MythCreatorWriter: I agree! Let the wonderful torture begin! And oh man, I know. He's kind of amazing and it truly is the perfect date if you ask me. I like writing his murky thoughts! Believe me, it's much better than writing about what's going on in the duel… gosh, I can't tell you enough how much it kills my soul every time I have to write that. But THANKFULLY it's almost over! Sort of… yeah, let's move on. Gosh, you may have to save those tears for the next chapter because… well, you'll see. Thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter!

WhiteAsukalover: Whoops, my bad! I'm sure it was a late night for me. And I know, checking out your stories is definitely on my to-do list!. Sorry! Thanks for the review though!

Sonny131: Thanks for the review! And I do hope you forgive me for this EXTREMELY long wait. I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated this story… crazy! Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: And you know what separates you from other reviewers? How awesome you are:] Seriously, I loved all your reviews! They were so kind and wonderful it made me wanna run in a circle and jump with joy! And I'm so glad I actually get to write this review reply now because I've been DYING to tell you that that one line you were talking about, the one with "Are you done yet?" and "Yeah, and you're the punch line." Those actually WERE my own lines and were not taken from the series :] Sorry, I felt very proud of myself. Like I've mentioned before many times in my author's notes, I do try to keep the lines original, it's just sometimes there isn't a whole lot of other ways you can say, "IT'S YOUR MOVE, TURN, DRAW, BITCH!" Hahahaha. And dude, I should actually see how you say my name! That would be rad! Woah… my head's starting to feel a little funny… I've been literally writing all day, and now I just feel out of it. I better end this before I start making REALLY awkward comments that we usually keep private in our PMs ;] Thanks for your reviews and I love you!

Rena Redhead: Okay… you wrote… a lot of reviews… and I wanna try and reply to them properly, but at the same time, I'm literally about to pass out. Let's see what happens when Kari tries to respond to five reviews all at once while she's spend the whole day looking at a computer screen, SHALL WE?? Okay… so… wait, Mokuba called Noah Nii-sama? Oh wait, yeah… WOW. I'm already starting forget my own story's plot line… I'm SO out of it. Gosh, but I NEED to write a decent review! Gahhh, let's keep trying to see if I can get it right. HAHAHAHA, Okay, so I was looking at your review and thought I read it all, but then I actually moved down my word document and saw that there was TWO MORE PARAGRAPHS! Lol, it was funny. DARN IT, I'M WASTING SPACE. Okay, I'm seriously going to focus this time(I hope someone is finding this entertaining, cause I sure am… in a, ya know, dead kind of way) Let's see… a lot of your reviews are just saying how you like a bunch of stuff, which is TOTALLY AWESOME, but I think I can get more out of this by answering your questions. Oh here's one! …Crap, I have to go back and re-read that chapter, don't I? DARN IT *reads chapter* Okay, as I suspected to begin with, that scene with Kaiba viewing Gozaburo's story, I wrote it straight on through. I have no idea how you would write one and then write another on top of it, but if I did, I have a feeling I would be far too lazy to do that(I wonder if my readers know how incredibly lazy I actually am…) I have no idea how I managed to write an entire chapter of dueling, either, without any Mokuba appearances. I suppose it was made possibly by me offering a piece of my soul in some way or another. Kind of like how I feel right now after writing two whole chapters and doing absolutely nothing all day… oh gosh. But hey, congrats on getting up to date! Now you won't be!:p Hahahaha, just kidding, thanks for all the reviews!

Chapter 21: One Card Short

-M-

They say that if a person loves something, eventually they'll have to let it go. I don't know if I ever believed in such philosophies, and I'm not sure if that was the philosophy I was thinking of as I stood there with my life on the line. I suppose I was use to this sort of situation, this idea of sacrificing myself for someone I loved and cared about. It was somewhat of a common place for me. I guess that was why I wasn't scared when I was standing there on the battle field, one command away from being blown into the ground by Seto's duel monsters.

Thankfully, though, Seto had decided to step down. I don't know why, but he did, and for now, I was safe. Whoever this Seto person was, it had become clear he was having a hard time having me do this. The agony on his face, the look in his eye, it almost made him seem… human. Noah's laughter could be heard from behind me, ringing in my ear from the back ground with rejoice.

