Disclaimers: As much as I may *want* to claim ownership of these two productions, I can't because both Sailor Moon and Yugi-oh belong to a whole lot of different companies that I can't remember the names of at the moment. Any characters that appear in this fic that are not a part of either original series, belong to me so don't take them without asking first.
Sorry everyone for taking so long to write the next chapter of this fic, but I've been busy with RL, and I've had a bad case of writers block while writing this chapter.
mai-ly: If you don't like the fact that Serena's not with Darien so much, or the way she's acting in my story, then don't read the story. It's *my* story and *I* get to chose whether or not she dumps the baka and get together with someone else, or stay with him, and how she now acts.
*sighs* It's not that I really don't like Darien being with Serena, in fact I *used* to *LOVE* the idea, but I grew out of that mindset after watching Sailor Moon Stars. I still enjoy a good Serena/Darien fic now and again though.
So a warning to all of you out there who like S/D match ups the most. *DON'T* expect me to be writing stories that have them either stay with one another or get together. In *my* stories, she will *ALWAYS* wind up with another guy no matter what.
Forbidden Hearts
Chapter 3: The Truth Comes Out
By Princess Star Neko
======================================
By the time Serena reached the clearing, she already see Joey and Tristan were trying to break off two of her father's men, while two others were trying to drag off a struggling Mokuba, while Yugi tended to Téa who was on the ground.
Taking in the scene, she quickly checked the faces of the four men fighting with the others, and recognized two of the men, one who was fighting with Joey and Tristan while the other one was trying to hold onto Mokuba. The remaining two were complete strangers to her, so she instantly addressed one of the ones she did know, who was trying to help hold Mokuba.
"KEMO! I *order* you to drop the kid this minute!!!" Serena shouted, her voice rising a few octaves in order to be heard over the commotion. "Or *else* I'm going to tell you-know-who that you're harassing his guests!"
Much to the surprise of Yugi and his friends, the two thugs who were holding Mokuba instantly stopped dead in their tracks at her voice, along with the other two, one who was holding Joey in a strangle hold quickly released him, as the four men turned their surprised gazes in her direction.
"Serena, what are you doing here? You shouldn't interfere in this matter." Kemo said, as he adjusted his sunglasses on the tip of his nose. "Mr. Pegasus won't like this when we tell him that you're interfering with our job."
"I don't care, Kemo." Serena said, crossing her arms across her chest as she glared at the older man "Are you forgetting that *you* are supposed to follow *my* orders when I give them? That's why you were hired for."
"Things have changed. I've been working for Pegasus during the last couple of years since you've been gone" Kemo stated firmly, as a deep flush graced Kemo's features at Serena's words, but he didn't back down, as he glanced at his companions. "But Mr. Pegasus said that now that you're back I'm to resume my old duties after the tournament. And as I said before he wants this little brat back at the castle pronto."
"Serena, you know these guys?!" Joey demanded, as he turned back to look at her suspiciously.
"At the moment I don't care what he thinks. You guys came into *my* campground and are harassing *my* friends. And manhandling a twelve year old boy." Serena stated, ignored Joey's question for the moment.
Scowling a bit, Serena marched forward towards Kemo, stopping just inches from in front of him, bending her head back a little bit so she could look him directly in the eye, "I *really* don't want to have to repeat myself, Kemo," Serena said, "Let... Mokuba... go..."
"No can do, Serena," Kemo said, as he stared uncertainly at the fuming blonde girl, but stood his ground, "We've got direct orders from Mister Pegasus..."
"Ms Pegasus, but we have explicit orders from your father to bring this brat back to the castle for detainment," one of the men still holding Mokuba said, impatience filling his voice, as he stared at the blonde girl from behind his sunglasses, and quickly earned himself a dark look, from Serena. "If you would mind stepping back and not interfere, we will get out of your campground now."
"Oh thank you so much for giving out my full name," Serena said sarcastically, as she heard the shocked gasps from her companions. _I was hoping I could tell them the truth later._ She thought unhappily to herself.
"'Ms' Pegasus?!" everyone exclaimed.
"I thought you said your last name was Tsukino." Joey said accusingly as he gave Serena a dark look.
"It's both." Serena said, not turning around to face them, as she continued facing off with the men, and she caught the look Mokuba was now giving her. "It's just I'm more used to going by Tsukino as my last name than Pegasus."
Mokuba had a betrayed look on his face, when he heard what her real name was, but she ignored all the surprised looks she was receiving, as she continued confronted the four men.
"Don't give me that look, Mokuba." Serena said sternly as she placed her hands on her hips, "I don't know what my father's been up to, but I'm not a part of it."
"Why should I believe that?" Mokuba exclaimed, the hurt look deepening as he stared at Serena accusingly, "You lied about your name, and you left me alone while I slept!"
