A/N: Next chapter, ahoy! And I seem to have attracted a very constructive critic. Forgive me if this is wrong, but I believe the name was Mayan. It takes a few meetings before a penname clicks for good so if that's not right, I apologize. While I enjoy constructive criticism, there is a limit to all things, so please cut it into more manageable pieces next time, okay? ^_^ Your review, while interesting took up a whole page. But I appreciate reviews, good and bad. Trust me. The sequel to this story will be better and yes, there is a sequel.
Fooled Again
The next thing she knew, Sonja found she was able to breathe again and the first thing she felt was Sophie knocking her flat on her back, crying hysterically. "Sonni, you're back!" she cried.
"I am?" Sonja asked, confused. "What happened?"
"Yugi took over Kaiba's duel and won! We're free!" Sophie exclaimed. Sonja just stared and then smiled a little. "I don't believe I've ever heard sweeter words." She mumbled. She glanced up towards her friends. It was then that it occurred to her that that's what they really were, when all things were considered. She sighed. "Looks like everything's turning out all right." She said.
Yugi was telling Noah something and the others hurried over to him as one by one, they were freed, apparently in the order they were frozen. Sonja just watched, strangely calm. Then, she looked over toward Kaiba and Mokuba. Kaiba stood aloof from the group and Sophie rushed over to tackle Mokuba. "Yay! Everyone's safe again!" she yelled.
"Sophie!" Mokuba gasped as she cut off his windpipe. "Cut it out!"
Sonja made her way over and shook her head at the two. "Everything's almost back to normal." She said.
"Emphasize 'almost', if you don't mind." Kaiba growled. Sonja sighed. "I understand you're kind of irked over this whole thing, but please try not to take it out on the rest of us."
Kaiba glanced at her. "I was told that Yugi took over my duel." He said somewhat bitterly.
"Yeah, from what I understand." Sonja answered. "But, after Noah turned you guys to stone, I sort of started ranting and he did the same to me a few minutes later, so I don't really know the details."
Kaiba's eyes widened. "What?" he exclaimed. He grumbled to himself and turned away, mumbling under his breath as he made his way over to the others.
"You have failed, Noah, so it's time to set us all free." Yugi said to Noah. Sonja joined her sister beside the group, watching with baited breath.
"And give me my real body back, pronto!" Tristan still-a-monkey yelled.
"So, you want your body back?" Noah said. He started to laugh. "Your real body's exactly where it's been since you arrived."
"What does that mean?"
"Enough with the games, Noah!" Tea snapped.
"Don't you get it? There are no real bodies in my world. Everything here is virtual. That means all of you, too."
"I don't get it." Joey said.
"I do." Duke replied. "We're not just trapped in a virtual world, we're all a part of it, too."
"Exactly. Your real bodies are strapped into cyber-pods that are hard-wired to my virtual simulator. So everything you've experienced here has only happened in your minds."
"So that's why it seems so real, here." Tea said. "Our minds are being tricked into feeling things that aren't really there."
"No way." Sophie exclaimed.
"Of course!" Kaiba said. "When the floor opened up, we didn't fall into a virtual vortex, we were knocked unconscious and locked in your cyber simulation pods."
Suddenly, the sky began to grow dark.
"What now, Noah?" Sonja demanded.
"I'm not doing it this time." Noah said.
"Now what?" Joey wanted to know.
"You have failed me for the last time, Noah!"
"Who's there?"
"That voice!" Kaiba exclaimed in disbelief. "It can't be!"
"Father!" Noah cried. "Give me another chance!"
"Too late for that!"
As they watched, the clouds morphed, revealing a face. Sonja was confused, but Sophie recognized it and swallowed.
"Gozuborou!" Mokuba yelled.
"Wait!" Noah called. "Father, not yet! I need more time!"
"More time? You've had more than enough time to prove yourself. It's time for me to finish things off, now. That's why I digitized my own mind when Seto disgraced me by taking over my company. I wanted revenge. Now the time has come!"
"So, you've been behind this the whole time." Kaiba snapped.
"Yes he has!" Noah answered. "Right father? And he's going to give KaibaCorp to me."
"You had your chance, Noah. And you failed, son."