"Oh Seto, I knew you were too weak to go through with your attack. You can't possibly run a company like Kaiba Corp. if you're so quick to give into your competition," Noah said, mockingly, "Well done, Mokuba." Noah said, addressing me. I turned back and ran towards him.

"Thanks," I said with pride. Noah placed his arm around me, and I suddenly felt whole again.

"We make a mighty good team. Now, how about we finish this guy off, what do you say?"

"Yeah," I said, turning to look back at Seto, "Let's do it." I didn't know how, but I was ready to do anything possible to help Noah defeat this man. I knew not who he was, but if Noah said he was bad, then I was willing to defeat him in any shape or form. This Seto guy wouldn't know what hit him till it was too late. I had the fire of a true fighter burning within me.

"Now it's my turn," Noah stated, drawing a card from his deck. "I'll use my Deck Master's special ability again…" I couldn't help but space out at this point once again. I had a lot of trouble concentrating on much of anything, but I stood by Noah all the same and kept my guard up. One couldn't be too sure what Seto must've had up his sleeve. As Noah continued his turn, the look on Seto's face became more shocked and nervous.

Although I couldn't pay attention to what was going on, I found that I didn't need to. See, the great thing about duels is that a person doesn't need to know or even pay attention a lot to figure out what is going on. Depending on how nervous the other duelist looks and how many monsters they have on the field protecting them, one can pretty much assume whether they are in a good place or a bad one.

It was most certainly clear by the look on Seto's face that he wasn't exactly in the most powerful position in the duel, and that he probably didn't have anything that was able to change that for right now.

"Oh man, one more attack and Kaiba's done for!" I heard the blonde person say from afar. Seto's apparent cheer leader squad, as I had come to know that gathering of people. The short person with oddly colored hair that stood next to the blonde stepped forward as well.

"You're right, Joey. And if Kaiba loses, Noah gets to take over his body and return to the real world to run Kaiba Corp. himself! Then he'll leave us trapped here in the virtual world," The short, spikey-haired kid said. Was that the plan Noah was plotting? I couldn't be sure. My memory was a bit shot at this point, and I didn't know why either.

Noah continued with his turn, activating a magic card that destroyed all monsters on the field. I watched as a dark hole appeared in the middle of the field, sucking away all monsters that had been present. I could hear the crowd that was standing a few feet behind Seto pondering the events that were going on.

"Now that all those monsters are destroyed, they're transferred directly into Shinato's Ark," a brown-haired girl commented in the back ground.

"That means he has even more monsters he can use now," a random black-haired boy said in addition to the girl's comment, "Which means he can boost his life points even higher." I found this constant commenting quite annoying, but the thought went away as I heard Noah declare the end of his turn. I smirked. Even though I wasn't fully aware of what was going on, I was sure that Seto stranger was in a bit of a rough spot.

He was going to need a lot of luck getting out of this one, and now it was his move. Seto was going to have to be smart and use his turn wisely. Just thinking about it brought me the sadistic pleasure that I was sure Noah felt too from this very situation he had put Seto in. I prepared myself for a good show.

"It's your move, Seto."

-S-

I stood there, firmly, above the ground. I was standing tall, but I felt… weak, and confused. I looked determined but I was actually heavy hearted. All I could think about was Mokuba. I had sworn in my heart to be a father to him and to protect him. How could he have been turned against me? Maybe I had mistreated him. I thought back to Kaiba Corp., when I was executing my plan to take over. There was a part of the plan that Mokuba hadn't been aware of, a part where I had pretended to be against him.

I remembered all too well the way I played the part perfectly. I could still see Mokuba's frightened face as I had taken him by the collar of his shirt and thrown him against the wall. He had pleaded for my forgiveness, and pleaded for his innocence, and I had pretended not to listen to him, throwing him to the ground in return. But it was all part of the plan, that was all, and it had to be done to defeat our step father. It was the only way we could've been saved from that mad man.

I came back to reality and out of my thoughts, finding that Mokuba was still not by my side. Things couldn't end this way, they just couldn't. There had to be some way of talking him out of it. Without thinking, I did just that.

