It felt like his heart had stopped. Maybe he was dreaming. There was no way Kaiba could be here. Awake. Alive. Looking as though she'd never been ill in the first place.
Kaiba stared silently at her de-facto welcoming group, eyes scanning over everyone and then finally resting upon Yugi. Out of the corner of his eye, Jonouchi noticed Yugi swallow hard, trying his best not to shrivel under Kaiba's shrewd gaze.
"Is that... Kaiba?" Anzu ventured after a moment. "Yes, it is! She's out of her coma!" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Before Jonouchi even noticed what was happening, Yugi dashed forward until he was mere steps away from Kaiba. "Kaiba-san!" he greeted warmly.
"Yugi... it's been a while," Kaiba replied tersely, staring down at him with a blank face.
Yugi rummaged around in his pockets before he produced a deck of Duel Monsters cards. He tapped them into place neatly before offering them, "Someone had stolen your cards. I got them back for you."
Kaiba just stared at the hand for a moment, her eyes still unreadable before she finally picked them up and placed them in her coat.
"I thank you for now," she spoke quietly, looking down into Yugi's eyes before her face became more hardened, "But don't be mistaken, Yugi. I don't intend on sitting on the sidelines just because I lost my battle against you. We will face each other again. And I will defeat you, sooner or later..."
She turned as if ready to walk away before looking at Yugi again. "And one more thing. It'll be me who defeats Pegasus. I'll protect Kaiba Corporation with my own hands. And save my brother."
With that, she turned heel and headed towards the woods, not looking once behind her. Yugi stood quiet, as if unsure whether to say something or not. For once, he looked completely shocked, just watching Kaiba walk off like that into the darkness.
She had some nerve...
The words came spilling out before he knew he was speaking them. "Not so fast, Kaiba!"
Jonouchi marched after her, stopping just short of the hem of her trenchcoat as it billowed in the breeze. He didn't even know what he was doing, what he was saying. All he knew was that he felt hurt. His chest felt like it was going to burst, his gut twisted painfully. He at once felt elated and infuriated, so indescribably lonely. "Leaving without so much as a hello," Jonouchi growled as he grabbed at the crook of her arm, "Don't tell me you forgot about the rest of us so easily! Or what you did!"
"I haven't," replied Kaiba as she grabbed Jonouchi's wrist and narrowed her eyes, "But now is not the time to revisit the past. Heh, I almost forgot you were there in the first place."
Her eyes got dark, with a kind of maliciousness Jonouchi hadn't seen since that time when Kaiba played against Yugi after his grandfather was carted away to an ambulance. It made him jump, the look was so frightening, and Kaiba took advantage, grabbing his arm wholly and throwing it towards the ground.
It felt like all the blood in his body had been replaced by ice water. He barely registered it when Kaiba shoved him back hard, creating distance between them. But she already felt a million miles away, and all the worry and yearning he'd bottled up over the past six months was incinerated by the fury that took up residence in his bones. He felt empty. And so, so alone.
There was such a disconnect between Jonouchi's mind and body that he ended up stumbling over his feet, unable to catch his balance, and he felt himself fall as though in slow motion. All he could see was Kaiba's lips curl up into a cruel smirk as his ass hit the ground, the ashes of his crush dispersing into the shadows of the night.
"Jonouchi, was it?" asked Kaiba as she stood there looking down where he'd fallen, not moving to help him up, or really do anything but cross her arms against her chest. "So you're in this tournament, too? Now I see the level of competition..."
Jonouchi sprung back to his feet, hands clenched into fists. Somewhat absently he felt his fingernails, short as they were, digging into his palms. He ignored how the sound of his name sounded on her voice.
He tried to calm himself. He wasn't a mindless thug anymore. His opponent was a girl. No matter how enraged she made him, Jonouchi knew he would be less than trash if he were to strike a female.
"Duel me," he heard himself say, "Right here. Right now."
"Do you really think someone of your level should be requesting a duel against someone like me?" asked Kaiba. Her gaze was almost curious, but then it turned into a look of almost pity. "It won't be pretty. Duel against me, and I'll shatter your confidence like cheap glass. I am the last person on earth you want for competition."
Around him, Jonouchi's friends pleaded with him to stop. To let it go. He drowned out their words. All he could see, all he could hear, was Kaiba. "Let's just see about that. Come on, there's a Duel Box over there."
"No. Let's fight here."
Kaiba knelt down, setting her briefcase on the grass as she opened up the top. There were rows of cards, but more importantly, her duel disk prototypes were still encased in their place.
