(A/N: And welcome back to a chapter I truly adore for this arc. I won't say why. Just enjoy. However, I will mention that while Leichter is shown in this chapter, I will not be covering his duel turn by turn because it will play out how it did in canon. As Mokuba is already kidnapped by this point also, I recommend watching the canonical episodes if you want to know how that played out. And yes, I say canonical despite knowing this was anime filler. Hush! Now just read. I'll see you at the end of the chapter).

After witnessing the destruction of Nezbitt's lab through a flashback Noah showed him and Kaiba, the gears in Makoto's head began turning as he tried to figure out how Noah knew all of that stuff enough to show Kaiba. Did he pull it from Kaiba's memories somehow? Or perhaps the Big Five told him about it.

While lost in thought and trying not to lose sight of Kaiba, Makoto quickly realized that the two were now walking through an industrial port district of some kind. Many warehouses were open and full of things like tanks, missiles, and turbine engines. Makoto did his best not to get too close.

As the duo neared a smaller warehouse that looked like it was some kind of garage, they saw something that caught both of their attentions. Conveniently sitting just outside the garage was a motorbike with a sidecar and two helmets sitting in the sidecar. Kaiba immediately walked over to it and checked the fuel gage. This thing had just been filled. Without wasting a single moment, he tossed Makoto a helmet.

"Hop in," he commanded.

"Uh…y-yeah," Makoto said, climbing into the sidecar.

Then, without warning, Kaiba took off at full speed through a downhill tunnel. Makoto put one hand on his helmet and leaned all the way back at first, but quickly realized the situation. He was riding in a Motorcycle's side car with Seto Kaiba at the wheel.

Best! Day! Ever! Makoto exclaimed, not caring that there was no scenery to look at once they emerged from the tunnel. It was just ocean surrounding a very high rising bridge. However, Makoto looked at it with childlike wonder. He looked at how cool Kaiba looked driving and thought how lucky he was to be riding with him. To Makoto, this was awesome. However, something about Kaiba's expression seemed…disconcerting and Makoto suddenly remembered the circumstances under which they were taking this joy ride.

"Um, Kaiba," Makoto said, trying to be heard over the wind against their faces.

"What?" Kaiba said, surly.

"U-um, I was just going to say that um...I don't...think any less of you for the things you did, you know, when you were taking over KaibaCorp."

"Spare me your opinions," Kaiba said irritably.

Makoto gulped. "O-okay. I-I was just trying to make conversation."

Kaiba said nothing in return.

Despite the fact that he thought he made Kaiba mad, Makoto couldn't help but look at the front of the sidecar as he thought about the situation. "Mokuba's lucky, you know."

"Hmm?" This seemed to catch Kaiba's attention as he looked at the younger teen.

Makoto smiled weakly. "It's just...you're a really good big brother to him. You can stand up to these Big Five guys and you always walk tall with grit and determination. Compared to me, I'm nothing like that. If Komaru was actually kidnapped or in real life-threatening danger...I think I'd panic and turn pale."

Kaiba looked forward at the road and said, "You wouldn't."

"Huh?" Makoto asked, looking up at Kaiba.

"If our situations were reversed, I have no doubt you'd be driving this bike instead of me. When all is said and done, when your parents leave you and no one else is around, you can always...rely on a sibling."

"Ah..." Makoto gasped. He quickly realized. Kaiba was…comforting him. He put a hand over his chest, touched. "Thank you, Kaiba."

From there, Kaiba drove in silence with Makoto just going back to thinking about Noah, at least until he saw a gap in the highway. He thought Kaiba would start slowing down, but as Kaiba drove, Makoto realized that he was speeding up.

"U-Um, Kaiba...?"

Kaiba ignored Makoto's concerned and just kept driving as fast as he could.

Makoto's expression went from worried to panic. He started to whine lonely and then just started screaming in terror as Kaiba flew off the highway and over open ocean. Makoto held one hand on his helmet and one hand on the edge of the side car seat and just kept screaming.

Eventually, he felt the tires buckle and the whole motorbike bounce. He started hyperventilating and was relived to know that Kaiba had come to a full stop. The bike's engine was still going and both of them were still in one piece. Kaiba's foot was also on the ground.

He glanced at Makoto. "You all right?"

Makoto thought his voice had vanished, but he managed to find it and stuttered, more high pitched than normal. "Y-yeah, j-just a little shaken up."

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? I never thought I'd see you in the company of another human being, Mr. Kaiba."

It was only then that Makoto noticed a man in a mask, goggles, and a dark blue fedora hat and trench coat approach the two of them.

"Who are you?" Kaiba snapped, glaring.

"Is…that one of the Big Five?" Makoto wondered aloud, speaking softly, both scared and curious.

"Where's Mokuba?" Kaiba demanded to know.

"If you ever want to see that brother of yours again, you'll have to make it past me. I've been waitin' to take you down for a long time," The southern accented man said to Kaiba.

"Get in line," Kaiba responded. "Naegi, do me a favor and waste this joker." Kaiba started to rev the engine of the motorcycle. "I have more important things to do."

I was afraid he was going to suggest that, Makoto thought. He didn't know if he could take on a member of the Big Five themselves.

"Dumping your responsibilities on a young boy. I'd say "I thought you were better than that" but we both know the truth. Besides, I have already challenged you to a duel, Mr. Kaiba. Are you the type that turns down a challenge?"

Makoto actually thought that would work. Kaiba was very competitive and hated being called a coward. However, it seemed Kaiba still didn't want to play ball. "I'm in a hurry. Move or I'll run you over."

Suddenly, a yellow barrier covered the entire highway behind the mysterious man that rose too high to scale, even if you could jump really well.

"Now, now, Mr. Kaiba. There's no need for such haste."

"Looks like he'll only accept you taking him on," Makoto said, sighing, knowing that didn't sit well with Kaiba at all.

"Looks like it. Know how to drive?"

"Huh?" Oh the implications of that were not good.

"I don't know who you are, but your beef is with me. Let Naegi go!"

Yeah, this is happening, Makoto panicked. Drive a motorcycle? The poor kid could barely keep his bike straight sometimes. That's why he took the bus. Makoto understood why, Kaiba seemed to trust him enough to go after Mokuba and he'd catch up, but was trying to get him killed?

"Mr. Kaiba, I'm afraid that simply will not do. No one crosses this bridge until I have defeated someone in a duel," the mysterious man said.

Speaking without thinking, Makoto said, "That won't happen because Kaiba will bring you down!" Makoto thought to gasp, thinking he was speaking out of turn.

However, Kaiba seemed to agree with him. "What he said," Kaiba said calmly.

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, Mr. Kaiba. Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?"

"Well now I do. It took me a minute, but I recognize your voice, Leichter. So, let's get this duel over with."

"My sentiments exactly," Leichter responded. "Please go ahead and select your deck from the virtual card database."

Gladly, Kaiba said, putting a whole deck together in record time.

"Now choose a monster to act as your deck master."

"This is a no-brainer, Leichter. I choose Lord of Dragons!" Kaiba exclaimed.

Huh? Not Blue-Eyes? Makoto thought. Oh, wait a sec! I get it! Kaiba must be thinking about Lord of Dragons' deck master ability. Blue-Eyes, though powerful, had a pretty unhelpful one now that I think about it. I wonder what Lord of Dragons can do. Does Kaiba know?

"And I've already taken the form of my deck master. Can you tell which monster I've become?"

"No. And quite frankly I don't care, Leichter, because crushing you will be a simple task regardless of your deck master. So let's begin."

"It's time to duel as they say," Leichter said, holding back a chuckle.

"Kaiba, that's not exactly a good idea. I think you should—"

Kaiba snapped at Makoto. "Naegi, when I want your opinion, I'll ask for it! Go stand over there and watch. This will be over in only a few turns," Kaiba remarked.

Makoto gulped and backed up by the motorbike to watch. Well, at least it wasn't all bad. He would get to see Kaiba duel and be the awesome awe-inspiring hero that Makoto had seen him become on live TV. I just wish Komaru was here to see this, Makoto thought. He then looked at Leichter. Still…I have a bad feeling about this. Makoto put a hand on his chest and looked incredibly worried. He could feel a pit sinking into his stomach. Leichter is clearly dressed as his deck master, but I don't recognize the monster at all. This…could be bad. He shook his head. No, I need to have faith in the Seto Kaiba I believe in. I know he'll win. No matter what!

As Kaiba and Leichter began their duel, Nagito and Chiaki were slowly making their way through the fortress used to contain Hajime by the Steering Committee. They'd been made to solve puzzles, and answer trivia questions, typical RPG stuff. On occasion, they came face to face with a Duel Quiz, where specific cards were on the field and in their hands and required the right amount of plays on Chiaki or Nagito's side to solve.

In their latest escapade, Chiaki saw her field entirely composed of normal monsters with 500 attack points or less and a Black Skull Dragon on her opponent's side of the field with two cards face-down on her opponent's side. The cards in Chiaki's hand were Heavy Storm and Sword of the Soul Eater.

"Simple enough," Chiaki said and selected Heavy Storm to be played and then played Sword of the Soul Eater, destroying all of her other monsters except one of them, raising its attack power to 4500 and attacking to wipe out her opponent's set remaining life total of 1300.

"There's that Ultimate Gamer talent of yours," Nagito said with a smile.

Chiaki responded back neither positively nor negatively. She was too focused on getting to Hajime as she ran up the stairs, Nagito not far behind. Please be all right, Hajime. Please let me get to you in time.

