Duel Eight: PiNkY pRoMiSeS

While Penny is taken to the Medical Ward

Even Minoru was at a complete loss as he and the others stared down at Yugi, who had just recently been beaten by another of his role models. Who knew Seto Kaiba could be so harsh and…desperate? The young boy couldn't tear his eyes from the downtrodden Yugi who had been unceremoniously ripped of his dueling title (was that even official with that stunt Kaiba pulled?) Now, for whatever reason, Yugi was so out of it the two kids were as oblivious as Slime Tokens.

It's just a tournament, Ran thought, although her gut clenched at the sight of Yugi for some reason, sure Kaiba was a big jerk, but to get all down like this isn't right.

Ran gazed over at Minoru who gazed back, he was unsure of what to do too so he kept unusually silent.

"Give it a rest you two," Bakura, a newcomer to the group with white hair, said to Joey and Tristan. "Yugi has just lost his chance to get into the castle and save his grandfather, not to forget what Kaiba had just done…"

Ran's eyes widened and so did Minoru's, that surely put the missing pieces of the puzzle in their place, despite the fact there were still unanswered questions. The small brunette looked around aimlessly, somewhere in the pit of her heart she knew Penny wouldn't stand for this. She could practically hear the impatience in her voice…

"C'mon I have to talk to Pegasus and I don't care if you all have ten star chips or not! I'm not scared!" Ran imagined her saying, although the fear in facing Pegasus would certainly show in her bright eyes and lace her words. Guilt tugged at her heartstrings now for the same reason they did when she did not follow Penny before, what kind of friend was she? She had been wondering for the past couple of days - letting her friend run off (as reckless as it had been) and not doing anything about it, where was Penny now? Hopefully she didn't run across anyone dangerous or those bully guards?

Ran shook her head, trying to free herself from those thoughts – Penny was smart, she was at the top of their class – she was probably already in the castle, but Ran couldn't be sure.

"We have to do something," claimed Tea, who was still trying to gain eye contact with her shorter friend.

Ignoring the questioning looks from Ran and Minoru, the four teenagers almost appeared as if they no longer existed – Yugi was the center focus of their concern. Joey said something, Ran's hearing suddenly felt muffled as her attention was cast aside, she saw him hold out his gauntlet to Yugi – was he asking him to take his star chips? The amount Kaiba had taken from Yugi?

"C'mon Yuug, if it weren't for the star chip you gave me I wouldn't have even got this far ya hear me? I owe you this much and besides, in a sense, they're yours anyway," Ran managed to hear, her eyes averted Minoru's. The boy was confused, Ran's face was steadily growing red and her eyes were shining.

"What about your sister Joey?" Bakura brought up, a bubble welled up inside Ran's stomach and slowly began to inflate more and more. She didn't want to hear what Joey had to say, having heard of Serenity during their short time together.

She imagined the time Joey dueled Rex Raptor, winning through a card given to him from Tristan – apparently friendship won that battle? Then there was the time Bakura appeared out of the shadows, transforming into someone else – that was a very strange encounter, one that left the two kids (plus Joey and Tristan) a little more than wary around the new member of their group. Ran shoved it away as a dream (that's what Yugi and Bakura said anyway) but nonetheless, it was weird to imagine she dreamed they were all Duel Monsters – Minoru as a miniature Saggi the Dark Clown and herself as a Getsu Fuhma.

If Ran had managed to stop Penny, had she been a good friend she would have been there – she would have experienced the same dream and maybe have been turned into a monster as well, what she would have been Ran didn't know and imagining the possibility of it happening made her heart ache.

The times they were in the caves, looking for Joey, nearly getting crushed by a rock, Joey and Yugi dueling those wacko twin duelists…

Penny was absent, no where to be found and she could have been sharing those adventures with Ran – the girl she approached…

"Hi," Penny greeted, her voice sounded nervous as if she hadn't tried to use it before, Ran blinked up at her, wondering why the class loner was talking to her in the middle of a duel.

"Hey, um, Kimura-san." Penny's eyebrow twitched, why Ran didn't know, at first she thought it wasn't Penny's name. Penny smiled back, but it appeared forced.

"What are you guys playing?" Ran immediately thought for a top student, Penny Kimura wasn't very bright.

