Happy to be rested and fed, Mokuba bounced into the castle's lecture hall alongside his brother, refreshed as he felt he could be. He did, however, feel a twinge of guilt that his brother moved like he felt only half as exuberant as on his worst days.
Seto closed the set of polished wooden doors behind them. Yugi and his camp were seated around a long table in comfortable office chairs that seemed out of place in the medieval structure. The group, busy sharing cards and chatting about strategies, looked up when the brothers came in. The boy waved when he was met with the six faces.
"Hey guys," Yugi cheered. "Glad you came."
"Did you find the food?" Shizuka asked.
"Yep, we both ate," Mokuba answered happily for both of the brothers. He sat down beside the girl while Seto slid into a seat opposite Mokuba, choosing in particular to sit between two empty chairs. Mokuba noticed Shizuka looking around the mostly bare room, glancing up to the ceiling as though she were examining its size.
"Are you okay?" he asked her quietly. "I mean... everything considered?" The girl leaned back and breathed out a sigh.
"Yeah," she let herself laugh. "I was just really getting used to that tower. Now even this room feels so big." She lowered her voice. "I barely know this place. I know it's been said that we could be attacked anywhere, but... I just feel so much more vulnerable now that we've left the tower."
"I know what you mean," Mokuba offered.
"Well, then?" Seto inquired, cutting in. "What is it that you had to drag us down here for?"
Anzu turned toward the man who spoke, directly to her right, but her eyes grew wide when she noticed the gash in his left sleeve and the white strips of cloth wrapped beneath it.
"Kaiba! What happened to your arm?"
"Nothing worth discussing," he dismissed. "A mishap," he added when he noticed that each face at the table was now turned toward him, craning to see what Anzu had meant, but he didn't elaborate further.
"I hope you're alright," Yugi offered.
"Leave it be," the man growled. Yugi put up his hands in an offer of peace, and decided to change the subject.
"I thought it would be good for us all to put our... well, our cards on the table and share what we've experienced separately."
"Can I go first?" Mokuba asked eagerly, having no trouble getting wrapped up in the gathering. Yugi, showing slight surprise, waved him on.
"Please, do." Yugi looked around the table. "I think it would be really helpful for all of us to share whatever we know."
"I think it's already been mentioned that we've been seeing monsters come up out of nowhere, that we knew weren't there before." He glanced around the table and saw most of everybody nodding their heads. "Okay, so that's one. The other thing happened when we were outside. Early this morning Seto and I had to go back out, just after we came back up from the basement. When we were out there, I met a boy."
"A boy?" Yugi asked. "Was he okay? Where is he?"
"I don't know where he is now. He was wearing old clothes and acted really shy, so I thought he'd been hurt or was just really scared. He looked like he was maybe twelve." Mokuba furrowed his brow. He fixed his eyes on Seto's face while he recalled the story. "But there was something odd about him. I tried to get him to come inside with us, but he started grinning. When I looked really closely at his hands, they were practically glowing purple."
"Uh, that's not normal," Jounouchi agreed.
"But then I looked out at the monsters Seto and I were fighting. And they were, too. Glowing purple." He stopped to gauge the expression on the faces of the group. No one seemed to know how to react. "It seemed like, maybe he was controlling them, somehow. Like he was attacking us. While I was trying to help him."
"But you don't know that for sure, right?"
"No, I don't know anything for sure. Not about that kid, anyway. I was trying to figure it out, but then he disappeared. So if you guys see him again, just be careful."
"Twelve-year-old, purple hands," Honda said. "Haven't seen anyone who fits the bill so far. Sorry. I'll let you know if that changes."
"You don't get it. This kid looked normal. He was wearing an oversized shirt, dark pants, and had really long hair," he described. "But aside from how he dressed, he was totally unassuming."
"What is the definition of long hair, coming from you?" Jounouchi commented with a laugh, and Honda chuckled beside him. Seto sent the two a burning glare, and Jounouchi struggled to tune it out. Mokuba didn't seem to notice a thing.
"Longer than mine," he said without missing a beat. "White-blond."
"What do you mean when you say he disappeared?" Yugi asked.
"I was with him by the landing where we all got off the train. That's where I first noticed him. Then I turned around one second and he was just gone. I didn't find him in the tunnel, and he couldn't have gotten into the train without my hearing it. He didn't run past me, either. He was just... gone."
