This fic has been going on for so long, but it feels like it took such a short time (maybe that has something to do with how quickly these last chapters got out).

Seto had no choice. "What exactly did you want to talk about," he gritted out.

The grin, if you could call it that, was like a gash across Gozaburo's face. He had real ones in a few places, as well as several scorched areas, showing that his own journey here had been less than easy. Not near as difficult as Seto's, but still as if it had taken quite a bit of effort. Seto hoped something was permanent, scarring or a limp or something.

Of course, if Gozaburo went through with his threat, nothing would be permanent for either of them for long.

"I want to know why you would put so much effort into turning my lovely gym into this," Gozaburo said after a long moment.

"This is my way of trying to make up for what you've done, old man," Seto answered quietly, keeping a careful eye on the bobbing potential bomb. Not that it would do any good to know when the Pokémon would go off. "All the Pokémon you've captured or stolen and then ruined, someone needs to be around to make sure that not all the Pokémon in the world end up like that at your ha—"

"Ruined them!" Gozaburo roared. "I made them better! I brought out their strengths!"

"You wrecked them," Seto retorted. "You tortured them until they'd do anything you wanted them to. They went insane. You built them in your image, you son-of-a—"

"What about you, Seto," Gozaburo cut him off again. "If it weren't for me you never would have made it as far as you have! Those Pokémon aren't the only ones built in my image. I've made you what you are!"

"Do you think I'm supposed to be grateful?" Seto raged. "It's thanks to you that…" Seto couldn't even say it, just gestured pathetically at the Umbreon standing steadfast at his side.

"What is this, Seto? What even is this?" Gozaburo scoffed. "You were supposed to be stronger, able to overcome all that emotional claptrap. First that cat and now this weak creature. It's no wonder things have gone so smoothly."

"Smoothly?" It was Seto's turn to sneer. "Have you even looked at yourself? All the Pokémon you've thrown at me are defeated. The mansion is safe, my brother is safe, my Pokémon are safe. I'm am strong and I am powerful and it has nothing to do with you and all to do with them!" This time he was confident as he threw out an arm to indicate Umbreon. "You're the one here who is weak. Not me, and not her."

Gozaburo's face was red and a vein was pulsing on his forehead. It looked like he was the one about to go off. Instead, after what seemed like several minutes, he calmed slightly, a twitch under his moustache continuing to show his outrage. "Safe, you said. She," now Gozaburo indicated Seto's Umbreon, "is in no way safe. And neither are you. I didn't think I'd need to remind you of those poor little ones behind the doors behind me, but I guess I must. How can you say anything about safety, boy?"

Seto didn't respond. He couldn't. Until he did. "I may not be safer, but I'm still stronger than you."

Gozaburo's eyes flared. "Electrode, now!"

"No!"

…

The Electrode didn't go off. Seto's heart was ratcheting in his chest as he waited for his whole world to explode. But it didn't.

It started melting, a few red and white drips at first that then began pouring off and melding into a pink blob with two little black dots for eyes and a black line for its mouth.

Seto could hardly believe his eyes. A… Ditto?

There was no Electrode. It had been a Ditto all along. Going from the look on Gozaburo's face, he had been just as unaware that the Pokémon was not a real Electrode.

The doors opened behind Gozaburo and Duke Devlin stepped out of them, quietly closing them behind him. "Nice job, Doppelganger," he said to the wobbling pink globule before turning to look between Seto and Gozaburo. His green gaze finally settled on Seto, who was finding himself leaning against a nearby way in order to keep himself from falling to his knees in shock and relief.

"Devlin," Gozaburo hissed. "What—"

"Gozaburo Kaiba, you are under arrest."

Several hours later, Seto was escorted by several BPA agents that included Duke Devlin across the burnt lawn of the estate back to the mansion. Other agents were stationed around the building, including the gap in the wall where the Venusaur had busted through. Even more people were in the halls, ducking in and out of rooms with a sense of urgency that Seto didn't think was required so many hours after the raid went down.

They found Mokuba, Yugi, and the others in the foyer with their Pokémon and more people from the Bureau. A few of the guys looked bloodied, but none too badly. Yami was clutching his arm to him at an angle while a paramedic talked to him and Yugi watched over them both anxiously, their Pidgey shaking but fine on his lap. Wheeler must have fallen down at some point because the knees of his jeans were torn open and red-stained, with his hands awkwardly held out in front of him, as if the palms had gotten scraped pretty badly, too. Beside him was the elusive Tristan whose absence had been explained to Seto during the hours he'd been detained and briefed at the breeding grounds.