"Mokuba, we're a team! Don't you remember? You were always there for me. We defeated our step father together! I couldn't have done it without you." Noah had begun laughing at my pleas, his arm tightly wrapped around my brother's shoulder. The sight disgusted me, but also brought about pain.

"That's very touching Seto, but Mokuba's on my side now." I stood standing still, finding it hard to breathe from time to time. What was I going to do? How was I supposed to win? Just the fact that Mokuba wasn't there mentally was hard to bear, and having to stand there, alone, against him was even harder. There had to be some way to break him out of this trance he was in and save him.

"Kaiba, I have an idea!" I heard Yugi call from behind me. Although I was skeptical to even listen to one word Yugi had to say about the situation, I found myself turning his way anyway.

"I'm kind of busy, if you haven't noticed."

"Kaiba, I can help you. I've experienced the same thing. Don't you remember when Joey was brain washed by Marik and he had been turned against me? I'm sure there's a way to get through to Mokuba the same way you got through to Joey! The answer might be in your deck." My eyes widened. That was it. I knew exactly what I had to do.

"Will you people ever shut up? Don't you see Seto has a duel to lose?"

"Guess again, kid. Not only am I going to win this duel; I'll also win back my brother!" I said turning back Noah's way. "If I were you, I'd watch out for what I'm about to do next." With that, I courageously drew one card from my deck and looked at it. I cringed. This wasn't the card I needed.

"Disappointed?" Noah asked. I was going to make an effort to wipe that little smirk off his face.

"Not exactly, for now my Different Dimension Dragon can now return to my side of the field, and I'll put him in defense mode and also end my turn." For now, my plan was to stay alive long enough to draw the card I needed. I stood silently, waiting for whatever Noah had planned for me next.

"Is that supposed to be your line of defense? How pathetic," Noah said, "But before I begin my turn, how about we change the scenery? I'll warm things up a bit and put an end to the ice age." The scene around us began changing as Noah continued babbling. I didn't pay much attention to what Noah was saying, but more of what was going on around me. There was no longer a snow covered landscape surrounding us, but instead a huge grassy field. There were trees and flowers, and in the far distance buildings as well as…

"Kaiba Corp.?" Noah smirked and turned back to look at it.

"Ah yes, isn't it magnificent?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Wanna explain yourself, Noah?"

"Well, I figured this was the company we were fighting over, and considering the fact that I'm going to defeat you and take over your body," Noah turned back towards me, "I thought you might want to see it one final time. For you see, once I defeat you and take over your body, I plan on changing Kaiba Corp. back to the way it was and back to the way things were supposed to be!" Noah drew a card from his deck and slammed another one from his hand onto his duel disk.

"How bout I give you a little sneak peak of what I plan to do? Just in case you've forgotten how the old Kaiba Corp. once was." Instead of a monster appearing on the field in front of Noah, it came out from the roof of Kaiba Corp. The rounded top opened up, revealing a jet fighter monster, or rather, Gradius, and launching it off of the launching pad over to the field. I watched it fly overhead and hover over the field. "Then I'll add the magic card, Matter Leveller, which increases its power by 100 every time it attacks."

Even with that card to boost its power, my dragon remained in defense mode and saved my life points from any damage. I was safe for the mean time.

"That's not all; I'm also going to equip my Gradius with the magic card, Cyclon Laser, which allows it to inflict damage to a monster it destroys, even when it's in defense mode." No, that wasn't good. I held up my duel disk and prepared for attack. Noah commanded his monster to attack and I watched as his Gradius powered up its laser and shot a beam out towards my monster. My monster was destroyed instantly and my life points dropped to 600.

"Since your monster has the ability to return to the field every time it's destroyed, I can continue to attack it until you have no life points left." I watched as my dragon appeared from the different dimension once more and returned to my side of the field. I gritted my teeth. If I could draw the card I needed, I knew I would be able to turn this duel around. I drew one card from my deck, still nothing.

"I'll leave my dragon in defense mode and end my turn."

"That's the turn of a man who has given up. I knew you were no match for me. And once I defeat you, I'll finally be able to run Kaiba Corp. the way I was meant to." I looked down in shame. Truly, this kid was delusional.