However, Hajime was not fine. He was strapped inside a big pod on the top floor with electrodes strapped all over his body. At first, he had put up no resistance to the changes, but when he realized that an entirely new personality was being implanted over his own, he'd begun to fight back.

To that end, the Steering Committee had started to fight dirty.

Every time Hajime struggled or tried to break his bonds, he was hit with 20 volts of electricity to make him cooperate and make him lose another bit of his own psyche. Chiaki, He thought as he breathed, Chiaki! He could see her smiling face, but not her eyes. No! Come back! Chiaki!

As another volt ran through Hajime's body, he could only scream out in pain along with another internal scream.

CHIAKI!

While Hajime was being forced to be obedient and docile to make way for Izuru Kamukura, Yugi's group had found the same port district that Makoto and Kaiba had arrived in. They began looking around for their friends and for clues.

"Huh? Hey, guys! Come look at this!" Komaru exclaimed.

The group all rushed over to her. "What is it? What did you find?" Ibuki asked.

Komaru picked up a half-eaten, unwrapped chocolate bar off the ground. "Chiaki said she kept everything on her person that she had when she was digitized, right?"

"Yeah, and? What's that got to do with that half-eaten chocolate bar?" Joey asked.

"Don't eat it, Komaru! Five second rule! Who knows how long that's been there?"

"Ugh! No, Ibuki!" She pointed at the brand label half torn from the bar being opened. "This is Makoto's favorite chocolate bar. I would know cause that's what he bought for spare snacks while he was participating in Battle City."

"That would mean, Makoto's been through here," Yugi said with a smile.

"Right?" Komaru asked.

Celeste looked down the nearby tunnel. "Perhaps he took a vehicle of choice and went down that tunnel," Celeste suggested.

"What makes you think he didn't use his own two feet?" Joey asked.

"Because this area reeks of gasoline and fuel," Celeste said.

Ibuki sniffed. "Hey, Celeste is right! Those are fuel emissions all right. Ibuki's spent a little bit of time around them because she has a classmate in the Ultimate Mechanic."

The group suddenly heard a revving engine and from out of the garage, Mai was driving an expensive sports that had, conveniently, been left in the garage with the keys in ignition. "What're we waiting for then, hop in," she encouraged.

"Ho-ho! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Drivin' in style!" Joey jumped into the front seat with Mai.

Celeste frowned, but simply got into the passenger's side of the car in the back. Yugi got in the middle of the back seat.

"Come on, Komaru. You can sit with me," Ibuki said, grabbing her by the wrist. "Ibuki will protect you!"

"Oh, um…thanks," Komaru said.

As everyone got in an buckled up, the seatbelts being stretchy enough to contain Komaru sitting in Ibuki's lap, Mai adjusted the rear view mirror and said, "Hold onto your decks, kids." She put the car in drive. "It's going to be a wild ride!"

Mai then took off down the highway. Fortunately, with no cars on the road and no sharp turns, the group was spared the worst aspects of Mai's driving ability. However, Joey could see the speedometer and the rest of them could feel it. "Mai, are you sure you should be going that fast?"

"I've got the need for speed. When else do you get the chance to drive on an open road with no chance of traffic?"

"Even with that said, I think the rest of us would like to hold onto their breakfast," Celeste said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you have your license."

Celeste, unfortunately, had to concede on that. No one else in the group was legalized to drive except for Mai.

It felt like a few hours, though it had only been close to 40 minutes, of nothing but ocean, storm clouds and an endless highway, before the group noticed something interesting.

"Ah! Over there!" Komaru shouted, pointing as a figure flew off into the sky.

"Is that what I think it is?" Joey wondered.

"That looks like Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Celeste stated.

"Are Mokuba and Kaiba together?" Komaru wondered.

"I suppose we'll know in a few minutes," Joey stated.

"That was totally Blue-Eyes. It's so cool to see flying through the air like that."

"Oh, I don't know, I think Red-Eyes is much more majestic in flight," Celeste chuckled.

"Now that's something we can agree on," Joey said, nodding.

"Oooh! Oooh! Ibuki thinks so too! Black's totally in fashion after all!"

Mai was going to comment, only to notice the road was out and started to slow down and spin the car sideways. This caused everyone to get serious whiplash. Yugi in particular was discombobulated as his hand reached out to steady himself against the car door…only to grab something soft. His fingers clutched open and closed on the soft, squishy, fabric covered…OH GOD!

Yugi pulled his hand away and looked at the now 100% red-faced, completely embarrassed Komaru Naegi.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Yugi exclaimed, waving the same hand he'd used to grab Komaru back and forth.

"It's…it's fine…I…I know it wasn't on purpose," Komaru squeaked, trying not to feel completely mortified over the whole situation. She was also trying to shake any thoughts of arousal away just because it was Yugi Mutoh that grabbed her, even by accident. Oh god, there were the images. Komaru's face distorted like she'd just swallowed a really sour lemon as she smacked her knuckles against her temples.

"Oh wow! Yugi, you dog, you! If you want to grope someone, you could've just asked Ibuki!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Course ya didn't," Joey said, draping one arm over the back of his seat, "You ain't got the Kuribohs for that."

"Wha…ah…M-my Kuribohs are just fine, thank you!" Yugi exclaimed blushing.

Despite being more than painfully aware of what a sexual innuendo was, this one flew right over Komaru's head.

Joey then looked at Mai. "And you, this is why you don't drive like a maniac."

However, Mai seemed preoccupied with the flying Blue-Eyes overhead. Everyone else looked up at it as well.

And then they all heard Kaiba shout, "You should've known better than to challenge me. Now, my Blue-Eyes, White Lightning attack!"

Although no one could see it so high up in the air above the clouds, they knew what was happening as Blue-Eyes unleashed a destructive burst stream of energy from its mouth and completely tore Leichter's satellite cannon apart, causing the scrap to rain down around the ocean like falling meteorites.

"Looks like you won't be leaving cyberspace any time soon," Kaiba said to Leichter.

"All right! You did it, Kaiba!" Makoto exclaimed.

Kaiba folded his arms smugly and smirked. "As if there was any doubt."

Leichter dropped to his knees in fatigue. "No! I was so close to finally escaping this digital dungeon!"

"Where's Mokuba?" Kaiba demanded out of Leichter yet again.

"You'll never see your brother again, Mr. Kaiba!" Leichter declared, both a sore loser and still defiant. "However, I'll be back!" The word back echoed as Leichter disappeared into shards of light.

"Something tells me he won't be back," Celeste said, playing with a lock of her hair.

"Damn straight he won't! Kaiba smoked that freak!" Joey exclaimed.

Komaru, however, was less concerned about Kaiba's victory and more concerned about the other voice she heard. "Makoto!" Leaping off the raised, unfinished part of the highway, Komaru landed ten feet down and gave her brother a big, happy smile as she stood up.

"Komaru?!" Makoto exclaimed, not expecting to see her. Instead of him finding her, she found him. He was even less prepared when Komaru gave him a big hug. She was thrilled to see him safe and unhurt.

At this point, everyone was abandoning Mai's car and dropping down to become even altitude with Mokuba and Kaiba.

Makoto was not concerned with them however and noticed something else. He noticed the stubborn cowlick in Komaru's hair that was sticking straight up. "Ah! Komaru, your hair is sticking up. Let me get that for you." He licked his thumb and then started trying to press down her cowlick.

"Ack! Makoto! Stop!" Komaru said, holding her head and turning red, feeling the pressure of Makoto's thumb on her scalp. "You're not mom and I hate it when she does it!"

Kaiba turned away from the two, trying to pretend like he wasn't envious of the fact that Makoto got to reunite with his sibling.

"Now there's a big brother that really cares," Mai said as Makoto finally tamed Komaru's stubborn cowlick.

"I'd say Makoto's as good a big brother as Kaiba is to Mokuba, and Joey is to Serenity," Yugi said with a smile.

Kaiba and Makoto briefly looked at each other, only to quickly stop. Neither one had any real comment on the comparison. Joey wasn't really sure what to say. He was fine being compared to Makoto, but Kaiba?

Ibuki giggled. "Awwww, you have such a nice big brother, Komaru. He cares so much about you. Ibuki wishes she had a big brother to take her to baseball games, see movies, play music, go dancing, and swap spit."

Joey had something to say to that though. "Uh, one of those things is not brotherly behavior!"

"So what's the story with you two?" Yugi asked Makoto and Kaiba. "Why are you traveling together?"

"Mokuba got kidnapped so I've been traveling with Kaiba to help him rescue Mokuba," Makoto answered, speaking seriously.

"Mokuba's been kidnapped?" Yugi parroted, gasping.

"Show of hands, who's surprised?" Joey asked sarcastically.

"Now may not be the best time to make that wise crack," Celeste said, concerned Kaiba would flip his shit at Joey making light of the situation.

However, Kaiba decided to let it slide. Getting mad at Joey wasn't worth his time or effort.

Suddenly, Noah's annoying voice echoed across the air. "Well, Seto."

"Well, what?" Kaiba snapped.

"That's Noah's voice!" Makoto exclaimed, surprised to hear him.

Noah laughed. "You may have won your duel, but you've lost something more important. Your brother."

Two tunnels suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the destroyed bridge.

"Where is he?" Seto growled.

"Here's a hint. Just look down."

Yugi gasped in surprise. "Ah! The road's back." Indeed, the missing piece of road beyond where Kaiba had been dueling was now traversable.

"Proceed ahead and you just might find him," Noah told him.