"Stop right there, Mokuba!" Serena exclaimed, as she frowned at the younger boy, "One, I didn't leave you completely alone, I asked Téa there to watch over you until I got back, or until you woke up," Serena said, putting her hands on her hips as she glared at the younger boy, "And second, would you have listened to a word I had to say if I had told you who I really was, Mokuba?"
"No..." Mokuba said quietly, looking away from her.
"Precisely why I didn't immediately hand out my real name to you. You would have just bolted without giving me a chance." Serena said, before turning her gaze back at the four men. "But right now's not time to talk about it. Remember, I what I said to you earlier on this subject. I always keep my promises, and I never back out of them."
Serena walked purposely forward, as she narrowed her eyes on the two men who were holding Mokuba, and sighed.
_I really didn't want to have to resort to doing this, but I looks like there's nothing else I can do..._ Serena thought silently to herself, as she looked down at the ring on her left hand a moment, before raising her hands up, and pointing it at Kemo and the other men as she chanted a spell that Zi had taught her years ago.
The ring on her hand flashed brightly, it's light hitting all four of the men at the same time, causing all of them to freeze in their tracks, completely paralyzed except for their mouths.
Smirking a bit, Serena suddenly reached out for Mokuba's hands, and with a jerk pulled him free from their frozen grip before they knew what happened, and pulled him behind her.
"HEY!!!" two of the men cried out as they started to step forward to stop her, only to find they couldn't move a muscle.
"Serena, your father's not going to like this one bit." Kemo said, as he struggled against the force that was keeping him in one place. "You shouldn't interfere with what doesn't involve you."
"I don't think so," Serena said defiantly as she stared back, as she reached behind her back to grip Mokuba's hand, as she started pulling him along with her, stopping momentarily to grab her things from the ground, "It involves me when it looks like my own father resorts to kidnapping. When that spell wears off, go tell my father that Mokuba's *staying* with me as *my* guest."
"Come on you guys, let's get out of here before they unfreeze," Serena said as she turned towards the others, still holding onto Mokuba's hand for a few seconds more before finally letting go, and motioned them to follow her.
Seeing their hesitation at following them, Serena frowned at them, in irritation.
"Come on you guys, it's better than staying here at the moment." Serena said, irritation filling her voice as she stared at all of them, before settling on Mokuba. "I'm still the same person I was when we met, Mokuba. I'm not going to let my dad take you until I know what's going on."
"How do I know this just isn't a trick?" Mokuba demanded.
"Fine then." Serena said with a slight huff, as she turned on her heels, and started walking off into the forest. "If you don't trust me then stay here and wait for the spell I cast on Kemo and the others to wear off, and get captured by them."
Mokuba stood there for a moment, weighing his options, after another moment's hesitation, as the group looked from Kemo and his gang's frozen figures, then back to Serena's retreating back, then glanced towards Yugi and the others.
"Are you *sure* you even know where you're going Serena?" Joey complained a while later, as he barely managed to duck under a swinging tree branch, as he and the others followed after Serena through the forest.
"Yeah, Serena. It seems like we're walking around in circles." Tristan piped in.
"Of course I do!" Serena snapped, as she glanced over her shoulder at the two boys, "I know this island like the back of my hand. I spent more time here than on the mainland." Serena called back as she ran through the forest, as the others followed behind her, "And I know a lot of its secrets that not even my dad knows yet." _At least I hope he hasn't found out about this one since I've been gone..._
As the group ran, Serena finally lead them towards a small clearing filled with tree's, which had a huge boulder in the center of it.
"Why are we stopping here?" Joey demanded, as he glanced around the area for a few seconds, "We're out in the open here if anybody comes this way."
"Chill out, I know what I'm doing. So sit down and relax while I find it." Serena said, as she looked around at the trees, her brow creasing in a bit, as she started feeling each tree as if looking for something, pulling on branches.
"What are you doing, Serena?" Téa asked as she walked over to Serena.
"There's a special tree here, that I'm looking for," Serena said as she continued her search, "It's been a long time since I've been here, that I forgot which one it is... Aha here it is!" she cried out as she yanked down on the branch of one of trees, and it came down with a loud clicking noise.
"Since when do tree's go 'click'?" Joey wondered, as from his spot on the boulder, as he and the other boys stared in surprise at what Serena had been doing, when all of a sudden the boulder they were sitting on gave a sharp jerk and started sliding across the ground, making all of them jump off. "What the hell is going on here?!"
After a few seconds the boulder finally came to a stop, to reveal a staircase leading underground, into a dark area.
"It's my hideout," Serena said, a slight smirk on her face as she came over with Téa right behind her, and started walking down the stairs, "Come on, you guys, unless you want to be caught up there by my dad's men."
With her last parting words, Serena completely disappeared into the shadows.