"Look pops, you had your chance, also." Kaiba interrupted. "And you failed when you lost KaibaCorp to someone more fit for the job."
"You? I taught you everything you know! You fool, you thought you could outsmart me? It's about time you learned the truth about why I adopted you. After you beat me at chess, I thought you'd be the perfect person to motivate my real son, Noah, who was quite a slacker."
"So you just used him? That's not cool." Tea snapped.
"How mean."
"You creep!" Sophie yelled.
"Noah needed to work more on his studies. I thought Seto could give him the push he needed to someday take over KaibaCorp. But then Noah had his little accident and his body was rendered useless. I tried to preserve his mind in cyberspace, but I soon realized he would always be the same spoiled brat, unworthy of inheriting my company. So I turned my attention to you, Seto. I thought maybe you could be the heir to my fortune. So I pushed you to your limit."
"You gave up on your own son!" Noah cried bitterly. "And you trapped me all alone in cyberspace!"
"Not at first." Gozuborou continued. " Initially, I thought I could still use Seto to help you."
"Use me? And what was it you planned to do with me, Gozuborou? Force me to play chess against your virtual son to increase his intellect?"
"No, not quite, Seto."
"Then what?"
"I had something much more interesting planned."
" Enough! Will you spit it out?" Kaiba snapped.
"Very well. Even if Noah could learn to run a multibillion dollar corporation, he still lacked one major thing; a body. And that's where you came in, Seto."
"You're insane!" Sonja exclaimed. "That's just sick!"
"You were going to transfer Noah's mind to Kaiba?" Tea exclaimed in horror.
"Relax. That plan lasted only a short time. Noah's mind! Haha! Why would I give you Noah's mind, when yours was perfectly fine? So I concentrated on training you, Seto, so you could inherit my empire. But then you stole it. So using the same technology I used to download Noah's mind into my computer network, I digitized my own mind, retreating to cyberspace to plot my revenge. Then I built this place for my final plan, to take over your body myself."
"Sonja, this is freaky! I wanna go home!" Sophie cried.
"Father," Noah said, abashed, "So you used me to trap them here?"
"That's the only thing you did right. But I'll take it from here. The fun and games are over."
"You snake!" Kaiba snapped.
"I can't believe that you had the nerve to call me a snake. I was the most powerful human being on the planet until you came along and stole that power away from me, Seto. Don't you realize that I treated you even better that I treated my own son?"
"Thanks, for nothing. And I'll make sure you never regain your power."
"You're too late." Gozuborou answered as a virtual image screen appeared before them in the sky.
"What's that?" Yugi asked.
Haha, just look! It's part of my newest plan! This is one of the many satellites KaibaCorp put into orbit when I was still in charge."
"And what are you gonna do with that?" Joey inquired suspiciously.
"These satellites can beam signals to every computer system on earth, and sends it back to my underwater base that holds my supercomputer. No one on earth will escape me. I'll have access to every home on the planet."
"Please," Noah scoffed. "That has to be the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard."
"I'm surprised you feel that way, Noah. After all, the idea came from you. Don't you remember, my son?"
Noah froze for a second, racking his brain to recall. Then, his eyes widened in alarm. "No!" he exclaimed.
"And so, Seto. As you can see, I'm no longer interested in taking control of your body in order to regain KaibaCorp. I've set my sights on bigger things."
"Lunatic." Kaiba growled.
"You can believe whatever you want about me, Seto, because once my plan works, I'll be the most powerful being on the planet once again! And no one on earth will be able to stop me, this time. Seto, Noah, this is about so much more than just acquiring one company. For when I'm finished, everyone on earth will become virtual! I plan to digitize the entire world! And I will reign as the cyber ruler of a new planet earth!"
He began to laugh as the clouds swirled and dispersed and he disappeared.
"Get back here, right now!" Kaiba yelled.
"It's too late." Sonja said. "He's gone."
No trace of the evil black clouds remained.
Everyone turned to Noah. "Now what?" Duke asked.
Noah was silent, apparently in shock over this whole thing. "I can't believe it." He said finally. He shook his head and glared at the group. "He lied to me."
