Disclaimer: Kazuki Takahashi owns Yu-Gi-Oh!, not WookieeBeta. WookieeBeta owns insanity.
Unknown Identity
Chapter Fourteen
"Are you sure this is the place?" a man in a neatly pressed suit insisted.
"Right here between these little flags," the younger man said, nodding. "With a transmitter here to complete the transmitter net, Kaiba Corp. will be able to receive dueling-disc broadcasts from around the world."
"And you worked this all out yourself, did you?" the older man said, trying to hide his sneer.
"Actually, my younger brother Mokuba did," the younger man said. "I was working with the latest beta model of our newest dueling disc system. But now if you'll just place that transmitter rod as quickly as you can, we'll be outside of this forest before that storm breaks and back in Domino City by nightfall tomorrow."
"As you wish, Mr. Kaiba," the older man said.
Kaiba Corp.? Mokuba? Dueling Discs? Domino City? Can I really be this lucky? Thought after thought chased through Yugi's head. He looked at himself and wondered if the men would ever believe that he wasn't a native. After all, his hair was cut short and he still wore the clothes the tribespeople had made for him. But he had the strange black choker around his neck, and the remains of his leather clothes under his native leggings, and of course the Millennium Puzzle. Perhaps it will be enough, he thought hopefully.
"Who's there?" the older man exclaimed in the native tongue as Yugi began rustling the bushes. He knew better than to sneak up unexpectedly on anyone in this forest, especially if you wanted them to do you a favor.
"My name here is Strange-Eyes," Yugi called in the same language. Then he switched to Japanese as Kaiba stepped out of the nearby helicopter. "But perhaps you can help me figure out who I really am." He stepped out of the shade of the bushes, and Kaiba gave a loud shout of surprise.
"But how do I know that you're Yugi Mouto?" he said an hour later as he faced the smaller man.
"If I could answer that, I would have by now," Yugi replied. "I'm not even entirely sure I'm really Yugi – I'm just going by what the spirit of the puzzle told me."
"Spirit of the puzzle…" Kaiba muttered. "I remember Yugi mentioning something like that after our duel. May I see this puzzle?" Yugi extended the puzzle to him, but did not remove it from his neck.
"I fear to remove it entirely until the last piece is fitted in place," he explained. "The spirit, Yami, has not made his presence known in almost three years. I fear that if I remove the puzzle from my physical body his presence will fade completely, if it hasn't already done so." Kaiba nodded.
"That makes sense." He turned the puzzle over in his hands. "Yes, this is the puzzle Yugi wore. If he was alive, he would not let this belong to anyone else. That means there are only two possibilities: You are Yugi Mouto, or Yugi Mouto truly is dead and you just picked up the puzzle on accident."
"There must be a way we can know for sure," Yugi said desperately. "I, too, want a final decision one way or another, possibly more than you do."
"You would be surprised," Kaiba said. "If my old rival returned, I'm not sure if I would rejoice or curse him to the ends of the earth. I am now top duelist in the world, but from here there's no way but down. I need a challenge."
"A challenge," Yugi mused thoughtfully. "That gives me an idea…"
A/N: Erm…