"You may be able to control this little virtual fantasy land, but there's no way you'll make it in the real world." Noah became enraged by this, and it brought me joy to know that I had struck a nerve.

"I'm aware of what it's like to live in the real world, and I have no doubt that after ruling this virtual world, running Kaiba Corp. will prove to be a simple task; one that I was raised to do my entire life, until you came along and took everything away from me. Well now it's my turn to return the favor, first I took your brother and next I'll take your identity." I stood there, looking seemingly bored and unshaken by Noah's comments. Thankfully Noah took the hint and moved on.

"Let's get back to business, shall we? I'll begin my turn by playing Gradius's Option. Because I have one Gradius on the field, this allows me to create a second one. Now, Cyclon Laser, fire!" Another beam shot out from Noah's Gradius and hit my Different Dimension Dragon. I held my duel disk in front of my face and closed my eyes as the wind pounded against me from the blow. I felt my footing slip and my body was pushed backwards, but I struggled to remain standing. I straightened my back and looked down at my duel disk. My life points were down to 500 now. I couldn't keep this up much longer.

I watched as Noah turned to Mokuba with a satisfied grin. "Are you enjoying the show, Mokuba? This duel should be done in no time." Mokuba nodded his head in agreement. I looked up at him in anguish. I was beginning to lose strength in my body and in my spirit.

"Mokuba…" I said in a raspy voice.

"It's no use, he's with me now. How does it feel to lose your only friend?" Noah laughed at me once more before completing his next move, "Now I'll use my second Gradius to attack your dragon again, forcing you to lose another 100 life points!" Another laser shot out from his second Gradius and fired at my monster. I held my arm over my head, but the blast seemed more powerful now and I was much weaker. The wind blew against my body, and I lost all control. Gust pushed me into the air and caused me to fall to the ground in shame, my life points down to 400 at this point.

"This… isn't over yet…" I said, slowly trying to push myself back up from the ground.

"Look at the mighty Seto Kaiba now!" I ignored him and looked up at Mokuba. It couldn't end this way. I knew what I needed to win.

"Mokuba, please snap out of it. I need you in order to beat this guy," I begged. Mokuba looked back at me, emotionless, unfeeling. There was nothing in his cold, forbidden eyes to tell me he was on my side. I slide my hand forward as I got onto my knees and worked my way up from there.

"Getting back up for more? Obviously you enjoy me thrashing you in a duel more than I do."

"No way… I'm not done with you yet," I said, pushing myself back up and onto my feet, "It'll take more than a couple attacks to keep me down, and now it's my move." Noah didn't look the least bit threatened; he could easily tell I was standing on my last leg. And with only 400 life points, the odds seemed in his favor. It took everything in me to remain standing; my body was shaking from the weakness in my limbs.

"Maybe you should've just stayed down, Seto. It would've made it a little less painful; don't you think so, Mokuba?" I gripped my fist. I had to keep fighting, but looking into those emotionless, cold eyes only seemed to help the draining process of whatever energy I seemed to have left. I only had a couple turns left, and there was only one card that could bring my brother back.

One card and a couple more turns in the duel was all I needed to get Mokuba back and win this duel, even with the couple scraps of life points I had left. I could do this… I could do this… One card, that was all.

This was it.

A/N: OH MY GOSH, IT'S FINALLY COMING UP, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! So yes, I'm sure you're all frustrated that this ended around the part that we have ALL waited for, and yes, I'm pretty frustrated too, but damn it all, it's finally going to happen in the next chapter! It will! There's no denying it! Honestly, I'm a little annoyed it didn't happen in this chapter, but too much went on and I ran out of room. But DON'T WORRY, that means that I have an ENTIRE chapter to dedicate only to the most epic, and most touching Kaiba Brothers moment you all know and LOVE! If I were you, I'd be rolling on the floor dying with excitement! Sorry, SORRY, that I haven't updated this in about five billion years! Don't ask me what happened, ask my cat. Just kidding, my cat had nothing to do with it. I promise a much quicker update, especially with such an epic brother fluff moment on the line! Thanks for reading and GET EXCITED FOR MORE!