"That's odd," was all Yugi could muster to comment. After all the things his friends had seen or had to do over the years, his definition of 'odd' gradually became more obscure. "I ask because I watched that fight and I didn't see any child."
"Really? You saw us?"
"Yeah. I was awake taking a watch in the second floor quarters."
"So you saw your Ancient Dragon come out and help us, then? Any idea what happened with that? Why it's still out there?" Mokuba glanced around the table, looking to everyone else for insight as well. He found himself a little more disappointed by his brother's lack of response than anyone else's blank face.
"I don't know why," Yugi said. "But – and I know how this sounds – I think I may have commanded the dragon to attack those enemy monsters."
"So it still listens to your commands even though the card isn't on your disk anymore," Mokuba concluded. He turned to Seto across the table. "Don't let yourself be insulted by this; it's an innocent question," he warned.
Seto snarled, "Speak."
"Is there any chance that could be some kind of bug in he system? Like the microphone in his disk picked up the command and transmitted it anyway?" Seto opened his mouth but Yugi broke in before he could get a word out.
"I might be tempted to believe the theory, except that I didn't say it out loud. I just – I don't know – thought it? 'Willed' might be more fitting."
"Oh," Mokuba stopped. "That's different."
"So." Jounouchi drew out. "There's a little kid runnin' around tryin' to destroy the world, and my buddy can summon dragons with his mind."
"Yeah," Honda chimed in, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest, "this could be chalked up to just another strange day."
"Hold on, guys. I didn't summon it, I just called it to attack."
"How do you know that wasn't just its programming responding to the situation?" Seto bit out.
"How do you know it was?" Jounouchi countered defensively.
"Could we just all agree that we don't know how it happened?" Anzu pleaded. Nobody regarded her directly, but Yugi was allowed to swoop in and twist the subject.
"Mokuba, you just said "the system". These Duel Disks get their information by communicating with a satellite, don't they?"
"Usually," Mokuba answered hesitantly.
"Doesn't that require some kind of a connection?"
Mokuba interrupted. "Again, usually." He waved the duelist off. "I know where you're going with this. For all of the disks our company has out there in consumers' hands, KaibaCorp needs some way to get updates to data out to everyone quickly. Like you would update computer software. But each disk does have a card data-bank installed for an offline mode, too, which would be the only reason why they work right now."
"Damn," Jounouchi cursed. "So there's no way we can use that connection to find a way to communicate with someone?"
"Not if it doesn't exist, no." Mokuba slipped into a condescending tone, but Jounouchi didn't seem to notice. "I think I want to humor this theory for a minute. Let's say that Yugi can command monsters just by thinking about it. What would that mean?" Mokuba asked to the table as a whole. Nobody seemed to have an immediate response while the question was being deliberated.
"In theory," Seto spat, "It would mean that the disks aren't necessary at all. Since, technologically, that isn't at all how the Duel Disk works, it would mean that something else is responsible for the imagery of the monsters and their actions as they're commanded."
Mokuba stared at his brother a while, a smirk on his lips. "That's really interesting, Nii-sama."
Seto's scowl deepened, and he sneered at his brother' remark. "Technologically speaking, however, it isn't possible. That's not how it works."
"Sure," Mokuba agreed, still sporting the smirk aimed right at the man.
"So then, technologically speaking, Kaiba, how is this happening? What's your take on it? You know best how your system works." Yugi asked curiously.
"My 'take' is that the dragon was only following its programming, independently of what you may have... thought at it. I chalk that up to a coincidence. Why the dragon is still on the field is anyone's guess. I'm not eager to believe Mokuba's idea that it's a bug, but I won't rule that out either." Seto kept his eyes on Yugi's face while he answered the question, but could see Mokuba watching him from the corner of his eye.
"This is a lot to chew on," Jounouchi said, sitting back with a sigh, and Mokuba let himself be distracted by the gesture. As if simply by the power of suggestion, he suddenly found himself feeling restless. He paused to consider something, then turned to Shizuka beside him.
"Hey. You said you don't know this castle too well. Do you want to have a look around? I was thinking about stretching my legs."
Jounouchi heard this and snapped to attention. "Not alone, you don't," he answered for his sister.
"Onii-chan..."
"I wasn't planning to go far. Just a quick tour of the floor," Mokuba defended. He addressed Shizuka, "I know this whole place backwards and forwards, so if you wanted to go you can't find a better tour guide," he grinned. "I designed this castle."