Mokuba was sitting on the loveseat near where Seto had hidden with Eevee from the Aerodactyl, sharing it with Prof. Oak who was having his arm attended by one of the medical personnel the BPA had brought with them, namely a nurse who had been known far and wide as being the best of the best in both human and Pokémon dealings before she joined the Bureau. Nurse Joy was at this moment applying a salve to Prof. Oak's arm where it looked like something venomous had bitten him.

"Seto!" Mokuba called upon seeing him. Butterfly bandages covered the side of his face that had been coated with blood when Seto had seen him earlier. He squirmed his way off of the loveseat, leaving his Venonat in his place and stepping over his Treecko and Machoke who'd been gathered around his legs. Once he'd extricated himself he ran for his brother, ignoring the blood, mud, and whatever else Seto had spattered on him and wrapping his arms around his waist. When he pulled away his first comment was, "Man, you look terrible."

"It doesn't look like I'm the only one. What got their fangs in Oak?" Seto asked. He had to lean back when his little brother laughed and snorted loudly before tightly covering his mouth and nose with both hands.

"U-um." Mokuba had to clear his throat several times before he could go on. "That happened after everything else. Nitty was feeling a bit overprotective and I guess Professor Oak got too close to me, or something, so Nitty bit him." Even now when they looked, Prof. Oak and the Venonat were giving each other wary looks as they sat next to one another.

Seto chuckled under his breath for a second before, one-by-one, he was greeted by his Pokémon. The first to approach him was one he wasn't expecting at all. His Gengar pulled itself out of Mokuba's shadow and came to hover at eye-level.

"Oh, yeah," Mokuba said. "A few agents came to tell us they found Bandit Keith in the parking garage of KC and to pick up Frederick. This guy must have hitched a ride and popped out when they parked, scaring them half-to-death." Gengar's customary malicious grin widened. "He's been hanging out with me since then." Mokuba didn't sound like that had been a pleasurable experience.

Seto and his Gengar regarded each other for a second. Seto nodded, Gengar nodded back, and then Seto jerked his head toward his shadow and the Gengar immediately dove in, stretched the shadow to fit, and settled down in contentment. Mokuba's had been too small for its liking and it would have preferred his trainer's anyway.

Gyarados was next, though not in the form Seto had left him in. Mokuba held out a pokéball. "Found a bunch of these in the Playroom, outside your office, and down here. I figured they were all yours. We had to call your Gyarados back because he was really pissed off to be seeing a bunch of strangers in the house and I think he was worried about you too. Wouldn't listen to anyone. He might have torn the house apart looking for you."

Seto took the pokéball and silently promised the Pokémon inside that he would greet and thank him properly later.

Cloyster was next, drifting over from where it had been hanging over Solomon Moto's shoulder as he polished the spiraling horn that protruded from his Rhydon's face. Seto gave it a brief pat on its shell before recalling it to the pokéball that Mokuba held out.

Nidorino followed. He was missing one of his distinctive fangs and his ears had a series of cuts and nicks. A slight limp also accompanied the Pokémon, stemming from a puncture wound on its left rear leg. When Seto kneeled down to check him over, he heard a sweet voice tell him, "Your Nidorino will be okay. An Arbok got a fang in him, but we were able to treat him soon enough that the poison had no effect. His tooth may or may not grow back at this point, but the limp should go away soon." Seto looked up and saw Nurse Joy standing next to his brother, smiling benevolently down at him. "How about we take a look at you, Mr. Kaiba? From the little I've heard of your whole adventure, it sounds like you could use at least a little TLC."

Seto's eyes narrowed at her and he stood up to his full height. "I need to check on my other Pokémon first."

Nurse Joy nodded, her kind expression still in place. "Let me know when you're done. I can look over you wounds and tell you how to take care of your Pokémon as we go, okay?" She moved away, heading to where Yami seemed to be arguing with the paramedic over his arm, which really was twisted the wrong way around. Nurse Joy began talking to him, sweetening him up and getting him to release him arm into the care of the paramedic, who, at a signal from the nurse, whipped it up and back into the socket before Yami could protest. He let out a yelp that the Pidgey echoed and gathered the whole room's attention. He blushed and looked down at his fixed arm.

Seto looked away from him and down at his feet when he felt Nidorino come to lean against his leg and let out a deep sigh before seeming to fall asleep while braced against him. A shadow fell over him as well as Seto, Mokuba, and a great deal of the foyer as Seto's Fearow landed on the edge of the skylight.

