It was early in the morning and Mokuba was looking at one of the big screens in the city. Every day there was an updated ranking of the competing duelists in the new tournament. He noticed Seto had dropped below thirty points now and this would be the last day the duelists could try and earn enough points to enter the tournament.
"Come on, Seto. Where are you? You can't give up this tournament."
There was absolutely nothing he could do about it, besides hoping everything would be alright.
When Mokuba heard his name he looked up and he noticed Yugi and his friends running towards him.
"Yugi," Mokuba greeted the short teen and he did his best to sound enthusiastic. "Are you ready for the tournament."
"Ready as I'll ever be," Yugi said with a friendly smile. "Any news about your brother?"
"None," Mokuba sighed and he glanced at the screen. "It doesn't look good."
Joey stood aside, looking a bit bored. "If you ask me he's just scared and hiding. No big deal."
"He's not scared and hiding!" Mokuba shouted at Joey, who seemed surprised by the sudden outburst. "He'll be back, you'll see! And he'll defeat you in the tournament!"
"Yeah, well, I'll have to see it before I believe it. That scardy-cat is just hiding under some kind of rock if you ask me."
A calm voice coming from the side made the group look up. "Good thing we're not asking you then."
Joey made a step back, but Mokuba started smiling and Yugi looked relieved. With the briefcase in his hand and his purple coat hanging loosely around his dark shirt, Seto Kaiba was standing near the group. His blue eyes moved from the group to the rankings and he took a moment to observe them. "You're qualified to enter, Wheeler? That's a surprise."
"Why you..." Joey began, but he was cut short by Yugi, who decided it was best to come in between now, instead of waiting for them to start arguing.
"You had us worried, what took you so long to return?"
Seto's eyes moved from Joey to Yugi and he tapped the suitcase in his left hand. "I had to finish this. First things first though, I need two duels to be able to participate. I'll see you dweeps later."
With this he walked away, Mokuba quickly following his brother. Even though they had just been called 'dweeps' Yugi had a faint smile on his face, accepting some things would just never change. Just like Joey, who had a fist in the air and was shouting after Kaiba.
"Dweeps? Come here and I'll make you sorry for returning. I will show you who the dweep is, Kaiba!"
Even though Seto could hear perfectly what Joey was shouting, it was hard to miss that, he didn't respond. It amused him to hear those idle threats coming from him. "I will enjoy defeating you once more, Wheeler," he muttered, "but that will have to wait for the tournament."
Mokuba was walking next to Seto and he looked at the briefcase. "So, you did it? You completed the prototype."
"Yes and initial tests shows it works fine. I will have to do some more tests, but that will be for after the tournament. Right now I have two duels to do."
And so Seto walked around in the city to look for two victims he could duel into submission. The fact that Seto Kaiba had returned soon spread through the city. There were plenty of whispers in the street from one duelist to another. 'have you heard? Seto Kaiba is back' 'he still has a chance to join the tournament' 'no-one knows where he has been, but he's back now' 'Ha, he can try and challenge me, I'll make him lose even more points' 'I wonder if he'll be able to get enough points'
When the news of Seto's return reached Roland, he let out a sigh of relief.
When the news of Seto's return reached Alister, the expression on his face didn't change, but he turned his head towards a screen showing the scores and mumbled to himself: "Time to see what you're up to, Kaiba."
When the news of Seto's return reached Pegasus, he showed a pleased smile. "Welcome back, Kaiba-boy. Let's see what you're made off."
.
***Note: I'm not going to describe Seto's duels in length. Rest assured that he managed to find some duelists and he defeated them with ease, in true Seto Kaiba style***