it's beyond her skill. She wants a full MD out there, and who better to send than my own personal doctor? Are you all right with that?"
"Of course," she answered. "Give me a few minutes to freshen up and call over to our medical center. I'll need medical supplies…" Seto ran and made the calls while Kisara headed to the locker room. The other women were waiting for her.
"Kisara, what's going on?" Teá asked.
"Yeah, hon, what's up? Seto seemed serious," Mai added.
"Something really bad happened at Duel Academy. They need a doctor," Kisara answered as she pulled off her now-sweaty dance outfit. The other women were in various states of undress, having gotten out of the showers. "They need me immediately."
Serenity looked horrified. "That sounds like Battle City…" She had never fully shaken the images of her brother and now sister-in-law unconscious and near death nearly eleven years previously. "How did this happen?"
"You guys all know who Zane Truesdale is," Kisara inquired as she hopped into the shower. The other women all answered affirmatively. "Well, he went after his brother in a duel, and the younger boy is in trouble." She quickly scrubbed herself all over and washed her long, white-blonde hair. She got out of the shower, grabbed a towel and dried herself off, then pulled on a clean pale pink bra and pink panties. "Chancellor Shepherd is suspending the GX tournament indefinitely…"
"It does sound like Battle City," Ishizu said softly. "There are times I wish I had the Millennium Necklace again. It's strange… I thought after Zorc was brought down…"
"You can only hold evil at bay, Ishizu; you can't stop it indefinitely… Not yet, anyway," Kisara said, as she pulled on her mid-rise blue jeans, white athletic socks, sneakers and a blue V-neck T-shirt. "From what you've all told me and Seto and Mokuba have told me, it got pretty crazy for four years."
"Yeah… We all miss the Pharaoh, but none of us more than Yugi," Teá said. "That's why one of the twins is named Atem." Teá and Yugi had gotten married a year after Egypt and now had four kids; two girls and twin boys, Yugi, Junior and Atem. Kisara pulled her long hair into a French twist and pinned it quickly into place.
"Yeah… I guess we'll have to suspend full practice for a little bit, gang. I don't know how long I'm going to be there. Pray I make it through this and pray for those kids…" The group all hugged, and Kisara Kaiba left the room. Her husband met her, following her to the waiting limo that would take her to Domino Airfield.
"Are you sure you're okay with the kids for a few days, honey?"
Seto gave her his rarely-seen genuine smile. "Babe, I'll be fine, and I can call the gang if I need reinforcements. Don't forget your…"
"Tricorder?" she asked with a smile, holding up Kaiba Corp Medical Division's pride and joy, a device that held all medical data, could read a patient's vitals and record information. "I wouldn't forget this… Tell the kids I'll be home as soon as I can. I love you," she said, giving him a goodbye kiss.
"Love you too, babe," he said, releasing her. She climbed into the limo and rode to the airfield, where she met the Truesdales and the Rhodes family.
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Maximilian Pegasus was sitting at his desk at Industrial Illusions Headquarters when his phone rang in the middle of the afternoon. "Hello, this is Maximilian Pegasus…"
"Hello, Mr. Pegasus. This is Chancellor Shepherd. We have an emergency…"
Max's good eye widened. "What's going on? Is there a problem with the tournament?"
"You could say that… You need to send Chumley Huffington here immediately. One of his friends is lying near death…"
"What?! Are you serious? Chancellor, what in the name of Funny Bunny is going on?"
"Zane Truesdale was participating in the tournament and he and his brother dueled using those horrible shock collars that the underground duelists use sometimes. Syrus won the duel, but his little body couldn't take any more. He collapsed and stopped breathing, but Miss Fontaine and Jaden brought him back. We're calling a Kaiba Corp doctor to the island and the boys' parents. It doesn't look good. Could you bring Chumley quickly? I think Jaden needs him."
Max Pegasus nodded, and answered, "We'll be right out. I'm praying for the boys. See you shortly."
"Goodbye, Mr. Pegasus."
The Industrial Illusions CEO hung up the phone, then instructed his secretary to call ahead to get his helicopter ready for immediate take-off. And then he got up from his desk, headed down the hall to his elevator, and then walked to Chumley Huffington's office/art studio. Help me, Cecelia, he thought, calling on the image of his dead wife. Help me comfort this boy.
"Mr. Pegasus! Good afternoon!" Chumley said, looking up from his canvas. He was working on a new magic card design, "Dueling Brotherhood." The artwork was beautiful and at any other time, Max would've really oohed and aahed over it. Chumley knew that and saw the grave expression on his employer's face. "Sir, what's wrong?"
"Chumley-boy, we need to fly out to Duel Academy immediately. Your friend, Syrus, is in trouble… He is near death in fact…" Max quickly explained and Chumley moved quickly as soon as the boss finished. They raced to the young man's small apartment and got him a few changes of clothes, then went quickly to the airfield and flew toward Academy Island.
Meanwhile, back at the Duel Academy infirmary… "CODE BLUE! WE HAVE A CODE BLUE!"
Poor Sy… he just isn't doing well… Will his parents get there to see their son live or will they have to deal with their other son being a murderer? How are Sy's friends going to cope with this? And will Kisara Kaiba be able to do anything? Stay tuned and read and review!