"Don't worry, it's just a testing experiment I'm going to have you help me with," spoke Kaiba as she grabbed her disk first and placed it on before throwing the other toward Jonouchi's direction.
He caught it, looking down at the device unsure of what to do. "It simulates the Duel battles without the use of the box, to make it all seem more real. That's how I'm going to beat Pegasus. With this device. My new battle machine."
At a loss, Jonouchi mimicked her actions, putting the cuff on and inserting his deck into the holder. It felt weird, like a giant misplaced yo-yo, but Kaiba seemed pleased with herself as she backed away carefully.
"The rules will be mostly the same, just without the advantages of field types," explained Kaiba, "So prepare yourself." She stepped back until they were at least five meters apart, her face serious as she drew five cards from her deck and set the duel disk to battle mode, tossing it towards him.
"Ladies first," she called out, "I play Battle Ox in attack mode!"
The monster appeared real. It put the island's duel boxes to shame, in just how intense the graphics looked, the fiend large than life and snarling and roaring from where it stood in front of Kaiba, who wore a smug grin on her face.
"It's called 'Solid Vision'," declared Kaiba triumphantly, "Something I created just for this game. 3D imagery built right into the duel disk to create the life-like images you see now right in front of your eyes!"
It would revolutionize the game, no longer confined to tabletops. And with monsters that would actually battle alongside you… Jonouchi shook his head, momentarily dazzled. He quickly looked through his hand and set a card upon the reader, flinging it into the air. "Alright, Armored Lizard - I need your help here!"
The monster shot upward in an arc of light as the duel disk began to spin in the clearing between Jonouchi and Kaiba. It hovered there, waiting for directions.
"Get that big brute, Armored Lizard!" Jonouchi yelled, the monster surging forward to meet Kaiba's Battle Ox.
"Battle Ox, disembowel him!" challenged Kaiba.
Jonouchi's courage did him no favors. Armored Lizard took the crushing weight of the Battle Ox's ax, the blade stuck between the thick scales until it finally came down and destroyed Jonouchi's monster. His life points dropped by two hundred, Kaiba laughing from aways.
"You're in over your head, Jonouchi," she yelled, "Why don't you just give up before you embarass yourself? You don't know the game."
Feeling his cheeks begin to burn, Jonouchi ignored her taunting and chased after his card, which the duel disk had ejected without preamble. He felt a little silly for running after his loose cards with such urgency, but hell if he was going to lose half his deck to Kaiba's little experiment. Reeling the disk part back in (it really did feel like one giant yo-yo), Jonouchi tried again. "Okay, this time will be better! Go, Flame Swordsman!"
Yugi made a face as Kaiba laughed again.
"Still not good enough," she chided. Her Battle Ox managed to withstand the attack of Flame Swordsman before Jonouchi's attack power suddenly went down by three hundred.
Fuck. Elemental resistance - he'd forgotten.
Kaiba cackled again as Jonouchi's monster was destroyed. "I'm not sure if I should feel embarrassed for you or just enjoy the beat down," continued Kaiba, "I've never seen anyone try so hard only to be so horribly incompetent at dueling. But at least this gives me a chance to test out my equipment. Don't worry, Jonouchi, I'm not going to demand star chips from you, even though you are wasting my time." She laughed again before rubbing her forehead like she was tired. "Honestly, this is getting a little boring."
"Maybe it's because of your bad attitude," Jonouchi bit back, unable to hold himself back any longer, "You know, it makes me wonder if you even like playing the game, or if you just get off on being a giant bully."
She seethed before taking two cards, placing one down and charging up her Battle Ox before setting Mystic Horseman on the field.
"Playing nice will get you nowhere," Kaiba snarled, "And I'll prove it to you. I play Polymerization and combine my Battle Ox with Mystic Horseman to create Rabid Horsemen, with two thousand attack points! Can you keep up with this duel, or should I take it easy on you so you can catch up? Bull-headedness won't get you far if you don't have the skill to carry yourself through, Jonouchi."
Why did she always feel the need to demean him? To just totally disregard him, as though he would never amount to anything, wasn't even worth her attention? It burned hot in his chest everytime he looked into her cold eyes, knowing she didn't really see him. He was nothing more than a stepping-stone, an object obstructing her path.
He felt his lips curl back of their own accord, sharp teeth bared. "You think you're so smart, that you're better than the rest of us." He almost crushed the cards in his fist. "I'll always remember, Kaiba! I'll never forgive you over Death-T!" He flung out the disk, knowing full-well his monster was no match for her current one.
"Is that what this whole match is about?" asked Kaiba, shrugging her shoulders before shaking her head as if she was pitying, "You got your feelings hurt and want to regain your hurt male ego? Go ahead and try."