Seto felt an odd jerk in his chest upon seeing the bird-type Pokemon. Fearow was not only his first Pokémon but the one he'd used to confront Gozaburo with the first time. Of all his Pokémon, Fearow was the one he'd probably had the best relationship with and the greatest emotional tie to up until last night. The only one. It was weird not to have made as much use of him as he had last time, not to give Fearow the chance to get his own revenge on Gozaburo and the Blasters for what they'd done to him. But that was how it had gone…

Seto gave a low, tripping whistle that they hadn't assigned a meaning to yet. Some of the other Pokémon perked their ears but Mokuba was the only person who heard him. The Fearow cocked its head to the side before giving its own nearly chirpy response. Seto gave a small smile.

He turned back to Mokuba. "Where are Persian and Kabuto?"

Mokuba smirked. "What Kabuto?"

Seto's eyebrows lowered in confusion until he saw the gangly Kabutops making its way over to him. Seto rather doubted he would be able to use this obviously threatening predator as a desk ornament anymore. Then again, he doubted anyone would dare again disagree with him at the office. He'd have to think it over.

"It's been taking care of Persian up until just a little while ago," Mokuba told him as the Kabutops approached.

"Is that so," Seto commented, reaching out a hand to lay the palm on the natural armor plate of its head. Its sharp sickles cut through the air as it scissored them, seemingly in happiness and/or celebration. Its eyes were squeezed shut like it was happy, at least.

"Yep. Persian won't come out of your office, and it threw a fit when they took Frederick away. Your Kabuto had to calm it down and it was during their fight that it evolved."

Seto couldn't help but be just a little bit amused by that. He took another of the pokéballs that Mokuba offered him and housed his new Kabutops in it.

"I'm going to go check on Persian and then I'll be back," he said and started moving for the stairs, calling Nidorino into the last pokéball Mokuba offered first.

"Wait!" Mokuba called after him. "Where's Eevee?"

Seto smirked and used Mokuba's own words on him. "What Eevee?"

Mokuba's eyes nearly popped out of his skull and then he started looking around. He finally spotted Umbreon on the other side of the room, sniffing at Tea's shy Wigglytuff, backing it into a corner as it tried to escape her twitchy nose.

"An Umbreon?" Mokuba questioned in wonder.

"Her idea, not mine," Seto felt compelled to say.

"Well what would you have wanted her to be?" Mokuba asked, a bit harshly.

Seto shrugged. "I don't know. This is good. This is very good."

Mokuba looked his brother in the eye for several long moments and Seto almost swore a look of pride came into his brother's gaze. He was proud of his older brother. Shouldn't that be the other way around?

Umbreon must have heard them talking about her, even from across the room, and came speeding over, around, and between objects until she was sitting primly in front of them. In another few seconds she just wasn't able to contain herself and began bouncing in place with her own excitement. Seto left Mokuba laughing over her antics as he made his way to the much quieter upstairs of the mansion.

The first thing that Seto saw when he entered his office was that the tentacles were still scattered about from where his Kabuto had torn then from the Omastar. He'd be needing to hire a cleaning service after tonight to help the regulars get this place back in shape. Some contractors too, probably.

Persian was a scruffy heap in one corner that uttered a mournful mew when Seto's eyes alighted on it. Seto went to it, kneeling down beside it, and it immediately rubbed its head against Seto's outstretched hand.

"I hear you guarded Ambley 'til the end, Persian," he murmured to it. "Very admirable, but he's someone else's problem now. Your job's done." He rubbed his thumb over its red jewel and saw the tension and worry seep out of the cat's body at his words.

Looking out the window Seto saw that Fearow was in his usual perch in the unharmed tree, the front yard having escaped the fire, and he knew his Gengar was still in his shadow. Seto pulled himself to sit in his office chair, letting Persian rest his head on his knee as they both looked out the window. Gengar eventually appeared and hung behind Seto's back, likewise looking outside. Fearow also looked, all four of them watching as the sun came up and brought light back to the world.

These three Pokémon were the ones that had firsthand experience of what it was like being under the control of Gozaburo. They'd also been the ones who'd experienced Seto when he as under Gozaburo's control which was nearly as bad at certain times. It was only fitting that he spend a moment of time with them, taking the time to realize and appreciate what this new day really meant for not only themselves, but also for everyone who had or would have been touched by Gozaburo's influence.

It was shaping up to be a good day.

Thanks for reading! Okay, I lied, there's going to be one more chapter. Look for it either tonight or tomorrow.