"Mokuba! I'm on my way!" Kaiba exclaimed, taking off into a sprint.

"Kaiba! Wait!" Makoto shouted. This has trap written all over it.

Kaiba didn't stop and just kept running, but that's when Yugi opened his mouth. "Kaiba, just hold on a minute."

"Stay out of this, Yugi," Kaiba said, glaring.

"Who do you think you are?" Joey snapped, making a fist.

"This doesn't concern you Wheeler. This is family business," Kaiba told him.

"But, Kaiba!" Makoto protested.

Kaiba turned halfway back around and glanced straight at Makoto. "Family isn't something you should ever abandon. Remember that, Naegi." He then took off and didn't stop for anyone.

"Rude. What a jerk," Mai harrumphed.

However, Makoto put his hand on his chest. He saw the deeper meaning in Kaiba's words. "No," he said calmly. "That's wrong. I get what Kaiba meant."

"Wrong? You're saying there was a hidden subtext in Kaiba's words to you?" Celeste asked, intrigued.

"I found Komaru. So…I think Kaiba means for me to stay with her. Now that he knows where Mokuba is, he can go straight for Noah. And we," he smiled at the others. "We still have some friends to find."

"Makoto is absolutely right," Yugi said. "Joey, we need to find Tristan, Téa, Duke, and Byakuya."

"Even Byakuya?" Celeste asked, surprised.

"Even if he's not our friend, he's still an unwilling participant of this virtual nightmare. We're all going to get out together!" Yugi declared.

"You got that right!" Makoto exclaimed. "Come on, let's go!"

"But where will we go?" Celeste asked. There was only one way forward after all and if there weren't chasing Kaiba, that didn't leave very many options.

"So, we're just gonna abandon Kaiba, right?" Joey asked. "I'm down with that."

"We're not abandoning him!" Makoto exclaimed fiercely. "As soon as we find the others, we'll find Kaiba too. By the way, Yugi, you said Téa, Duke, Tristan, and Byakuya were missing, but I don't see Chiaki or Nagito with you."

"Well, about that…"

As Yugi explained to Makoto what he'd missed, Chiaki and Nagito continued to traverse the tower that Hajime was trapped in. They had just finished navigating a labyrinth and were now heading up their 47th flight of stairs. When they reached the top, Chiaki took a moment to slump against the wall and pant.

"You all right?" Nagito asked.

"I…just need…a minute," Chiaki panted.

Nagito, assuming the worst, put his hand on Chiaki's forehead. No, she was just sweaty and exhausted, not feverish. Good.

"Am I okay?" Chiaki asked.

"Yeah, you're just tired. Want me to carry you for a bit?" Nagito asked.

However, Chiaki quickly got her heart rate under control and stood up. "No. I can do this. I don't care how many flights of stairs it takes. I will save Hajime."

"Ah, seeing your hope shine so bright makes me happy, Chiaki. Well, after you then."

Chiaki and Nagito continued to climb. As they walked, since Chiaki was a bit too tired to really run too fast, Nagito asked, "Say, Chiaki, why do you like Hajime anyway? He's got no talent and you're an ultimate. Explain it so someone like me can understand."

"I've been alone for a really long time," Chiaki said. "I always walked in a gray fuzzy world. I didn't think anyone really liked games as much as I did." She smiled. "But Hajime proved me wrong. Even though he loses a lot, even though he's not as good as me, he still has fun."

"Fun?" Nagito asked, curious.

"My talent has pushed away a lot of people towards darker paths, and even has made a few succumb to despair and give up on their favorite games entirely. But not Hajime. He's…different."

Nagito had trouble comprehending this. It was as if Chiaki liked Hajime for being talentless, but that couldn't be right. Why would a great person like Chiaki like someone so plain like Hajime. "But in the end, he gave up, didn't he? He joined the Kamukura Project to impress you."

The gaps between steps became so great that traversing them was less like walking and more like mountain climbing. "That's why I want to save him. He doesn't have to do that! I like him for who he is! Of all people, more than anyone, I don't want to lose Hajime! I don't want to lose someone who gave me hope!"

Ah. There it was. Nagito understood now. "I see. So Hajime is your hope. Your hope that your talent doesn't hurt people. All right, let's go save him." Nagito took a huge leap through the air and landed on the staircase landing above Chiaki. "Come on, give me your hand." Chiaki took Nagito's hand and he pulled her up to his level. They were now on the 48th floor, facing down a room of what appeared to be bladed spheres and very small, moving platforms and that gap below was deep and the fall looked painful. "That looks dangerous," Nagito said sincerely.

"We can do it. No, we have to do it," Chiaki said.

"Right! For hope!" Nagito exclaimed. Hajime, I may not like you much, but if you're connected to Chiaki's hope, I'll give everything I can to support her. I'll make Chiaki's hope shine brighter than the sun.

After going down the tunnel that was parallel to the one Kaiba went down, Yugi and company emerged in a candy tree laden, fairy inhabited forest.

"What the…where are we, Candy Land?" Joey asked, whipping his head back and forth.

"EEEEEE! So much candy! Ibuki has to try some!" Ibuki exclaimed. She tried to run for a red and white sherbet popsicle tree, but Joey grabbed her by the back of the collar, stopping her. "Hey! I'm hungry too, but you don't see me drooling over this! You don't know if that's stuff safe to eat anyway!"

"It's probably fake anyway," Celeste said, contemplating her surroundings. "This is virtual after all."

"Well, let's look around," Yugi suggested. "Our friends have to be around here somewhere."

Yugi and the others spent a good long while examining the majestic woods. Most of the investigation resulted in Joey continuously stopping Ibuki from trying to eat the scenery.

"There's no sign of them, Yugi. Just a bunch of fairies, mushrooms and candy," Mai said.

"Maybe they haven't been through here," Komaru suggested.

"Unlikely," Celeste said, fiddling with a lock of her hair. "I noticed some footprints in the dirt earlier that haven't been tracked on."

"Couldn't it have just been one of us?" Joey asked.

"No. These prints were very decisive. Tristan wears those big, brown loafers on his feet. There's a line in the dirt dividing the shoes."

"Ah! Footprints!" Yugi exclaimed. "That explains what I found!" Yugi held up a hair.

"Uh, Yug. That's a piece of hair," Joey said.

"It's long and it's brown. Makoto, could you pluck a hair for me."

"Uh, sure," Makoto said, doing so. Yugi compared the two hair strands side by side.

"See, they're completely different. Only one person in our group has long strands of brown hair like this."

"It's gotta be Téa!" Ibuki exclaimed. "That's using your thinking cap, Yugi!"

"Guess we're firing on all cylinders," Makoto said, taking something out of his coat pocket. "I found this." He held out a six-sided die, a red dot on the side that was facing up.

"Oh, hey! Duke uses dice like that, doesn't he?"

"That means Duke, Téa and Tristan were all traveling toget—"

Ibuki suddenly covered Yugi's mouth.

"Ibuki, what's—"

"Shhh! Quiet!" Ibuki exclaimed. "I hear…voices."

Everyone went completely quiet. Only the sounds of the birds and the imagined glow of the sun's hot rays could be heard by the group.

"I'm telling you, I know I dropped it back here," a deep, masculine voice said.

"And I'm telling you, what the hell does it matter?" A pissed off, female voice responded. "Why do you need dice? We're in virtual reality anyway? You'll have it when we get out!"

"Téa, I need my lucky dice. It's a matter of life and death."

"I'll give you a matter of life and death if you don't stop screwing around, Duke!"

"That sounds like Duke and Téa!" Yugi exclaimed, brightening up. "Duke! Téa! Over here!"

"Yugi?" Téa and Duke came out from behind a clearing of cotton candy trees. She too brightened up the second she saw Yugi. She went running over to him and gave him a big hug, lifting the little guy off his feet and putting his head in a very…awkward position.

"Uh…Téa…you're um…"

Téa only now realized where Yugi's head was. "O-oh. S-sorry," She exclaimed, turning perpendicular to him.

"If you two need a room, we'll wait," Celeste said, turning her head away dismissively.

Yugi and Téa both blushed brightly, neither one caring to comment. First the situation on Kaiba's helicopter and now this.

"Looks like the gang is practically together," Duke said. "By my count, only Chiaki, Nagito, Byakuya and Kaiba are unaccounted for."

"Yeah, that's true. Wait! Does that mean you guys know where Tristan is? Is he with you?"

Téa and Duke looked away from the rest of the group, faces at the ground.

While Joey would never do something so crude as to grab Téa by her shirt and yell at her, Duke was another matter. He lifted the gangly dice master off the ground and glared at him. "Where's Tristan, dice boy? What happened to my best friend?"

"Joey, stop! It's not Duke's fault!" Téa exclaimed.

Joey put Duke down at the behest of Téa's counsel and the group spent the better portion of an hour recounting what had occurred to all of them and how they all got together.

It was during this swapping of stories that Joey exclaimed. "Wha—Miho? Miho Nosaka?!"

"Oooooh! You know her Joey, didn't think you were the type!" Ibuki cooed.

"Of course I know her! She's…wait, how do you know her?"

"Um, duh. Ibuki's in the music industry. Even if Miho never made prime time she still knows about her cause of Sayaka."

It was like a big epiphany just hit Makoto. Miho Nosaka. Sayaka Maizono. Inside his mind, a bunch of letters came flying at him, forming one word: CHARITY!

Now I understand!

"Miho…Nosaka. I know that name."

"Huh? How do you know her too?" Joey asked Makoto.