Ran believed she knew now, since she had gotten to know tidbits of Penny's story – that she was forbidden to have her own playthings – even trading cards, she could understand the turmoil she had gone through to speak to Ran in the first place. Of course, she didn't completely appreciate the effort, Penny could have done better she supposed, but what was she supposed to do?

"I don't, my parents don't have let me have that…king of thing."

Hadn't she, Ran, opted to take her shopping for cards? To rebel against something so wrong as to not have your own deck? Penny was a quick learner, she did put forth the effort to catch up on the Duel Monsters trend and made friends out of Ran and Minoru because of it.

Then they stole away to Duelist Kingdom, Ran momentarily forgot they weren't there for fun, that she agreed to help Penny with her quest for answers (even if she didn't fully understand what was going on.) Minoru never really knew, but instantly got caught up in the excitement of the tournament and threw it into Penny's face.

It must have hurt really bad, the brunette thought, recalling what Minoru had said to Penny when she reached out.

"I didn't really come here for you and you KNOW that,"

Tears pricked at Ran's eyes and she backed away quietly so the movement would go unnoticed by the older kids, Minoru's eyes kept shifting between his depressed hero and Ran apparently torn between who he should try to help.

Ran felt terrible suddenly, remembering trying to convince Penny to stay, but it was the fact that she wanted to watch the duel between the country's dueling champion and Yugi Mutou – how selfish.

"What about him? And none of those decisions were made with me! Don't tell me what to do! For once in my life I escaped being TOLD what to do and someone like YOU is NOT going to take that away from me! I came here to speak to Pegasus! Not watch a bunch of stupid kids play fancy card games with ugly monsters!"

It clicked then, although it made Ran incredibly sad to hear Penny didn't like Duel Monsters it also made her angry too. That Penny had yelled at her, accused her of something she couldn't help but want. It made Ran equally angry that if it were not for Penny, she probably wouldn't of had the guts to get on the ship and remain quiet without breaking down on the voyage to the island.

Completely forgetting the real reason she came with Penny, what it meant to be a friend.

And now Penny has been running around the island, hopefully undetected by the mean guards and maybe in the castle now – who knows? Ran and the others hadn't seen Penny since she ran off.

The teenagers were concerned and when Tea asked Minoru and Ran where Penny went, they shrugged. Minoru claimed she ran off because she was scared of bugs, this scared them into thinking Penny was running amok the island without supervision (though of course, she is.) Ran didn't say anything more than that Penny wanted to go home and actually went to the boats to leave – both lies were believable, but little else to go on and no guards in sight to report Penny, the group had no choice but to drop the subject. It didn't keep them from scoping out the island in case Penny appeared though.

"Hey, what's going on?" a familiar voice asked, everyone turned their heads to find Mai Valentine standing a little ways afar from them. Her violet eyes scanned Yugi and Joey's gauntlets, they narrowed.

"Why are you standing around here Joey? You have ten star chips, why haven't you gone in yet?" she asked, quirking an eye brow. While the group explained to Mai what had just transpired, Minoru took the time to approach Ran.

"Hey, uh…you okay?" he asked awkwardly, by this time Ran had managed to swallow the feeling to cry and looked him in the eye – mildly startling Minoru.

"We need to find Penny-chan," she said firmly, Minoru blinked and looked at her incredulously.

"W-Why? She didn't want to stay with us," he shot back heatedly, thankfully the group of older kids and Mai had moved away and were apparently too caught up in the moment to pay attention to the two children.

"Can you keep a secret?" Ran suddenly started whispering, Minoru glanced at his heroes, Yugi and (as of recently) Joey. When he looked back at Ran, the drastic changes in mood made him nod his head seriously.

"Yeah," he answered.

"You can't tell anybody, not even Yugi-san?" she ended it off with a question in her voice, Minoru felt an anxious feeling well up inside him. Ever since they had joined forces with the teenagers, all Minoru has been doing was talking with Yugi, Joey and Tristan. Since the strange dream with him and the others as Duel Monsters, he's been having a hard time conversing with Bakura – mostly due to the fact the monster he portrayed looked gruesomely feminine.

"Um…sure," he replied, she frowned.

"Pinky promise?" she proposed, raising an extended pinky finger as she practically dared him to lie to her with her eyes.