"Well, you kinda deserved it." Joey said, earning him a sharp smack by Tea. Noah sighed. "Well, my father's gone for now. But you must escape, quickly." He said. They all found themselves encased in a bright light and as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared, showing that they'd arrived in a rocky valley. A dark cave lay a few yards to the right and Noah was leading them inside.
"I don't know about this." Sonja muttered.
"Just keep quiet and stay behind me." Kaiba instructed grimly. Sonja glanced at Sophie, shrugged and followed.
"I know the way out." Noah said. "Just keep following me."
"And why should we believe you, Noah?" Joey demanded.
"What choice do we have?" Duke reprimanded.
"There it is!" Noah cried, bounding forward. "A possible exit!"
But as he approached a small computer terminal, he groaned in frustration. "Never mind. This is one of several remote network stations built by my father. It can give us access to all of the program's emergency exits. But it seems my father has closed off every exit to stop us from escaping. When he showed up again after six years, he promised to help me. But he was lying. My father was using me."
Sonja watched with dim eyes, hope for all of them escaping slowly fading. Even as Noah seemed to lose it and fall into insanity for a few minutes, she knew it was only a matter of time. Noah had managed to suppress human instinct and stay somewhat sane for six years of isolation. But now, it was finally starting to creep up on him, even as Mokuba attempted to snap him back to reality.
"Wait!" Noah finally exclaimed, seemingly forgetting about his irate fit a few minutes earlier. "Something has just occurred to me. There is one more escape route."
"Where is it?"
"It's a doorway that I created and it leads directly to the read world. I'm quite sure my father has no idea that it exists. You can escape and warn the world of his plan."
"Then what are we waiting around here, for? Lets' go!" Joey said.
"Very well. Just follow me."
Sonja seemed doubtful. But Sophie remained as always optimistic. "Yeah! We're finally leaving this place!" she exclaimed. Kaiba noticed Sonja's hesitation to follow Noah, when she clearly wanted to. "I see you don't trust him either." He said quietly.
"I can't help it. We've been stuck in this place for almost twenty-four hours. And we actually have lives to return to. It's kind of unfair."
"Tell me about it." He grumbled.
Noah led everyone down a darkened rock tunnel not too far from where they'd first appeared. "It's not too far from here." He said.
Kaiba and Yugi lagged behind the group. Yugi voiced his doubts about Noah and Kaiba found himself in agreement. But he mentioned that he didn't dare let Noah out of his sights.
Sonja stayed even further behind them, fighting off a bout of depression from this confinement. Even Sophie didn't see it. She'd learned to suffer in silence. But Kaiba glanced back to see they were still there and he saw something going on in Sonja's mind, but he didn't understand what it was. Her eyes were spacey and empty, and she seemed like a hollow shell simply following the orders of another. It was weird.
Noah led them out into the sun and continued toward a small ravine.
"All right, where is this exit already?" Joey complained after awhile.
Noah stopped. Before them stood an enormous wall. "There." Noah said. "Your freedom lies beyond this door. Once you walk through, you'll wake up in the real world." He said as the doors began to open.
"Sonni, I'm kinda scared." Sophie said nervously, moving behind her sister. Sonja didn't want to admit out loud that she felt the same way. A bright light flashed out from within the doorway, blinding them all as it had when they first arrived.
//ooo//
"Hello?" Mokuba yelled. It looked like he was back in Domino city. "Where is everyone? They're gone. That's weird. Seto? I hope he didn't leave without me."
"Mokuba!" he heard suddenly. He turned around. It was Noah. "What are you still doing here?"
"Where else would I be? Where's everyone else?"
"They made it out already. Come on."
Noah led him further into the city, smirking. Your friends may think they're free, but they're really trapped in their own memories.
//ooo//
Sophie leaned against an alley wall, staring into
space and breathing heavily. She felt terrible and her stomach heaved
with every breath. "Sonja, please hurry." She whined. Footsteps
approaching made her look up hopefully, only to see some kid reach
down and grab her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up. "Hey,
brat! You got any money for me?" he demanded, shaking her roughly.
"Put me down!" Sophie yelled. She froze. Wait. This seems
familiar. Didn't this already happen?