"You did?" she asked, sounding highly impressed.
He nodded his head. "Yeah." He turned to Seto. "Is it okay with you? We won't be long."
Seto sat back in his chair with one ankle resting on his opposite knee. His chin was propped up by his fist, elbow braced on the arm of the chair. Mokuba had seen him sit in such a position countless times in his own office, and it felt to the boy like Seto would look more at home in the empty chair at the head of the table rather than some position near the middle. It was an odd contrast, and part of Mokuba itched to leave the room all the more.
"Stay close, and be on guard. I'll fill you in on anything you may miss." Mokuba agreed and turned to Shizuka.
"Do you want to?"
"I do," she smiled. "Onii-chan, I'll be fine. We won't be far," she promised.
The blond grumbled something under his breath. Seeing the eager expression on his sister's face he found himself unable to argue his point, and waved her off. The pair trotted out of the room.
"Thanks for this, Mokuba," Shizuka breathed deeply. "As long as it seems like we'll be here a while, I ought to get as familiar with this castle as I can."
"Don't mention it. Alright. For starters," he said cheerfully as he clapped his hands together, "which parts of the floor have you already seen?"
"This floor? Not much of it. Just enough to get to the library from the stairs, and now here."
"Okay. That makes it easy. We'll just have to check out everything, then." Mokuba started rattling off what each of the rooms was called or what purpose it held while they walked slowly around the castle floor.
Eventually he found a quiet lounge near the washrooms and the pair settled into a set of plush chairs near a little table overlooking a window. Shizuka peered out to see the terrace a story below, well decorated around the border with shrubs and flowers. The view seemed to have a relaxing effect on her.
"Mokuba, I've been wondering," the girl began. "Why did you and Kaiba go back outside, when you got into that big fight?"
"Oh, that? We had to get Seto's briefcase. Kind of important."
"Right," she agreed, remembering the supplies he'd planted in it. "But why was it outside?"
"Because I forgot it there." He shrunk back as he said this, and felt his cheeks grow warm.
"You forgot it? Isn't it his briefcase?"
"Well, yeah. But the responsibility was delegated to me a long time ago. More by myself than by him, even," he shrugged. "I just feel like he already does so much. I like helping him in any way I can, so I try to make sure he doesn't have to think about something so trivial." Mokuba was quiet a moment, and something glossed over his eyes that Shizuka couldn't recognize. When he spoke again it was gone, replaced by what she could see was anger. "But I got so freaked when I saw that monster choking him. I must have forgotten all about it."
"Understandable," she agreed calmly. "I think that's sweet. I... hope he appreciates it."
"He tried to go easy on me when I finally realized it was missing," he allowed himself a laugh. "I'm sure he knew well before I remembered that I wasn't carrying it. Yeah, he's appreciative. You know," he shrugged, "in his own silent, non-acknowledging way."
"So how do you know for sure, if he doesn't acknowledge you doing it?"
"I know he appreciates it because he lets himself rely on my being there to carry the case, and he hands it off to me when he's too busy to bother with it. This is the same guy who usually won't let people help him for anything. So it means a lot when he shows me that I'm the exception."
Shizuka grinned. "I'm glad to hear he has someone who knows him as well as you. I find it so hard to read him. I usually feel like he hates me, and then he starts helping me again, and... I don't know. I feel like I don't get him at all."
"Trust me, he doesn't hate you. He just... well, he has his own way of showing when he sees somebody's potential. I heard you guys talking in the tower. He's the same way with new employees he feels might have some promise."
"So I've gone from 'stupid child' to 'new hire'?" She rolled her eyes, and Mokuba laughed.
"Progress is progress. I'm not sure what you did, but you've impressed him somehow." He stole a glance out the window. "He wants to see you grow. I think, by giving you his disk, he's challenging you."
"Challenging me? How?"
Mokuba shook his head. "That's part of the game. You'll have to figure that out on your own. But I do have something for you that might help – if not with that, then at least it'll help while we're fighting." He retrieved the cards Seto had given him from his pocket. Shizuka quickly scanned through them, then took another, longer look, just to make sure she'd seen correctly.
"These are really strong! Are you sure you don't want to keep them for yourself?"
"I'm fine. Really. I got enough back at the gift shop to keep me going."
"Wow. I thought my own were okay, but these are really good. Thank you so much!"
"Don't worry about it," he smiled. "We've got to look out for one another." Shizuka nodded eagerly.