"Because…" Makoto then realized something else wrong with this story. "Wait…she thinks Sayaka abandoned her? We have to find her now!"

Komaru seemed confused. "Huh? Why are you…OH!" she suddenly remembered. "That's right! How could I practically forget something like that when I'm a huge Sayaker! The charity drive!"

"Charity drive?" Téa asked as though there were a giant question mark above her forehead.

"During the Battle City tournament, Sayaka was holding a charity drive for Miho. This must've been why!" Makoto realized.

"But if she was raising money, why would it take so long? Someone like Sayaka should have no trouble raising that much money."

"I can think of a reason, but it's just a theory, no evidence to back it up."

"Oh. You have something to contribute, Mai?" Celeste asked, tongue as barbed as always.

Mai glared at her, but let it go and continued. "Pegasus tried to take over Kaiba Corp at one point, right? What if, during that time, he changed the rules?"

"Changed the rules?" Yugi asked, surprised.

"Maybe it wasn't Pegasus, but think about this for a minute. I see it a lot in soap operas. What if they told Sayaka she had to raise a certain amount of money, but they changed their minds and kept raising the amount of money she had to raise to get her friend back?" Mai suggested.

"Corporate scumbags!" Joey growled, gnashing his teeth and clenching a fist. "How dare they do that to my friend!"

"Like I said, I have no evidence to support it, but—"

"No. I'd say that possibility is incredibly likely."

Mai blinked at Celeste. And everyone just gazed at her, most of them speechless. Did Celeste just agree with Mai outright with no back sass?

Celeste put her fist in front of her mouth and furrowed her brow. "We've all seen what the Big Five are capable of. Perhaps the person handling it was one of them."

"We should ask Noah about it," Makoto suggested. "He might know something. But first, we need to find Miho and tell her the truth! Let's go!"

The group all then rushed off together in the direction Duke and Téa came from in the vain hopes of finding Tristan and saving both of their friends.

It had been quite a while since Yugi's group had been trapped by Noah, so long in fact that Marik's patience was growing thin and he was beginning to leave the blimp. As he exited, checking carefully for the security guns going off, he was either unconcerned or didn't care about the fact that Gundham saw him leave. The self-proclaimed Supreme Overlord of Ice then began to briskly look for his classmates. He began with the medical wing, but found no sign of them. And there, seeing Sonia comatose, found himself unable not to pay his respects.

While Gundham was lost in thought with his own regrets and shortcomings, Mikan and Mahiru were currently sitting in the girl's guest room with cups of tea. Surprisingly, it was Mikan who made the tea and she'd made it perfectly without scalding her or Mahiru. It was Peach tea.

The two girls had been chatting for what felt like, and probably were, hours, just the two of them, the lights on pretty dim at Mikan's request. Given that the hangar was in an enclosed space, she suggested keeping the lights at 50 percent to minimize eye strain. After all, everyone was low on sleep and combined with the tea, it might create overstimulation of nerves. Mahiru had praised her for being so thoughtful on the idea.

As Mahiru laughed at one of her own jokes, she said with a bright smile, "You know, this has been really nice. You and I don't really get to talk a whole lot because Hiyoko's practically glued to my hip side. It's nice for a change of pace every now and again."

This surprised Mikan, causing her to gasp. "Mahiru, you sound like you're…happy to not have Hiyoko around right now."

Mahiru blinked and then traced back her words, remembering how upset she was yesterday that she had to leave Hiyoko behind. "Do I?" She wondered what possessed her to say that. She cared about Hiyoko a lot. But…she figured…if she was being honest. Oh, why not just be blunt? She could trust Mikan after all. "W-well…u-um…" she put the tea cup down and looked nervous, like she was about to betray Hiyoko's trust behind her back. "Honestly, she can be a bit of a handful. When she's around," Mahiru sighed, crossing an arm over her body, index finger extended, "I have to be extremely careful not to set her off. Hiyoko may be our age, but she has a lot of qualities like that of a spoiled child." She smiled at Mikan, hands behind her back. "I just want to…nurture her, I guess."

Mikan smiled. "You'd make an excellent mom. Hiyoko's lucky to have you as a friend."

"Yeah, I have to admit, I certainly would understand if we were her only friends," Mahiru said, sweating a little. "She's very…" she trailed off, unable to think of the right way to say it.

Mikan, however, as it turned out had several choice words for Hiyoko. And, as Mahiru quickly realized, she wasn't the only one willing to be bluntly honest about the twin-tailed flat-chested blonde in her class.

"Mean? Nasty? Evil? Rotten to the core?" With every interrogative answer Mikan grew increasingly angry until she was shouting, "Deserves to die?!"

Mahiru was completely taken off guard by that last one. "What? No! Mikan…are you okay?"

Mikan started shouting and going off on a rant. "It's not fair! We're both supposed to be your friends, but when she starts picking on me or we start arguing, you always take her side! I hate it! I hate being the friend everyone just uses as a doormat!" Mikan then started crying and sniveling, much more feebly than her normal water works.

"Mikan, are you okay? This isn't like you."

"No," Mikan said, suddenly unnervingly calm, her eyes dulling like a dark void. "This is me. This is what I am. This is…" she suddenly pulled out a scalpel, standing up, "my golden opportunity."

"Ah!" Mahiru yelped. She didn't know what Mikan was going to do with that scalpel, but quite frankly she was too terrified to want to know the answer.

"Hiyoko's unworthy of your friendship!" Mikan declared angrily. "I should be your best friend who you head pat and take on walks and help handle your camera!"

"Mikan, you're scaring me," Mahiru said as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

Mikan began talking with a very hateful and spiteful tone. "Hiyoko doesn't deserve to have you as a friend! If she wasn't around, you wouldn't have to put up with her! If she was gone, she wouldn't be a nuisance to anyone! Then…" Mikan laughed creepily. "Then I wouldn't be the doormat of you or anyone in the class! It's all Hiyoko's fault!"

Mikan," Mahiru said, on the verge of tears, "Please calm down."

However, this only served to set Mikan off. "NO! I've had it with Hiyoko! I like being able to talk with you! It's nice! Everyone's been so nice!" she shouted, eyes filled with hate, hands being used to practically pull her hair out. And then, with barely half a breath between sentences, Mikan became unnervingly calm, her eyes dulling and losing their luster. As she spoke, her voice was as deep as she could make it go without straining her voice. "And that's the problem. When this tournament is over, I'll just go back to being the doormat everyone ignores. Just poor little Mikan lost and abused by the cruel, unforgiving world." She started to get angry again. "I won't have that. I'm going to make you my best friend!" With a crazed look in her eye, Mikan held up the scalpel again. "I'm going to carve it into your arm so you won't forget!"

Mahiru was continuing to hyperventilate, unsure what to do as her left foot backed up only half as far as it could go. Before Mikan decided to lunge at her, Mahiru wracked her brain for the best possible option to this scenario. She had to do so much with very little time to come up with an answer, but she was pretty sure she had one. There was only one way to help Mikan right now.

Mahiru ran around the table and then, much to Mikan's surprise, dove at her friend. Startled, her strong façade crumbling, Mikan's hands shot into the air, scalpel with them.

"Ah!" Mikan gasped, suddenly feeling Mahiru give her a hug, Mahiru's head nestled into Mikan's chest.

"You are my friend, Mikan!" Mahiru exclaimed. "And Hiyoko is too!" She was doing her best to hold back tears. "You need me as a friend, that's why you're so upset. But so does Hiyoko. Think of what Hiyoko would be without me. If you drag me over to your side, how does that make you any different from her? Do you want to reverse your roles? Do you want to become the very bully you hate?"

Mikan gasped as she imagined the very thing Mahiru was talking about. She could see herself standing next to Mahiru with her head held high, a cruel, devilish smirk on her face. And, on the ground was a sniveling, short haired Hiyoko after Mikan herself had cut her poofy pigtails off.

Another image flashed in her mind with Mikan wrapping Hiyoko up like a cocoon.

"Come on, Hiyoko. We're just playing a role playing game. Today, you're the piñata!"

"But I don't wanna—"

"Too bad!"

Mikan dropped the scalpel on the floor. Over Mahiru's shoulder, she could see her face reflected in the window of the blimp. She looked like a scary witch demon. Mikan's face then contorted into that of a child scared of their own shadow. She started to cry.

"No!" she sobbed. "I…I don't want to do that." She hyperventilated. "I just want…I just want her to stop being mean to me." Mikan hugged Mahiru and continued to let out little sobs.

"It's okay, Mikan," Mahiru said, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I understand." She stood up straight and the girls now held each other, each of their heads over the other's shoulder. "You're not the only one who knows what it's like to be bullied."

"Mahiru…" Mikan sniffed.

"You're my friend. We're all friends in our class. It's okay to feel this way. There's nothing wrong with you. But instead of bottling it up inside…" Mahiru pulled away from Mikan's shoulder and looked at her tear stained face, wiping it away with her pinky. She then rubbed Mikan's shoulder with the same hand. "Let me be your friend and help you. If you're feeling sad, you can always talk to me about it because that's what best friends are for," Mahiru said, smiling.

Mikan sniffed harder, her eyes filling with tears. "Really?"

"Really," Mahiru told her kindly.

Mikan couldn't keep it back any longer. She just started hiccupping and sniffing until she just started bawling. "I'm sorry, Mahiru!" she sobbed.

Mahiru stroked the back of Mikan's head as the poor girl collapsed her head into Mahiru's shoulder. "Shhhhhh, it's okay, Mikan. We all have our episodes. Just don't do it again."