She was jarred loose as the kid released her, yelling in anger as something attacked him from behind. It was Sonja, closing her arms around his neck and cutting off his windpipe. Sophie fell back against the wall, watching as he threw Sonja to the ground and attempted to pummel her with his right fist, only to strike the concrete as she rolled to the side to jump back to her feet. The kid grabbed her arm and wrenched it down. There was a sickening crack as he threw her against the trashcans and stalked off, leaving her there.
That's right. Sophie thought, watching as Sonja picked herself up, cradling her arm and moaning in pain. This already happened. Sonja broke her arm that day and didn't heal properly for two years afterward.
Sophie blinked and another memory appeared, this time of she and Sonja hiding in a closet while all kinds of destruction went on outside and someone yelling for them to show themselves. She remembered Sonja shoving her farther into the darkness and telling her to be quiet, even as the door was thrown open and Sonja yelled as she was yanked out, the door slamming shut again and locking Sophie in.
"Let me out!" Sophie cried, in both the memory and the present. "Let me out of this!"
//ooo//
Sonja wandered across a marble floor, wondering where her friends had gone to. She happened to glance down at what she was wearing and gasped when she saw what it was. It was that sky blue evening gown.
"But how? I haven't seen this thing since—"
She whirled as someone approached from the top of the stairs.
"No way!"
//ooo//
The next thing she knew, she was with her friends in what appeared to be Domino City.
"Ugh! Can anyone tell me what's going on?" Tristan yelled.
"What just happened?" Sophie asked.
"I don't know, but I'm not sure I want to find out."
"Noah must have tricked us." Yugi said.
"Yeah." Sonja agreed. "I guess he went through that little memory trick on everyone this time."
"Lets' find that punk, right now!" Joey yelled. "Where is he anyway?"
"Hey, Kaiba's gone, too!" Tea exclaimed.
"And Mokuba." Yugi added.
//ooo//
In a nearby video arcade, Noah watched as Mokuba attempted to find the exit in one of the many games.
"Hey, Noah, I can't seem to find the exit in here. This video game has so many levels. Do you remember which one you hid the doorway in?"
"You're close." Noah said.
"I just remembered." Mokuba said. "You can't escape with us to the real world without a body. But, I bet Seto can make you a body. I mean, you're our family, Noah. It won't be like your old body, but at least you'll be in the real world."
Noah froze in the motion of reaching out to take control of Mokuba in order to escape. Mokuba jumped up. "I'm sure the tech experts at KaibaCorp can construct some kind of a robot body for you. Hey, maybe we can be twins. After all, Noah, we are brothers, aren't we?"
Noah chuckled nervously. Mokuba still likes me after all I've done to him? I almost feel bad.
"There are so many games in here, maybe you hid the exit somewhere else." Mokuba suggested. "I mean, look around, everything looks exactly the same in this place."
"You're right." Noah said. "It's over there, by that stage."
"Up here?" Mokuba asked, running over to it. "This is kinda cool, but where is it?"
Noah smirked. "Right here!" he exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing his shoulder, causing them both to disappear in a flash of light.
//ooo//
Sonja leaned against a tree, staring at the ground. "This is getting out of hand." She said.
"Please don't tell me you're just now figuring that out." Duke said.
"Of course not. I've known that since Noah hacked into the security systems and kidnapped us. But I'm just now saying it out loud."
"So what do we do, now?" Sophie asked.
"How about we find Noah for starters?" Joey suggested angrily.
"Good idea." Sonja said. "Now, do you know where he is?"
Joey froze and sighed, shrugging. "Not a clue."
Everyone groaned in frustration.
//ooo//
Meanwhile, within the chamber that housed Noah's cyber simulation pods, one of them opened up with a hiss of air. Mokuba opened his eyes and sat up. He got out and looked down at his hands, as though unable to believe it.
"I'm free. Finally, I'm free!" Noah exclaimed. "After all these years, a body of my own. Thanks, Mokuba. I owe you my life." He said, chuckling.
A/N: Ugh! I am so glad the whole virtual thing is almost over. It was a pain and a half to write. But luckily, I'm almost done with the story anyway. So please review and let me know what you think!