Minoru seemed to have been struggling with some inner turmoil, but in the end when his pinky finger wrapped around Ran's he knew there was no going back – no one ever broke a pinky promise!

Ran sighed with satisfaction.

"All right," she held a hand to her mouth to muffle her words so as the nearby group wouldn't hear them, Minoru had to lean forward to catch what she had to say. "You didn't know it, but Penny-chan came here to find out if she was related to Pegasus-san."

The reaction was nearly immediate, Ran had to quickly shove her hand over his mouth to keep him from laughing outright and getting unwanted attention.

"Tphems deprum," Minoru growled through her hand after his laughter died down, when Ran didn't he began licking her palm. With a disgusted yelp Ran removed her hand and wiped it on her shirt.

"You're so gross!" she hissed.

"And you're so full of it! I knew there was something weird about her," Minoru claimed quietly, not wanting his idols to hear this crazy talk so he too kept his voice unusually small. Mai and Tea were going on about a duel.

"It's true, she may be – I mean, Pegasus-san could be related to her, she said she thinks she found her adoption papers in her father's study. She told me so when you weren't paying attention at your house, remember?" explained Ran in a matter-of-fact voice, Minoru huffed.

"Oh sure, what else did she tell you? Duel Monsters are real?" he joked, but the atmosphere that fell over them with the last episode they had when Bakura appeared made his rethink his thoughts.

"Look, it's not possible, it's stupid." Minoru claimed blandly, Ran shook her head.

"It is too! They have the same eye color!" she shot back, Minoru sighed with exasperation.

"Tons of people have the same eye color!" he retorted, Ran's eyes narrowed.

"You're so pessimistic," she said, he blinked.

"I'm what?"

"Never mind," Ran said, not wanting to say it was Penny who taught her that word. She was very smart, Ran figured, to remember her new vocab words so well.

"But we have to find her Minoru-kun, she could be hurt…or lost," Ran's imagination was starting to get to her and surprisingly, Minoru reached out to comfort her.

"Don't worry, Tristan told me as soon as we came across another guard they would tell her she got lost, they'll look for her then." Minoru said, this did reassure Ran, knowing it wasn't just her that was concerned about Penny.

"Yeah, but Penny doesn't like the guards," Ran said.

"Who does? They're all jerks," he agreed.

"You know, she thinks of us as her friends," stated Ran, Minoru frowned. "She told me she's never had friends before, cuz everyone at school thinks she's strange."

Minoru and Ran looked away from each other guiltily, knowing they always thought that as well.

"Well, I guess we will have to find her…that is if the guards don't, maybe she's already in the castle." Minoru thought out loud.

"I was hoping that too,"

Return to Penny's POV

Half and hour later…

I had been running for what felt like forever before coming across a corridor (three floors down) that led to a balcony. In fact, I didn't realize there was something more to the room that I was in until I heard an unfamiliar voice call out –

"Welcome finalists!" I fell back into the corridor and hid behind the doorway as on the opposite side, another man (a guard?) appeared with sunglasses like Kemo's. He came to a halt in the middle of the balcony and was looking down at something. Being as short as I am at my age, I didn't see Yugi and his gang (plus Ran and Minoru) on the opposing balcony.

"I am Croquet and the chief tournament liaison, for those of you have barged in uninvited I will contend with later." I gulped, not entirely sure of what he was going on about, a shiver ran down my back when I thought he might have seen me, but he paid me no heed.

"Congratulations for making it this far and because Pegasus-sama is so impressed with your dueling talents, he wishes to reward you with some entertainment – a match between Kaiba and himself!" he shouted in an official tone, "this should give the finalists an idea of what will be in store for them."

Someone said something in the further reaches of the room that I couldn't hear, but when I heard Croquet announce Pegasus' name, i automatically figured he might have been in this very room – down another floor from where I was standing. With Croquet standing on the same balcony, I couldn't risk showing myself while trying to pull up on the balcony to look down – I would have to go down and hope there was another doorway.

"Now why would Pegasus-sama do that?" Croquet responded to the voice I hadn't heard as I inched away from the doorway.

The voice that responded back was much louder than the one before.

"Because he's a grade-A nutcase!" That was definitely Joey, I thought and the others must surely be with him – including Ran and Minoru.