Monster after monster fell, Kaiba's Rabid Horseman was too powerful for any monster in Jonouchi's deck. He couldn't attack it outright, and Kaiba wasn't giving an inch. Quickly, Jonouchi's life points dropped to a mere five hundred, hardly anything to protect himself with.
"Why don't you just give up, Jonouchi," continued Kaiba, "This isn't even a game anymore."
She was just too strong. Jonouchi's pitiful monsters, pieced together from trades and booster packs and gifts from Yugi, was no match against her supercharged collection. He stood in open dismay, heard his friends calling encouragement from far away.
Her smile was twisted. Upon an otherwise beautiful face, it was unsightly. He wanted to wipe it off her face.
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Fight like a man!" Mai cried out from a distance.
If his blood hadn't already been boiling, that would have set him off. "Shut the fuck up, already! You're the last person I wanna hear that from," he growled. Shit, he didn't need another chick jumping down his throat over the state of his manhood. "I ain't giving up just yet."
He pulled his next card. This time, it was his turn to smirk. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
Kaiba looked stunned as the massive beast roared to life, firing out black flames that consumed her own monster. Finally, he'd landed a hit.
It blew Kaiba's centaur away. She bristled, looking a little put-out but not as upset as Jonouchi would have liked. In fact, right as Jonouchi started cheering with his friends, a small smirk reappeared on her face.
"Celebrating over a minor victory," she said before taking her duel disk back, "The hallmark of an amateur. Your luck is just about to run out. I've been saving a card that could beat yours since the beginning of the game. A card your friend Yugi gave back to me."
Everyone gasped before Kaiba played the card in the slot, throwing the duel disk out as a shower of bright lights exploded and revealed her most loyal and powerful beast, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. It towered over the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, the roar more ferocious and more powerful as its scales shined white in the moonlight.
"Say goodbye to your life points," cried out Kaiba, "And whatever you have left for dignity. Blue-Eyes White Dragon, end this pathetic duel and wipe out his life points!"
A burst of electricity came flying out of the dragon's mouth, blowing not only Jonouchi's Red-Eyes Black Dragon away, but also Jonouchi himself. He went flying, landing on his ass right in front of his friends, disheveled and life points completely depleted.
"This is why I'm the only one fit to duel Pegasus," Kaiba declared, her attention now directed toward Yugi, "I'm the only one who will do what needs to be done. Don't stand in my way again."
She wasn't even looking at him, as if her attention had already moved on past him. She looked terrifying though, backlit by the moon with her Blue-Eyes curled around her, like some kind of goddess of war or a harbinger of death. Jonouchi sat there feeling pathetic, cradled in Yugi's arms. Kaiba's Solid Vision system sure packed a punch, and while he'd definitely experienced worse beat-downs in his life, this one had felt like the worst.
Where had his pride gone?
Scowling, he roughly disconnected the disk from his arm and flung it back towards Kaiba, not caring in the least if it happened to get broken along the way. It would serve her right, using him like a guinea pig.
But she'd caught it, still smirking as the dragon dissipated and she quickly turned to putting her duel disk system back to its original place inside her briefcase.
"Was that educational, Jonouchi?" asked Kaiba as she stood there with her arms folded. "You might have gotten somewhere here thanks to the help of your friends, but it won't get you far. Friends are a hindrance. The only person you can believe in is yourself, and if you can't do that much, you'll always fail.
"Just look at you," she continued, frowning almost like she was disgusted. "On your knees shaking like someone's beaten dog. Is that what you are, Jonouchi? Yugi's pet dog?" She shook her head before blowing the entire group off to head away again towards Pegasus's castle.
Words were lodged in Jonouchi's throat, unable to pass. But he was surprised when Anzu stepped forward, as though shielding him, and met Kaiba face-on. "Who do you think you are, to say something like that? You know nothing about Jonouchi, or any of us, for that matter. You don't know what he's going through, why he's dueling-"
"She's right," Ryou piped up, "His sister-"
"Enough, you two!" Jonouchi finally managed to find his voice. He quickly deflated, seeing their hurt expressions. "It's just... someone like her doesn't deserve to know," he finished quietly.
Kaiba gave a blank look, her eyes unreadable.
"All Duelists have something to fight for," replied Kaiba neutrally, "Even the terrible ones. But it makes no difference. What kind of person are you if you lack the skills and determination to protect the things most important to you? It won't matter in the end. You can't even stand up; your confidence has been shattered. If you can't even stand up for yourself, how do you expect to go against a mastermind like Pegasus?