"I'm going to." Mokuba announced, glancing back at the others a moment, before hurrying down the stairs after Serena, his small form disappearing into the ink black darkness.
After a moment's hesitation, Yugi was the first to make a move to follow her down into the passageway when he was stopped by the others.
"Hey Yugi!" Joey exclaimed as he stared after his spiked haired friend, who stopped at the landing of the staircase, "Why are you following her for?! She could be leading us into a trap."
"I don't see what other choice we have Joey but to follow her." Yugi said as he looked back up at his friends, before glancing back down at the tunnel, "I don't know why, but I have this feeling that we *can* trust her on this. She hasn't done anything to us."
"But Yugi..." Joey started to protest.
"Joey, what other choice do we have at the moment?" Yugi asked, as he looked up at his friend before turning around to start walking down the steps, "This is as good a place as any to hide out for now."
With those words, Yugi disappeared down into the darkness, quickly followed by the others, as the entrance closed behind them.
"I hope these things still work," Serena said as she rummaged through a crate, and pulled out a red stick. Uncapping one end of the stick and turning her head to one side to look away, she raised the hand holding the stick and struck it against one of the walls, and with a huge flash of light, the room was soon lit up.
Smiling a bit, she turned towards the others and handed the burning torch to Yugi since he was the closest, and started pulling out more torches and lighting them and handing them out to the others, and soon they were on their way.
"What is this place?" Yugi asked as he followed closely behind Serena as she led the group through some passageways. "And are you sure your dad doesn't know about it?"
"I don't know, maybe he found these tunnels after I went to live with my aunt and uncle, but who knows." Serena said, shrugging her shoulders, "At least it'll give us time for us to talk without interruptions, and treat your wounds."
"I don't know who built these tunnels under the island." Serena said, as she glanced over her shoulders at them, "I just found this spot years ago with one of my cousins, when we were playing in that clearing above us, and it became our secret hangout that only we knew about at the time."
"We searched all the tunnels down here. And even found some that led up to hidden doors in the castle." A soft laugh escaped Serena's lips as she kept walking, until they finally reached a closed metal door. "Only thing is, we also found out that once they closed, those doors can't be reopened unless it's from *this* side of the wall."
"And you're sure your dad doesn't know about this place?" Téa asked skeptically, as she looked around the closed in room nervously, as if expecting one of Pegasus' thugs to come out and jump them any second.
"Positive. At least he didn't know about it when I first found it." Serena said, glancing over her shoulder at the others to make sure they were still behind her.
"Who knows?" Serena said with a slight shrug of her shoulders, as she continued down the path, "When my cousins and I first entered this place, it looked like no one's been in here for a *really* long time. So we kept this place a secret from the adults." Serena's voice trailed off as she stopped speaking for a moment, smiling a bit at the memories that came up.
"But why here?" Mokuba asked.
"My cousins and I loved to hang out here. It was great for hiding out from the adults, when we didn't want to be found. " Serena said simply as she continued walking down. "Especially in the area I'm taking you too."
"What did you mean before when you were talking to that Kemo guy, Serena?" Tristan asked suddenly, as he ran after the blonde with the others, "Why did you tell him that he was supposed to be following *your* orders?"
"I've known Kemo since I was eight years old," Serena said simply, as she glanced over her shoulder at Tristan, "Dad hired him to be my personal bodyguard to keep me safe and out of trouble. And since he started working for us, he became one of my best friends."
"It didn't seem that way to me." Joey said.
"When I still lived with dad, Kemo always did whatever I told him to do, within reason." She added, with a slight chuckle before becoming serious, "I guess that since I wasn't living with dad anymore, dad must have given him a job doing other stuff for him until whenever I moved back."
"Why did you stop living with Pegasus, anyways?" Joey asked, after having remained silent.
"Stuff happened, and dad thought it might have been better if I stayed with my aunt and uncle for awhile." Serena said with an indifferent shrug of her shoulders, before letting out a loud sigh. "Then when it was finally time to come back home to stay for good, *other* stuff happened that caused my stay there to be longer than I wanted it to be."
Before the rest of the group, Serena finally came to a stop in front of a large metal door with a handle on it, and reached down to open the door, and the corridor was suddenly bathed in light.
As the group enter through the doorway, their eyes widened in surprise as they saw the source of the light. All the way in the back of the room, was a large opening giving them a full view of the ocean.
Scattered around the room, were old discarded tables and chairs, and a few toys covered in dust.
Serena was rummaging through her backpack in search of her first aid kit, as she walked into the room, and headed for a nearby table "Come on, let's get you guys patched up, and rest a bit before we go back topside."
"OW!!! That hurts!" Mokuba whined, as Serena touched the alcohol covered cotton swab to his cheek, causing the younger boy to wince in pain as she dabbed at the small wound. "Quit it!"