Now that I was mostly over what had transpired between us, I was rather excited over the idea of meeting up with Ran and Minoru. But seeing Pegasus in person took priority. How was I going to get down there?

"Just enjoy the match," was the last of what I heard from Croquet as I pelted down the corridor, looking for another stairwell.

With Yugi and company

Joey was holding Ran high enough for her to look over the balcony wall, Minoru was Tristan's charge. This made Ran's cheeks burn, considering Joey had been exceptionally nice about it. Yet setting sights on the world champion and Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters made her skin tingle. They were about to watch one of the most prized duels in all history, Minoru's eyes were wide and practically bulging with excitement as he too watched.

She took note the others were more grim, more serious about the event, especially Yugi. Ever since he had snapped out of the trance he was in, his eyes were determined and set.

When Pegasus entered with two of his guards, Ran almost gasped.

She hadn't been thinking of Penny until then, of course she had been concerned over her friend, but the moment she saw the silver-haired man Penny's eyes flashed into her mind. Granted, she couldn't see Pegasus' single orange eye from such a distance, but in a way, the two seemed to share the same aura – an intelligent, somewhat withdrawn energy.

Could Penny be right?

"Where is Mokuba?" Kaiba spoke for the first time, glaring harshly at the man.

"My, that's no way to speak to an old friend Kaiba-boy. Has kidnapping Mokuba and seizing control of your company put a rift between us?" Pegasus replied, Ran and Minoru exchanged shocked expressions. "It's nothing personal Kaiba-boy, besides, you can have Mokuba back if you beat me in a duel."

Something gold glinted from behind Pegasus' platinum hair, but Ran didn't catch what it was, Minoru's eyes were narrowed on something surprisingly not one of the two duelists. His gaze was focused on something at the door Pegasus had entered through.

"One little victory shouldn't be a problem for the Duel Monsters world champ should it? Just enjoy this most wonderful duel," Pegasus continued, Ran felt he sounded confident he would win no matter what Kaiba threw at him.

As the creator of the game, he should be really good right? She thought, she felt Minoru nudge her in the arm, Joey and Tristan didn't take notice.

"Look," he mouthed, pointing discreetly at the door he had been staring at. Ran's eyes widened in recognition.

Penny POV

I slammed my back into the wall, this was the door Pegasus had just walked through. Now that I was here, WHAT was I to do? I figured I could just look through it to watch the back of the man I believed to be my real father, but what then? Watch from a distance, listen to him duel, then confront him after the whole thing is over?

My heart was racing uncomfortably fast and I was vaguely aware my brain was malfunctioning for the first time I could remember.

His voice, I could hear him and it only sent my mind reeling anymore.

Was that the voice of my father?

Yet it wasn't what Pegasus sounded like more than what he was saying that was making me sweat.

"My, that's no way to speak to an old friend Kaiba-boy. Has kidnapping Mokuba and seizing control of your company put a rift between us?" I shut my eyes tightly, no, he didn't – he wouldn't!

The man I believed to be my father, I hoped to be my father – kidnapped Mokuba?

"W-Why?" my voice sounded small and feeble, the words just barely passing through my lips.

"It's nothing personal Kaiba-boy, besides, you can have Mokuba back if you beat me in a duel."

That's right, he's not completely bad – nobody's completely bad right? Sometimes Father would yell at me, but try and soothe me later. He told me fathers sometimes had to shout at their children to get them to listen, to make them learn, told me there were worse fathers out there.

Was he referring to Pegasus? Did he know something about Pegasus and that was the reason I was taken from him? Adopted by the Kimuras? Did Pegasus prove to be a horrible father to the point some social workers took me from him? What about my mother? Surely Pegasus was married to have a kid right? Where was she?

The thought of my real mother made time seem to stop, my heart seemed to slow down and an unknown feeling I've never felt before settled heavily on my being.

I had been so obsessed with tracking down Pegasus, I forgot to imagine my real mother. Now that the thought had occurred to me…my heart grew light and fluttery, I imagined if Pegasus had silver hair, then my mother would have blonde hair. What were the color of her eyes? Was I like her at all? Was she kind, caring, and sweet? Would she have read me stories at night (something only my Auntie Ai did on occasion) and taught me to bake? Would she have…

Hugged me? Kissed me good night? Held my hand when we walked in the park and got me Hello Kitty stuffed animals and cups?