"I told you, Jonouchi, that you'd regret your duel against me."
He felt fingers briefly press into his arm before Yugi stood up and took a step forward. "Kaiba-san... in the six months that you've been gone, haven't you changed at all? You're just the same…"
Kaiba paused in her steps, standing there a moment before finally turning around to look back at Yugi's determined face.
"Yugi," she said very quietly, her face stern as her eyes narrowed before she turned completely around to face him, "Did you expect me to grin like an idiot and join forces with you? To this day, your friendship disgusts me. Don't give kindness and expect it in return, because you and me, we are enemies. That's all."
Yugi slumped to the ground next to Jonouchi, who along with Anzu held a hand up to steady him. He appeared stricken and deeply hurt, and seeing his friend in so much distress made Jonouchi forget about his own anger, and he took up that mantle instead. He stopped himself short, though, from firing off his own heated retort when he actually looked at Kaiba. She stood in place, silent and still, gaze locked onto the looming castle ahead. Although everything about her was blank, almost to the point of numbness, there was something about her that seemed profoundly sad.
"Look at that castle, Yugi," spoke Kaiba again, her voice cool and controlled once more. "Pegasus lies within there, ready for all of us. You think you can face him, but you have no idea what's in store for you. He knows every single duel monsters card in existence, created every single one... and you think you have a chance at beating him? Even with all your skill..."
Kaiba paused again, dropping her head before lifting it back up again, as if unsure to continue.
"I've only seen him duel once in the past...if you could even call it a fight."
Kaiba sat in a roaring stadium, seated in the VIP section as she watched the tournament continue to unfold. As Japan's National Champion, she had been personally invited by Pegasus to come to New York City to watch. Things were different in the United States, with an abundance of professional Duelists and card competitions with prize money that exceeded twenty million. It was unheard of, and of course, Kaiba needed to see it for herself.
Games had always come easy for her. It seemed like a gift, almost, being able to play the game so flawlessly without much effort, and Pegasus had been impressed. Someone was paying attention to her, and for a while, Kaiba had enjoyed herself. New York City was a great distraction, and being surrounded by something she was passionate about just made it all the better.
The number one card player in America, Keith Howard, was going up against Pegasus himself. Before the match started, Pegasus spent a great deal of time with children of all ages in an expo of sorts, showing them personally how to play before the actual tournament began.
She didn't know what to think of it. At first, Kaiba was impressed by Pegasus's apparent love of children, but it quickly turned out to be something far more sinister in nature.
It started to seem funny when Pegasus picked a kid from the audience and scribbled notes on a piece of paper before sending him out there to play against Keith. Kaiba wanted to ask just what he was doing, but she just stayed silently watching before Pegasus actually took a seat next to her.
"Hello, Kaiba darling," he greeted excitedly, "I looked at your proposal for the duel box technology, and boy was I impressed! What an opportunity for us both! I would love for our companies to work together to make your dream into a reality."
Kaiba couldn't stop herself from staring, her jaw slack before she caught herself. No one had ever really approved of her plans before. It shouldn't have been so easy.
But Pegasus wanted her ideas. Wanted what she had to offer. Kaiba Corporation would enter a new age.
Before Kaiba could completely become lost in her thoughts, though, the child Pegasus had picked finished the directions Pegasus had given him, completely ruining the game for Keith, somehow managing to defeat him. It didn't make any sense. In front of hundreds of thousands, a young boy who had just started playing beat a professional-level player, without doing anything more than following presumably simple directions.
"Oh look, my boy Tom just won!" announced Pegasus loudly with a smile on his face, "You'll have to excuse me, Kaiba darling, but I gotta go. The show must go on!"
He used the tournament as a way to advertise duel monsters. It was brilliant. Kaiba felt aghast, watching Pegasus bedazzle the world after somehow tricking Keith into losing the match.
It never left her thoughts, even before the betrayal.
"I don't know what trick he used while at that tournament," spoke Kaiba quietly, "But my new duel disk system should give me the advantage against him."
Yugi appeared shocked. Kaiba just looked at him grimly before looking back at the castle again.
"I am going to the castle," she continued, "And I will face him and win. Get back what belongs to me. What he tried to take away."
"Kaiba!" Yugi called after her. His voice was strong, clear - it carried no hints of the hesitance or deference Kaiba had come to expect from him. "You're not the only one who has something precious to recover and protect." He crossed his arms, his expression wholly different from the one she'd seen before she'd shared her story. "I'll be the one to defeat Pegasus."
"Perhaps," Kaiba said before turning back towards the castle once again, "But I will reach there first."