And then just as quickly as the sadness had started, it was cut short unceremoniously. Because sometimes, life was just a dick.

"I hate to interrupt, but we appear to have a problem."

Mikan's head couldn't get itself fast enough off Mahiru's shoulder, like she'd just fallen asleep on a tiger's mouth. "Eiyah! G-Gundham!" Mikan squeaked.

"How long have you been standing there?" Mahiru asked, slightly embarrassed.

"Long enough to know that the angelic one has the mind of a demon. Fear not, your hardship shall not be pulled from the lips of this halfling fell creature."

Mahiru, being the insightful, endless bucket of wisdom at her age, stated nervously, "Gundham…have you been bullied too?"

Gundham simply folded his arms and turned his head away to look down the hall, as he was standing in the door frame. "I may or may not know what it's like to be unwelcome by the world. We all have our own demons to battle, be they right in front of us," he looked at Mikan and Mahiru. "Or in our hearts and minds."

"Still," Mahiru chastised. "You shouldn't eavesdrop like that."

"I did not mean to steal the knowledge of the strengthening of your bonds," Gundham stated. "But at no point did I notice a precise timing to intervene with my message from the gods."

"Message from the gods?" Mikan gasped.

"I think he means he has something important to tell us," Mahiru translated, still finding Gundham's mannerisms tedious to translate. "What's up?"

"The Fell Dragon is on the move," Gundham said.

"D-Dragon?!" Mikan sounded like she was going to have a heart attack.

"Fell…" At first, Mahiru didn't know what Gundham meant, but after quick process of elimination, she covered her mouth and exclaimed, horrified, "Marik's acting?!"

"You would be wise not to shout. If he hears us, he may figure out I have spotted him. I would like to keep tabs on him. Reliable One, I shall take you and the young technowizard with me under my cloak of invisibility and we shall spy on the Fell Dragon. If the worst should come, I offer up my life for your safety."

Mahiru started to shake. "Me…confront…Marik?" Mahiru started to shake and tremble as her face turned gray and pale with fear. The torture of the shadow realm was still fresh in her mind. She had no intention of reliving that experience. She could still hear Marik's laughter. She could still hear Natsumi's laughter. She could still see the faces of all her friends covered by white masks, unwilling to help and—

Mahiru jumped when Mikan put a hand on her shoulder. However, it was kept their as reassurance. Mahiru smiled back at Mikan, appreciative of the gesture and pat her friends hand, looking back at Gundham.

"You have already spent time in the shadows," the animal breeder continued. "While it was troubling, that skill could prove useful to us. And…our comrades have been gone for far too long. Whatever's become of them, we cannot allow the Fell Dragon to make it worse."

Despite her fear, Mahiru felt something gnaw at her that was stronger. Even if she was afraid, she could not let her friends suffer if she could do something to stop it. "All right," she said without an ounce of fear in her voice. "Just tell me what I have to do."

"W-wait, what about me?" Mikan wanted to know, feeling left out.

"Should Marik return to the blimp, you and the Esper will be our home base defenses," Gundham stated. "I am counting on both of you."

"But then…what about Serenity?" Mahiru wanted to know. She'd grown rather attached to Joey's sister. She hated the idea of seeing her hurt.

As if on cue, Serenity rounded the corner and asked, "What do you mean? What's going on?" She had only just heard Mahiru speak and had been too far away to hear anything else.

"Long story short, we think Marik's up to something and Gundham wants to go after him."

"Marik?!" Serenity exclaimed. "And Joey's not back yet!" The terror in her voice was painfully clear.

"Indeed. I can understand if your intent is to stay here. With that in mind I—"

Serenity cut Gundham off, pumping her fists up like a certain other little sister the group had become familiar with in the last 36 hours. "If my big brother needs help and isn't aware of it, then I have to do my best. I don't know how helpful I'll be, but I'll give it everything I've got."

"Serenity…" Mahiru trailed off with a smile. Serenity was probably the gentlest and most easily terrified member of the group and yet here she was ready to confront Marik of all people. As long as she Serenity was around then, Mahiru felt like she could do anything. "…All right," Mahiru said. "Let's go get Chihiro and get a move on. We'll do this together."

"Indeed!" Gundham roared, turning to face the hallway, his scarf flapping about. "Come my angels! Together with my four dark devas of destruction, we shant lose to the Fell Dragon, even without the divine Falchion to guide us!"

As Gundham, Mahiru, Serenity and Chihiro planned their escapade against Marik, things were getting interesting in the virtual world. Kaiba, presently, was by himself, mulling over a photograph that Noah had shown him, as well as the hologram that Noah had showed him as well. Both the picture and the video implicated Noah as Gozaboro Kaiba's blood born son. However, Kaiba refused to believe a word of this nonsense. It didn't make sense. And it frustrated him to no end, on top of that, that Noah had somehow managed to brainwash Mokuba into servitude. Determined to get Mokuba back, Kaiba began running in a single direction, unwilling to even care about his surroundings, as long as they weren't dangerous, knowing that Noah would show him more things and drag him further down his twisted rabbit hole as long as Kaiba played along. And that was exactly what Kaiba was hoping for because soon he'd have Noah's back against the wall. And, once that happened, there would be no mercy.

And while Kaiba was busy wrapping his head around the situation, Noah was having a big conference call with the Big Five, Emma, Keemo, and even Hobson. They were all begging Noah for a second chance.

"This is an outrage!" Emma exclaimed. "I could leave any time I want but my pod's been disabled and my body's stuck! I can't get out!"

"Tragic," Johnson said dismissively. "What about Hajime Hinata, was he not defeated in a duel?"

"I made a deal with Hope's Peak Academy. Hajime Hinata is off. Limits," Noah said, eyebrows narrowing.

"Noah, please, we're desperate men," Crump stated.

"And woman!" Emma exclaimed, refusing to be left out.

"What about that fool Tristan Taylor? Didn't Miho Nosaka defeat him?"

"Tristan Taylor is not your property!" Noah reprimanded. "He belongs to Miho Nosaka and she gets to decide what to do with him. She won fair and square."

"But she has no intention of leaving this place now," Keemo stated.

"What if we went after her body?" Crump suggested.

"I'm afraid that's impossible. She's comatose," Johnson said.

Noah slammed the arm rest of his chair. "Any of you think about touching Miho Nosaka and you're all as good as data!"

Leichter was quick to intervene. "Miho means a lot to Master Noah. She's the only human contact he had in this digital dungeon before we showed up."

"Awww, isn't that sweet?" Emma said with overexaggerated eyelash beating. "NOT!" She went back to being pissed off. "Let us out of here you turquoise haired freak! Or at least let me out! I shouldn't have to pay the price! My mind isn't fully digital!"

"Sorry, but that's a fitting punishment as far as I'm concerned. You didn't look before you leapt," Noah told her.

Emma only growled.

"Master Noah, think of all I've done for you. Do I not deserve a second chance if no one else?" Hobson pleaded.

"No," Noah responded. "Kaiba is on his way and I shall defeat him once and for all. Besides, I don't need you fools anymore. I'd be better off having a group of baboons working for me. "After all, once Izuru Kamukura is completed, I will broker with the Steering Committee once more and have him help guide me and lead KaibaCorp to greatness. Your role in this matter is finished."

"Noah, wait! Please!" Nezbitt pleaded.

"Goodbye, gentlemen. And lady. You have far outlived your usefulness!"

For the next two minutes, Noah heard nothing but screaming from seven male voices of varying pitches and one lady until there was nothing, but silence. Out in the real world, their pods were shut down and each monitor Noah was using to communicate with his associates now had a big red X over the screen with the words "signal lost" in all capitals in red lettering under it.

"Oh my, my! That was heartless!" Another screen flashed in the center screen of the nine Noah had in front of him, where none had been before. It was a pixelated image of a girl with green hair and a fair complexion.

"You again!" Noah snapped. "What do you want? Why are you still in my server?"

"Don't worry, I won't mess anything up," the voice chuckled. "I'm just here to observe. I just want to see despair, whether it's yours, Yugi's, Kaiba's or someone else's."

"I saw that duel with Kaiba. It was laughable. I could've done a better job," Noah commented, unamused.

The girl laughed. "You think you're so self-important," she said, making a face that would frighten small puppies and children, depixelating her face so Noah could see it plain as day. It's not like he could recognize her anyway with his limited worldly knowledge. "But you're nobody. The world doesn't care about you, Noah Kaiba. As far as the world is concerned you don't exist. Big sis' duel with Kaiba was for a much more extravagant project, which you sadly won't be around to participate in."

Noah stood from his chair and clenched his fist. "Says you! I will defeat my stepbrother and I will find you and destroy you!"

"Tee-hee. Gooooood luck with that." The green haired girl then ended the transmission.

Noah sat back down and tented his fingers, elbows on the arm rests of his chair. "Well, while I wait for Seto to arrive, I suppose I could pass the time with some entertainment. Let's see what that fool, Yugi Mutoh is up to."

As Yugi's group sauntered in a multitude of directions through Noah's virtual world, none of them were any closer to figuring out where Miho was, who Noah was, and why they were all trapped here in the first place.

As they stood in the middle of a paved road, surrounded by a vast wasteland of tumbleweeds and rotting trees, Joey sighed, tongue hanging out. "Man, I give up. We've been wandering around for hours. Can we take a break?"

"Oh? So it's all right for Tristan to be in danger as long as you're not exhausted when you find him?" Celeste jabbed at him.

"You want a black eye to match your hair?" Joey snapped.