Would she have told me she…loved me?

I hugged myself with the thoughts of my real mother whirring inside my head like a typhoon as Pegasus continued to talk outside the door. Every now and then I would look through it, I would stand there and stare at the back of the man that could be my father, my real father.

The man who gave me up.

The man who had apparently kidnapped Mokuba.

I hurried out of sight when one of the guards took a look around the room, afraid he would see me out of the corner of his eyes.

Pegasus continued to speak, I felt the urge to put my hands over my ears, but found that I couldn't.

"Should I spin it like a top or roll it like a ball?" Pegasus spoke then something hit the floor and rolled away, I heard the gaurds take off after it. I heard footsteps coming up beside me. I didn't have a chance to move when someone grabbed my upper arm and somebody clapped. I struggled against the man who held my arm, I peered up to find it was another guard. My eyes fell on something else, or someone else.

Mokuba, but he didn't acknowledge my presence.

"Mokuba…" I whispered, in shock of the turn of the events, I had stopped struggling.

"Here," the guard growled gruffly as he tossed me into the awaiting arms of another guard. Just in time the guard dragged Mokuba through the door. The guard put a hand over my mouth.

"Now look at what the cat dragged in, your new friends told me you got lost huh?" it was Kemo, I bit his hand in another desperate attempt to escape his clutches.

"PEGASUS!" I called out when Kemo cried out when he took his gorilla-like hand from my face. He quickly put his hand back where it was, muttering under his breath about 'stupid kids.'

"He doesn't have time for you brat, come on." He went to drag me away, but when I proved to be hostile, he merely picked me up.

This time, no one was taking me to a part of the castle, I was fairly certain Kemo was taking me straight to the docks to load me on a boat back to Domino City. I struggled and flailed to no use, the man held me down so tightly that my muscles stood absolutely no chance. But I was so close – why didn't I just run out to Pegasus when I had the chance and shouted at him until he answered my questions? Why didn't I run as soon as I heard those footsteps? What was wrong with Mokuba?

Kemo was taking me through what must have been the skeleton of the castle, taking hidden doorways and trick entrances as he weaved through stone passages. Never once entering the shiny tiled floors and intricate walls of the interior of the castle. These passage ways were lit by torches in brackets, giving off an orange flow wherever we went. When at last another door opened without Kemo's permission, a guard appeared before us.

"Kemo sir, we have company." He said, Kemo huffed.

"Really? Who? Everyone is at the duel," he snarled, the guard gave off an unusually eerie feeling, he was smirking.

"They want the girl sir," he replied, getting closer. His eyes glinted evilly, even Kemo was put off by the guard's behavior.

"Oh? And they would know of the brat because?" questioned Kemo.

"It's the Big Five, sir," the guard replied coolly, I felt Kemo stiffen behind me.

"The Big Five? Here? Go and tell Pegasus-sama immediately!" Kemo barked, but the guard didn't move.

"What are you standing there for?" Kemo bellowed, "I gave you an order!"

"I'm afraid," the guard began, "that I'm on a different payroll."

"What?" At this moment the guard made a move to snatch me from Kemo's clutches, but he moved swiftly out of the way (something I would never have given him credit for if I hadn't seen it.) The guard unsheathed a hidden dagger, pointing it at Kemo.

"Hand her over Kemo," the guard growled through his sneer, "the Big Five require her."

"For what? What does this brat have anything to do with them?" Kemo shouted, hurting my ears. The guard smirk darkened.

"In addition to Kaiba Corp, as Pegasus so happily gives his cooperation, she'll give them Industrial Illusions."


A/N:

If something seems off about the quotes from the show, be aware I didn't take the quotes off exactly. I haven't seen it in so long that I've been reading off of episode summaries LOL. So the quotes could be exactly right, but I have no idea - I've been combining English and Japanese quotes, so don't be too confused (actually, I'm gonna ask for a small favor - try NOT to be so focused on the episodes.) I hate it when people take the script off the show and merely change a couple of things for their characters, I HATE that. I try to take the episode and do what I can with it in my own way - not in the exact way the episode shows it.

So obviously things are getting darker and more interesting, since I don't have much an outline planned for this story, I'm just flowing with it and so far, I like what my hands are typing.

And trust me, I can't wait till Penny and Pegasus' first encounter!