"That reminds me, Mokuba. Kaiba said his disk doesn't work for him. But he didn't say anything in the other room."
"Yeah. That didn't surprise me."
"Do you think he'll bring it up?"
"I don't know. I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath."
"Why wouldn't he?"
Mokuba shrugged. "He probably just doesn't want anyone's help figuring it out."
"I know you said he doesn't warm up to others' help. But... we're all in this together. Wouldn't it be better for everyone if the problem were resolved?"
"Sure," he agreed. "But 'teamwork' isn't really my brother's forte, if you haven't noticed."
"I knew he wasn't fond of going out of his way to help other people – he made that perfectly clear. But letting others help... is he just too proud for that?"
"You got it. Like I said, I consider it kind of an honor that he lets me tote around his case. I'm usually the only one allowed to help him. But he and I are partners."
"The way you talk about your brother, you really seem to admire him."
Mokuba only shrugged. "I have enough reasons to. Why wouldn't I?"
"But the way you two have been acting – is something going on? You don't seem to be getting along on the same plane today."
"We're fine. I've just been trying to give him some encouragement. I'm sure he finds it annoying, but he really does need to put more effort into figuring out his Duel Disk situation, and I've been making it a point to try prodding him in that direction."
"Hmm, I see," she smiled. "Better you than anyone else here. We should get back to the other room. Everyone's probably waiting for us." She stood and Mokuba followed suit. "So to get back, we go..." Shizuka tried to remember which direction would be fastest, but they'd taken a few more turns than she could keep track of.
"It's okay. Actually, I have one more thing to show you first. This way."
He led her down a corridor and turned a corner where another hallway intersected. "That's the way to get back to the lecture hall," he pointed out.
"Oh, I remember. We're not far from it, then." Shizuka followed along as Mokuba led her, making sure to appreciate the artwork decorating the halls.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, "What an interesting vase."
"Vase...?" Mokuba looked to where she was pointing and noticed the small metallic jar set on the floor. The medieval studded design seemed to fit the ambiance of the chamber, but the piece itself seemed out of place, set unceremoniously directly on the stone floor rather than displayed on a pedestal. Mokuba stopped walking.
"I just love the artwork and props in this place."
"Um..."
"Is something wrong?"
"Not necessarily. It's just that I've never seen that piece before. Normally park employees aren't authorized to make changes to the attractions." The worried look growing on Shizuka's face make Mokuba stop. "But it's fine. I'm sure it's not a big deal." He smiled and started walking again.
Shizuka could see the intended destination at the end of the hall, a large set of doors, like she'd seen in old churches. He started talking about them, and how the design details came from a beautiful book he'd come across once.
A sudden, painful heat embraced Mokuba's ankle, and he was shocked to look down and find it on fire. Shizuka gasped and covered her mouth. Mokuba slapped at the cloth, dancing around on one foot until it went out. His gaze flickered about the corridor searching for a source, and he noticed again the unusual vase. The pair had approached it and, wrapped up in conversation, walked right past without paying it heed.
As though to answer his unspoken puzzlement, a spark shot out from inside the vase and almost seemed to home in on the pair. Mokuba slapped the glowing ember out of the air and it died, but another shot forth, immediately followed by several larger flames.
"What is that?" Shizuka panicked.
"Maybe we set off a trap," Mokuba reasoned. "Either that, or this is some weird kind of monster."
Mokuba backed away, pulling Shizuka with him. She activated her new disk, but while she struggled to search through her cards and decide which one to use, Mokuba was already laying one down. He brought forth his glistening white dragon mounted with the armored paladin, and the paladin swiped fiercely at the vase with his sword.
The jar wouldn't be scratched. Mokuba called the attack again and still no effect.
"Is your dragon strong enough?" Shizuka asked.
"I thought it would be. How strong can this stupid thing be?"
"Maybe it's not a monster," she suggested. The girl had readied a card, but was hesitant to play it, seeing Mokuba's struggle.
A large, hot flame licked out of the opening in the vase, and to Mokuba's eyes the fire almost seemed to have a face, dark holes serving for eyes and an open, sneering mouth. Large embers burst forth rapidly, shooting out at Mokuba's dragon. Before he could react, his own monster exploded into shards of light, destroyed.