"All right, let's all calm down," Mai said, acting as the proper adult here.

"Mai's right," Yugi said. "But, I agree with Joey. Wandering around aimlessly isn't helping us. We need a new type of strategy. Let's talk this out a little more you guys. We may not find any clues to Miho's location, but I bet if we figure out one mystery or two it might motivate us to keep looking."

"All right, let's give it a shot," Téa said. "Who wants to go first?"

"Um, me actually," Makoto spoke up. "I have a theory. And I think I might be right."

"Is it going to be like Mai's theory and be based on zero factual evidence."

"Hey, you admitted Mai had a point, Celeste. Don't go puttin' her down over it," Joey stated.

Celeste said pretty much nothing in response. She simply glanced sideways, pinching her finger brace with all of the fingers of her opposite hand, hands folded neatly in front of her stomach.

"Go ahead, Makoto," Yugi said to him.

"Noah seemed pretty determined to show Kaiba his own past, stuff Kaiba already knew. And while I was watching Kaiba duel Leichter, he seemed adamant about drudging up Kaiba's time spent when his stepfather, Gozaboro was still alive."

"Kaiba's stepfather?" Yugi gasped.

"Wait…I'm confused. I didn't even know Kaiba had a stepfather," Komaru said.

"He probably buried the fact as best as he could. With people like the Big Five working for him, information was at his disposal."

"Sounds like I've stumbled into something interesting."

The voice was not a member of the current group as Téa saw a figure step out from behind a plateau. He had blond hair, glasses, blue eyes and was wearing a suit.

"Ah! Byakuya!"

"And how long have you been there?" Joey asked.

"I've been shadowing you idiots the whole time since you passed by that waterfall. You just failed to notice."

"What'd you say?" Joey snapped, taking offense to being called an idiot.

Duke put a hand on Joey's shoulder to get him to calm down. "Forget it. He's not worth it."

Byakuya walked towards the group, taking a space in the sort of circle shape they had all formed. "I think I can shed some light on Kaiba's past."

"You can?" Makoto asked.

Byakuya nodded. "What you're saying isn't wrong. I confirmed as much myself when I dueled Kaiba in Battle City." He smirked. "Kaiba, like me, had to fight with everything he had to get where he was. And no one was going to take that from him." He dropped the smirk. "To cover up his traumatic past, he not only used the Big Five to get ahead, but he disposed of them when they were no longer useful to him. Quite cutthroat if I do say so myself. Well…no longer useful isn't being entirely honest. When you betray your employer for a power grab, your job security tends to become shaky."

"Pegasus!" Yugi exclaimed, knowing why the group betrayed Kaiba.

"Right," Byakuya confirmed. "Anyway, Makoto, you were saying how Noah fit into this. That's the part of this mystery I haven't been able to uncover."

Makoto now had a pretty serious look on his face. "I only started thinking about it after spending time with Kaiba. I think Noah…might be Gozaboro's actual kid."

"WHAT?!" The exclamation was collectively loud given so many people were exclaiming it. Makoto couldn't even tell who hadn't exclaimed it.

"Kaiba's stepbrother?" Téa gasped.

Celeste looked amused. "My, my, the plot certainly does thicken."

Mai looked at Byakuya. "Can you validate that?"

"…I can't say for certain," Byakuya said reluctantly. He didn't like admitting when he didn't know something. "However, I think it's very plausible. Knowing what I know about Gozaboro growing up, if he adopted Kaiba while Noah was still alive, he may have been like my father, pitting the two against each other to see which one was more desperate for the company."

"So then why is Noah here?" Duke inquired.

"Yeah. And shouldn't he be the same age as Kaiba?" Komaru asked.

"My guess would be something happened to him," Byakuya stated. "I heard your conversation about Miho Nosaka earlier. What if Noah suffered a similar fate? A strenuous injury, but not so much fatal as leaving him comatose."

Celeste thought on the matter, rubbing her finger brace against the upper left side of her chin. After a few seconds of thinking, she said, "That would make sense. Gozaboro would have no choice but to pin all of the inheritance of KaibaCorp on Kaiba if that happened." She chuckled, finding this all just so fascinating and amusing. "Such a maneuver would certainly turn him into the stern, constantly scowling business CEO we've all come to know and sometimes tolerate."

As Celeste said these words, the pieces in Makoto's brain suddenly started fitting together. His expression was now one of pure surprise as he reached a sudden epiphany.

"What is it, Makoto?" Komaru asked him.

"Mai," Makoto said, putting a hand over his chest and looking concerned, "I think you might be right after all."

"Huh? Right about what?" she asked.

"About your theory regarding Miho. Téa, you mentioned that Miho was put in a different virtual reality at some point, right? What if she came into contact with Noah? What if…they're friends?" Makoto poised the theory.

"No way!" Joey shouted. "No old pal a mine is gonna be friends with some short little freak!"

"Joey! Calm down a sec and listen to me!" Makoto exclaimed.

Surprised to hear Makoto yell, Joey calmed down as requested.

"Remember how Miho was acting?" Makoto asked. "Téa, you said she sounded really irrational and unstable, right?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Téa wanted to know.

"And Joey, she wasn't always like that, right?" Makoto asked.

"Of course not," Joey said, glaring. "Miho was always so sweet!"

The gears in Makoto's head continued to turn. Yes. Everything was starting to fall into place, like pages of a comic book suddenly being filled in. "I think Noah may have been able to contact Sayaka somehow, maybe even through one of the Big Five while they were still employed," Makoto suggested. "I think he kept raising the price."

"That deduction…isn't unfathomable," Celeste said.

"But why would Noah do that? What does he gain from that?" Ibuki asked, looking confused.

"I think…" Komaru started to say, only to reach an awful conclusion. "No…that would be too sad." She blinked tears out of her eyes.

"What would be too sad?" Duke asked, not getting it.

Téa suddenly gasped and put her fingers over her mouth, stumbling back. She got it. She understood.

Yugi was quickly to follow suit. "Makoto…are you saying…that Noah…" he stammered.

Makoto nodded, grave concern in his expression and voice. "If Miho gets woken up, she won't be here anymore. Noah may be our age, but he still acts like a spoiled kid. He probably doesn't want to lose…the only friend he has."

"The sentimentalism of this conversation makes me want to puke," Byakuya hissed.

"Nobody asked you," Mai snapped.

"So, what do we do?" Yugi asked.

"We save them, both Noah and Miho," Makoto stated.

"You wanna save that little snot-nosed brat?"

"Yes," Makoto said calmly, making a fist and looking sternly at Joey. "I do. I want to save him…from himself. I believe that Noah can change and that he can be reasoned with. I ask that you all…if I get one…to give me a chance."

"You?" Byakuya asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Makoto responded firmly.

Byakuya stared at Makoto, examining the resolve in his eyes and the potential of Makoto's capability. "…Fine," he eventually said. "I suppose it may work. Yugi or I can clean up your mess if you screw up."

"Thank you, Byakuya," Makoto said, relieved everyone was on the same page.

"All right, enough standing around! Let's go find Miho!" Joey exclaimed and took off running. It seemed working together had worked. The group was full of energy and ready to search once more.

As the clomping of feet resounded in unison, Celeste smirked at the group, "You know, I kind of liked that whole group collaboration thing to get to the truth. It was fun."

"Fun for those of us who didn't think it was obvious maybe," Byakuya responded.

"Don't blow smoke up our butts," Joey said. "You were just as clueless as the rest of us until Makoto pointed out everything."

"No one asked you for your opinion," Byakuya responded irritably.

Joey stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eye.

"I agree with Celeste though, that was kind of fun," Yugi said.

"Yeah, I guess. Ibuki wishes she had more to contribute though, but unless it's about music, she's not very smart," Ibuki admitted.

"We can talk about non-stop debates later. Right now, we need to find Tristan and Miho," Duke stated.

As the group all ran down the road at a healthy speed, Makoto spotted another waterfall in the distance. "Hey! What about over there?"

"Hey, was that waterfall always there?" Komaru asked as the group came to a stop, Ibuki skidding to a halt in front of the group.

"Maybe we didn't come down this far," Mai suggested.

"How would we know? This whole place looks the freaking same!" Joey exclaimed, waving his arm about, index finger extended.

"If Miho showed up near a waterfall before, she might be by that one. That's what you're suggesting, right Komaru?" Yugi asked her.

Komaru nodded. "Yeah…is that weird?"

"Weird or not, a refreshing waterfall at least provides cool air and tranquility," Byakuya stated. "I'd say it's worth checking out."

"Oh. Well, if the great lord and master Byakuya Togami says it's worth checking out, now we have to go," Celeste commented.

Byakuya glared at her, unappreciative of her tone.

The group ran over to the waterfall and, sure enough, Komaru's hunch turned out to be right. It seemed deductive reasoning ran in the family. The waterfall was at the base of a mountain and the whole area was surrounded by crusted dirt and leafless trees. And, sitting in front of a rock was Miho, guised as Dunames Dark Witch.

And, in her lap, was none other than Tristan, eyes closed. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

As the group approached, Miho instantly recognized Joey. "J-Joey?" She was surprised to see him too.

"Hey, Miho. How ya been?"

Miho hugged Tristan. "I know why you're here. You're here to take Tristan back." She started to shout. "Well, you can't have him! He's mine! I won't let anyone take Tristan from me!"

"Miho, listen to me!" Makoto exclaimed, getting to the front of the group. "You have to—"

Joey got in front of him. "Miho ain't gonna listen to reason while she's still seein' red," Joey said. "I'm gonna give her some clarity and cool her off so just sit back and wait until I'm done."