"Oh, it's a monster," he snarled. He reached into his pocket to search out his brother's Blue Eyes, when the large flame leapt forth and blew against himself and Shizuka, knocking both parties back. Mokuba cried out as he was hit with the flame, shocked by the force and the heat licking at him.
Mokuba shuffled away from the blaze until his back pressed against the wall behind him.
"How strong is this thing?" Shizuka cried.
"Unless it has some kind of effect that destroyed my paladin, it's gotta be stronger than twenty-one hundred. Summon nothing under two-thousand points." She nodded and quickly flipped through her cards, trying not to let her hands shake.
Finally she managed to add a card to her summon zone, bringing forth a beautiful, glistening silver dragon with gold horns and claws. She stood mesmerized by the creature's stunning luster, before remembering to call it to attack. The beast lashed out and swiped at the jar. It shattered into broken pieces, and a wisp of smoke rose from the smoldered flame. As the pieces lay, it seemed to evaporate, disappearing.
Just as the corridor quieted, Mokuba heard a band of footsteps approaching. He glanced down the hall just in time to see his brother dart around a corner holding his gun, followed closely by the rest of the group. He scurried up off the floor.
"Nii-sama," he smiled with relief.
"Mokuba. What happened? I heard you shout." Seto examined the boy, noticing traces of blackness on his face and his clothes, the worst of it on his pant leg at the ankle. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm... not sure," Mokuba answered honestly, having had no chance to check himself over.
Seto crouched down onto one knee and gently pulled at his brother's foot, lifting it onto his own thigh.
"I think it just burned the fabric," Mokuba explained. Seto lifted the pant leg, expecting to find redness or an evident burn on the skin underneath, but his eyes widened and shot up to Mokuba's face.
"What?" the boy asked, trying to pull back his foot.
On the flesh beneath Mokuba's jeans, Seto found three long parallel gashes, covered in dried blood and already crusted over.
"What happened?" the man demanded. Mokuba peered down and saw what Seto was asking about.
"Oh," was all he had to say.
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" he demanded again.
"I... I didn't know. I don't even know when that happened," he answered honestly. His cheeks flushed again as Yugi and the rest of his friends gathered behind Seto to get a look.
"How can you not notice a scratch this deep?" Seto asked incredulously, searching his face.
"I just didn't. We've had a lot going on."
"Those look like claw marks," Yugi pointed out. "Did something scratch you?"
"Is that even a question at this point?" Seto remarked. He turned the boy's foot to get a closer look and noticed that the edges of each long incision were beginning to tint purple. He finally pulled the boy's pant leg back down, and noticed through the black soot left on the fabric that three large holes punctured the leg of the jeans, something he felt he should have noticed already.
"The wound has already closed. This must have happened yesterday. Can you think of any encounters you were in during which this could have happened?" Seto released the boy's foot and stood up.
"Yesterday?" He stopped to think. "There was the monorail depot. That was a close call."
"I gather you're referring to the first time you went there, without me?"
Mokuba nodded. "With Red Ogre and Giant Axe Mummy. But if I was attacked, I don't remember."
"We were all kind of freaked, Mokuba," Honda pitched in.
Jounouchi stepped up beside his sister and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"You okay?" he asked. She nodded, and pushed him gently away so she could put away her card and fold her disk.
"You need to get this cleaned up," Seto spoke to Mokuba.
"I doesn't hurt," he excused, but rolling his ankle around, he found himself wincing. "...Well, not that much," he amended.
"You berated me," Seto said. "It's my turn. I still have wrappings in my case. Go clean up."
A/N: Hey, it hasn't even been a full week! Woo, days off!
Anyone remember the scene during the Atlantis arc where Seto and Mokuba show up at Pegasus' castle in the Blue Eyes jet, and there's this neat little compartment on the side where Seto can stow his briefcase? Who picks it up when it pops out? I'll give a hint to those who might not remember: It's not Seto. It's also certainly not the only scene we see him toting around a case for his big bro. And he presents it proudly, even when he carries it while leaning to one side, giving evidence that it's quite heavy for him. I always found that endearing. While I see reason to believe that Seto expects this service from his brother, we never see Seto ask him to carry it, and I have a hunch that he never did.
So, maybe it's not the whole point of this chapter, but it seemed important to me. I guess, on to the monsters:
Goka the Pyre of Malice: 2200ATK/1900DEF
Allies:
Paladin of White Dragon: 1900ATK/1200DEF
Hyzanryu: 2100ATK/2800DEF
Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you all next time!
~omgagr