"You, Joey?" Yugi asked, surprised.

"I owe it to Tristan to save him," Joey said. "Never did exactly pay him back for Duelist Kingdom when he indirectly helped me with Rex. Plus, I'm the only other person here who even knows Miho personally. Tristan hasn't been the same since Miho had that accident."

Joey's mind began flashing back, but he only spoke of what he remembered in summation. He didn't tell the whole story. "I remember when Tristan was class representative of our class back in middle school. If you could believe it, he was actually an honor roll student."

"Tristan was?" That sounded pretty farfetched to Téa.

"I thought he and Miho were gonna be sweethearts till dey were old and gray," Joey continued. "But then she had that accident. Tristan fell hard like some kinda drug addict. Course, he didn't actually do drugs. But he just…gave up. I had to punch him a few times just ta get him not to think about jumpin' in front of traffic."

"I see," Byakuya said. "So he fell into despair and depression. Such is what happens when you mourn the loss of another."

"I didn't think Tristan was so complex," Mai said.

"Indeed," Celeste agreed. "If he was suffering, he hid it well."

"I helped Tristan move on, cause he's my buddy," Joey said, seriously. "I had no idea you were still alive Miho. None of us did. You gotta believe us. We never forgot about you."

Miho stood up and stared at the ground, "But Miho's not important anymore. Nobody loves Miho anymore."

"What about Noah?" Makoto asked.

Hearing Noah's name struck some sort of chord in Miho.

"Isn't Noah…your friend?" Makoto asked.

"Noah was…but…Noah changed. Miho's…all alone," Miho said sadly.

"He changed?" Makoto asked, surprised, partly because he turned out to be right, but partly also because things seemed like there was still a gap in the whole story.

Miho then got really angry. "Why do any of you care? Tristan's not leaving and that's final. You can duel me all you want! I'll beat all of you! I WANT MY TRISTAN!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Poor, Miho," Komaru said, looking like she wanted to cry.

"Relax," Joey said. "I got this." He pointed at Miho. "Miho, I challenge you to a duel. And when I win, you gotta give Tristan back and listen to us."

"Miho accepts your challenge. But when she wins, you're all going to leave her and Tristan alone! Forever!"

"Fine, cause I ain't gonna lose. Let's do this thing!" Joey exclaimed.

Joey and Miho quickly put their decks together. Joey picked his same deck master from his duel with Emma: The Flame Swordsman. Miho remained in the body of Dunames Dark Witch.

"Let's duel!" Joey and Miho exclaimed simultaneously.

"I'll go first!" Joey exclaimed, drawing the top card of his deck. "I summon to the field Gearfried the Iron Knight! Then I'm settin' one card face-down and ending my turn."

"Miho's turn then," Miho said, drawing the top card of her deck. She looked at her six-card hand. "Miho summons Neo the Magic Swordsman!" Miho declared as a familiar looking swordsman to Makoto appeared on the battlefield. "And she's upgrading him with Book of Secret Arts!" Neo's attack points went from 1700 to 2000.

"And now, attack!" Miho exclaimed. "Magic Sword Slash!"

Neo the Magic Swordsman leapt forward and struck Gearfried down, reducing Joey's life points to 3800. First blood was Miho's.

"It's a rough start Joey, but you have this," Téa cheered.

"Odd, I don't recall you cheering for Tristan like that," Duke stated.

"Er…well…" Téa didn't want to admit it out loud, but she really didn't think Tristan ever stood a chance. Not to mention, the stakes were much higher this time.

"Watch me go! Joey Wheeler just rolls with the punches! And heeeeere we go!" Joey declared as he drew the top card from his deck. It was Rocket Warrior. Perfect! "I'm summoning Rocket Warrior in attack mode!" The anthropomorphic sword wielding rocket appeared. "And next, I'm using Flame Swordsman's deck master special ability to power up Rocket Warrior's attack points."

Rocket Warrior's attack points went from 1500 to 2200 and Flame Swordsman's fell to 1100.

"Now, go Rocket Warrior, wipe out that Magic Swordsman and avenge Gearfried!"

Rocket Warrior transformed into a rocket and tore a hole straight through Neo the Magic Swordsman as it dispersed into shards of light, Joey's Warrior making the return trip to his side.

Miho's life points fell to 3800.

"Good move, Joey," Mai cheered.

"It'll take more than one good move to win a duel. Besides, if it were me dueling—"

"No one wants to hear it," Celeste cut Byakuya off. "We're watching Joey duel, not you."

Byakuya's feathers were certainly ruffled by that comment, but he said nothing further.

Miho took her turn and drew the top card of her deck. "Miho activates Smashing Ground!" Miho declared, holding up the spell card. It shined and a gigantic fist plowed itself from the heavens into Rocket Warrior, causing the whole ground to quake and sending Rocket Warrior right to the graveyard.

"What the heck just happened?" Joey asked, shaken up. "And where's my Rocket Warrior?"

"Miho's magic card destroys the monster on the field with the highest defense automatically. But you only had one, so, bye-bye it went!"

"Ugh," Joey grumbled, a pit forming in his stomach.

Miho, continuing her turn, slapped a monster on the card reader. "Miho summons Maiden of Moonlight!" Miho's monster hit the table with 1500 attack points and 1300 defense points. "And now, Miho attacks directly!"

"Not quite!" Joey declared. "I activate Scapegoat!" His sheep token covered spell card flipped face-up and the tokens appeared on his side of the field. Maiden of the Moonlight's light blast tore through one of them, but Joey still had three more.

"Impressive, Joey. You're certainly more skilled that Tristan. He was never able to protect his life points."

"Don't compare me to Tristan," Joey said with gusto. "I didn't make Duelist Kingdom finalist just cause a this handsome face ya know. I'm a pro-duelist in the making. Joey Wheeler ain't nobody's fool!"

"Except maybe life, the universe, and the causality of fate," Celeste teased.

Mai hissed. "Joey! Want an icepack? I think Celeste just burned you something fierce."

"Both of you, shut up!" Joey shouted. He turned his attention back to Miho. "Listen Miho, I really don't wanna duel ya. I'd be all for it if we just called this whole thing off and ya gave Tristan to us. Hell, I'd be okay if you came with us."

"You're lying! There's no way you care about Miho like that!"

"I ain't lying! Argh! Fine! Be a stubborn pain in the back. I got this!" Joey drew the top card of his deck. He looked at his hand. My combo is all lined up. "I'm summoning Panther Warrior in attack mode, baby!"

The purple beast warrior clad in gold and blue armor hit the field 2000 attack points strong. "And by sacrificing a scapegoat, he can take out your Maiden of Moonlight."

Panther Warrior charged forward and attacked Maiden of Moonlight, cutting it through its shoulder and sending it to the graveyard. Miho's life points fell to 3300.

"It's Miho's turn now," Miho said and drew the top card of her deck. "Miho summons Element Valkyrie!" A red and white clad, pinkish purple haired monster appeared, carrying a baton that was on fire. She had 1500 attack points and 1200 defense points. "And she'll upgrade her now with Silver Bow and Arrow and Elf's Light, increasing her attack points all the way up to 2200, which is just enough to destroy Panther Warrior."

Element Valkyrie glowed brightly and wielded the aforementioned Bow and Arrow. It shot Panther Warrior in the chest and destroyed it, bringing Joey's life points down to 3600.

"Okay, is this a duel or a club beating contest?" Byakuya asked, unimpressed by the display of skill this duel.

"I have to admit, this duel is underwhelmingly straightforward," Celeste stated.

"Both of ya can shut up!" Joey snapped at them. He drew the top card of his deck. Looking at his hand, he plucked an old favorite from it. "I'm summoning Axe Raider in attack mode!"

The big, buff axe-wielder monster hit the table, swinging his axe and letting out a battle cry. He stood 1700 attack points strong. "And just like with Rocket Warrior, I'm powering him up, all da way ta 2500!"

Axe Wielder seemed to be engulfed in its own fighting spirit as its attack power supercharged. Flame Swordsman's attack fell all the way to 300 to give Axe Raider this level of a boost.

"Go, Axe Raider! Crushing Axe attack!"

With a grunt, Axe Raider charged forward, cleaving through Element Valkyrie like tissue paper and sent her straight to the graveyard.

Miho's life points fell to 3000.

"Got a deck of cards with you?" Celeste asked Byakuya. "52 pickup sounds more fun and interesting than this right now."

"Would you two be quiet? I'm trying to watch the duel!" Komaru exclaimed.

"Well, I suppose it's entertaining to amateurs," Byakuya stated.

Komaru said nothing and just puffed her cheeks.

"Ignore them, Joey! Keep going!" Téa exclaimed.

"Hmph, he'll have to wait, because it's Miho's turn now," Miho said poutily as she drew. She looked at the card she drew. "This will work. Miho plays Agent of Creation – Venus!" She slapped the card on the card reader as a fairy with long blonde hair, eyes shut and colored orbs floating around her appeared. It had 1600 attack points and 0 defense points.

"Uh…" Joey stared. He wasn't sure what was going on. He thought Miho might activate her special ability, but she quickly explained what was up.

"Next, by giving up 1500 life points," Miho said as her life points fell to 1500, "Miho can summon 3 Mystic Shine Balls to the field." Three little bright white orbs with 500 attack and defense points each appeared."

"And now, Miho will activate this spell card, Sword of the Soul Eater! By equipping it to one of her shine balls," she said as the sword floated around the center one, "Miho must destroy her other two shine balls, but her monster gains 2000 attack points." Miho's Mystic Shine Ball now had 2500 attack points, putting it even with Axe Raider. "And now, Miho shall attack." Miho had Mystic Shine Ball attack Axe Raider, the two monsters destroying each other. "And now, Miho shall destroy a scapegoat." This left Joey with only one.

"Miho's turn ends," she said.

"So in the end, little was gained at the cost of 1500 life points. How did Tristan lose, exactly?" Byakuya asked, noting Miho's amateur performance. Then, before Téa even answered, added. "Oh wait, this is Tristan we're talking about."

"Oh yeah, didn't you beat him 25 times in a row or something?" Duke asked.

"25 times? Ouch. Points for determination and effort, but…ouch," Ibuki said.

Joey was doing his best to drown out the peanut gallery. "I set Little Winguard in defense mode!" Joey exclaimed, playing the shadow faced, elven clothing looking chibi creature in defense mode. It had 1800 defense points. Joey figured that and his last scapegoat would protect him. But, he could never be too careful. "And now, I set a card and end my turn." He had two cards left in his hand.

And once more, it was Miho's turn. "Miho summons to the field Thunder Nyan-Nyan!" A slim, red headed young woman with lightning sparking all around her took to the field. It had 1900 attack points.

"Oooh! Oooh! Ibuki has that card! It's one of her favorites!" She cooed. "Ack! Oh no! Wait! It has a lot of attack points! Look out Joey!"

Unfortunately, Joey had very little in the way of defenses against Venus and Thunder Nyan Nyan and both wrecked his monsters, leaving him wide open for next turn.

"Don't sweat it, Ibuki," Joey said and gave her a thumb's up. "This duel's already over."

"Already over?" Miho shouted. "Explain yourself!"

"Check this out!" Joey exclaimed, drawing the top card of his deck, but it didn't matter. "I tribute your Thunder Nyan Nyan to summon Thunder King the Lightningstrike Kaiju to your side of the field!"

The tall, powerful behemoth took to the field on Miho's side of the field, staring down Joey. "Don't get used to him, he's just saying hi. Cause now I activate my face-down card, Graverobber. And look what my little buddy brought me from your graveyard." Graverobber was holding up Smashing Ground.

"But then…ah! Venus has no defense points!" Miho exclaimed.

"Darn right she don't!" Joey exclaimed and smashed his own Kaiju to pieces.

"O-okay, but if you wanted to destroy Miho's Thunder Nyan Nyan, you didn't have to—"

Joey smirked. "I'm borrowing a little strategy from a friend. She taught me how to pull this off."

Ibuki gasped, eyes sparkling that. "Ibuki did that! That was her combo! SHE MADE A DIFFERENCE!"

"Ibuki, please, I'm glad your happy, but could you maybe tone it down a little. Trying to finish a duel here."

"Oh! Sorry!" Ibuki exclaimed and then squealed in a strained whisper. "Eeeeeeeeeeeee."

"I activate Monster Reborn. This brings back any monster in the graveyard back to my side of the field and I choose Thunder King, the Lightningstrike Kaiju!"

Joey's prized Kaiju hit the field and glared hungrily at Miho. "This duel's over!" Joey exclaimed.

"And you're as good as toast!" Ibuki exclaimed.

"Thunder King!" Joey shouted.

"Triple Lightning Blast!" Joey and Ibuki shouted simultaneously.

The three heads of Thunder King each blasted a beam of lightning at Miho's remaining monster. The total damage dealt would've been 1700, but Miho had only 1500 life points left, so it was game over.

"Miho…lost."

Miho just stood there staring out into space, eyes turning dull and unhappy. Joey strolled over towards her and she expected him to try and rouse Tristan. She was surprised when he, instead, put a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, Miho. You gotta understand somethin'. Tristan and I never forgot about you. No one did. The world still misses you."

"Lies!" Miho exclaimed, though she seemed much more shaken up than before. The armor in front of her façade of denial was completely cracked thanks to Joey. "Nobody cares about me anymore!"

"No, that's wrong!" Makoto suddenly shouted with such force it was if he blasted the words coming off Miho's lips with a powerful gun. Miho gasped and looked at Makoto with surprised and interest. "Joey's telling the truth!" Makoto stepped towards Miho, determined to get her to understand. "Sweet Orchard was holding a donation for you, Miho. Sayaka's raising all the money she can so that she can wake you up again. There was even a picture of you at the charity."

"You're just lying. Sayaka…Sayaka…" Miho's hatred started to crumble. Could it really be true?

"I saw it too," Byakuya said. "I was there."

"Byakuya, you…" Makoto was surprised to hear him back him up.

"Don't misunderstand me. I'm merely corroborating as your witness to move the game forward. This isn't out of any sort of misplaced sentimentalism or anything of the sort. Please excuse me." Byakuya then walked away from the group. Far, far away.

"Sayaka did that…for me?" Miho had absolutely no idea. All she knew was Sayaka's promise.

"I'll wake you up again, Miho! I promise! You and will be having yakitori together in no time! We'll even get your favorite, with the chicken meatballs and the really tangy sweet tare sauce you like."

"You promise?"

"Of course I promise." Sayaka gave Miho a happy, heartwarming smile. "I am your best friend after all."

It had been two years since that memory. Miho was now sniffling. She thought Sayaka had forgotten all about it, but here were two people saying she hadn't, not by a long shot.

"She really did that, Miho," Komaru said. "So please, let Tristan go. You'll have your freedom. We promise."

Miho unceremoniously sunk to her knees. And, within her, something just broke. Like a little kid half her age, tears started streaming down her face. She started brushing the tears away with her face. "I wanna go home!" Miho suddenly howled. "I want my mom and dad!" She bust out bawling.

The entire group could see it. This girl was far from their enemy. Deep down, she was just a confused, lonely girl missing her family, her friends, and the world outside. The isolation had simply made her go crazy.

Joey was the first person to offer Miho a hug. Téa did the same and Yugi and Makoto pat her on the shoulder. Tristan eventually roused and when he saw Miho crying, he too surrounded her with warmth and friendship. Miho just knelt there and cried, still in the form of Dunames Dark Witch, looking and sounding just like a hungry two-year-old.

No one knew how long it was before Miho stopped crying, as in actually stopped crying. When it was all over, no more tears, no more frowns, and no more relapses, everyone was finally standing, including Miho.

"I'm sorry Tristan," she apologized, twirling a lock of her hair, blushing slightly.

"Hey, it happens," Tristan said, nudging her in the shoulder.

"Miho, you should come with us," Yugi said to her.

"Really?" Miho asked, surprised by the request. "But…Miho's stuck here."

"It don't matter," Tristan said. "You're a friend. And friends stick together. I'm gonna get you outta here, Miho. I promise. And that's a promise I intend to keep," Tristan said with a smirk and his right hand gripped tightly into a fist.

"Come with us, Miho. I'm sure we'll find the answer out there if we all stick together," Makoto told her.

"W-well…then…okay…Miho…Miho will do her best!" There was a bright flash of light as Miho's Dunames Dark Witch form faded out into a particle effect behind her. Left behind, Miho now stood at 5' 3" tall with periwinkle hair and wearing an orange middle school uniform with a green skirt. "Eheh," she chuckled, smiling.

"Just like old times," Tristan said with a smile.

"I hear that," Joey said, grinning. "Glad ta have ya back, Miho."

"It'll probably be a while before we run into Noah," Yugi said to her. "I'm Yugi by the way, Yugi Mutoh. And Tristan and Joey are my best friends."

Miho bowed to Yugi. "It's nice to meet you. Miho loves making new friends."

Now it was Téa's turn to smile cheerfully. "I think you and I are going to get along great."

"Well, detour's over, where's our next stop?" Celeste asked, even though she pretty much knew the answer.

"We know what we have to do," Makoto said seriously. "We've gotta find Kaiba, confront Noah, and put an end to this twisted game of his! And we're all going to do it together!"

And with that, the whole group began marching forward with a unified purpose and a unified pace to end this virtual nightmare and return to Battle City.

(A/N: Holy crap, this chapter is long. It's actually the third longest chapter in the entire fanfiction if you can believe it. Jeez, I am so sorry about that. I did not foresee this. Still, A LOT of juicy stuff went on in this chapter. Speaking of which, quick survey: who cried over all the Miho related stuff? Question two: who feels bad for Noah with the extra characterization I gave him? And yes, all of this was planned. From the moment I penned Miho into chapter 11, this chapter and all foreshadowing related to it was destined to happen.

The Mikan and Mahiru scene I wrote on the fly if you can believe it. Among all scenes, I'm curious what you all think of that, Mikan being my waifu and all. And I'm curious what you thought of the Makoto and Kaiba stuff too. And even though they're separated at the end of this chapter, the…erm…bonding between them is not over quite yet.

By the way, bonus points for everyone who picks up on all the heavy handed mythology gags and references hidden within the chapter. Start keeping score. There may be a prize at the end of the story XD.

NEXT CHAPTER! (looks at notes) Oho boy, (cracks knuckles) I've been waiting for this one for a LOOOOOOOOOONG time. I don't want to spoil, so I'm just gonna leave you dangling. I've got a rough day at work tomorrow after the night I'm posting this, so any and all reviews are welcome to help me get through it and feel better. Can't wait to see what the tvtropes page looks like after a heavy chapter like this.

Anyway, that's all for now everyone. Until next time, as always, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)