"Don't be such a big baby, Mokuba" Serena reprimand, as she put away the cotton swab, and took out a band-aid to cover up the area she treated. "this has to be done, or else that cut's might get infected."
Serena suddenly slammed the bottle of rubbing alcohol and glared right back at Mokuba meeting the boys glare with one of her own.
"Look Mokuba. I don't know what your problem is all of a sudden. I didn't do anything to you, yet you're now treating me like I have the plague or something." Serena snapped as she stared in Mokuba's eyes, holding his gaze for a moment, before turning her gaze pointedly at the other teens around her. "And *you* guys are acting no better than *he* is."
"What did *we* do?" Téa exclaimed, surprise and confusion filling her voice at the accusation she heard in Serena's tone.
"I've noticed the cautious looks been giving me since I brought you down here." Serena stated, placing her hands on her hips as she frowned at the group, "Excuse me if I'm wrong, but I thought *you* guys liked me *perfectly* fine until you found out who my father was?"
"That's just the point," Joey said, cutting in before any of the others could respond, "Your that *jerk* Pegasus' daughter. We have every right not to trust you."
"Just *exactly* how does finding out who I *really* am, make me any different than when we met just a couple of *hours* ago?! I'm no different than I was when we first met."
Joey snorted a bit at her words, a dark scowl appearing on his face as stared back at Serena angrily, "As if you don't know. You're related to that jerk, Pegasus. So you must be in on what he's been doing."
"Hey! That's my dad you're talking about! I won't have you bad mouthing him!" Serena snapped, standing up and marching over to where Joey stood to stand face to face with him, as she sent a dark glare at Joey, "What does my father have to do *anything*?! You *do* know I could have just let those guys take you in don't you?" Serena said as she glared at Joey a few seconds, holding his gaze until he finally looked away. "Instead I helped all of you get away."
"For all we know, it could be a ruse to keep us occupied until your dad's thugs come find us when our guards down." Joey countered, not backing down one bit, as he returned Serena's glare, "And I call your old man a jerk because it's true! After what he's done, he should be locked away...OW!!"
Before Joey could have the chance to realize what she was about to do, Serena stomped *hard* on his foot to shut him up, causing him to start hopping around on one leg as he held his injured foot.
"What the hell was that for!!" Joey cried out as he glared at Serena, as he examined his foot, before turning to glare angrily at Serena, "Why you little..."
"Joey calm down!" Yugi exclaimed as he got in between Joey and Serena when it looked like Joey was about to move towards her. "Don't do anything you might regret later."
"But Yugi, she stomped on my foot!" Joey exclaimed, as he narrowed his eyes at Serena, who was glaring right back at him from behind Yugi.
"You asked for it when you wouldn't stop bad mouthing my dad." Serena said, looking a bit smug and not the least bit sorry, as she crossed her arms across her chest. "You're just lucky that's all I did to you."
"But!"
"I hate to admit it, Joey. But she does have a point." Tristan said, shaking his head ruefully as Joey turned to look at him, "I think you're going way overboard."
"Not you too, Tristan!" Joey exclaimed indignantly as he stared at his long time friend in disbelief.
"Chill out will you Joey?!" Téa countered as she glanced towards Serena with an uncertain look, before turning back to Joey. "Serena's right about one thing. We don't know anything about her, and she hasn't done anything bad to us, to cause us to instantly mistrust her."
"But Téa!"
"No buts!" Téa exclaimed as she faced Joey, her hands on her hips as she frowned at her friend, "I trust Serena. It's not right to immediately put the blame on her for what her dad did. It's her dad that's the, problem not Serena."
"I don't know what's with you, Joey!" Serena said as she turned on Joey, her eyes burning as she glared at the blonde haired boy, "In the short time you've known me, I haven't done *anything* to make *any* of you start treating me like this, yet *you* suddenly hate me simply because of what my *dad* to you."
"Well you lied about your name!" Mokuba countered, eyes narrowing as he glared back at Serena, crossing his arms across his chest as he did so, "Why did you give me a false name, if you're not hiding anything?!"
"I didn't lie about my name!" Serena snapped, only to stop and think about it for a second before a slight blush crept to her cheeks as she realized her mistake, "Okay, so maybe I *did* lie about what my real last name is, but not completely."
"Well, if you really want to hear what your father did to us, then you might want to sit down," Yugi said, as he stared sincerely at Serena. "This might come as a shock to you, if you really don't know what he's been doing."
"Don't worry about me. I think I'll be able to handle whatever you have to tell me," Serena said, as a slow smile crept to her lips, as she took a seat on the floor as the others did the same, as she glanced around at everyone, "The way my life has been for the last couple of years, I don't get shocked that easily anymore on some things. I want to hear everything."
"Well you see, it started about a week ago..." Yugi began, as he started telling her about everything that had happened a week ago with her father...
~5 minutes, 35 seconds Later~
"HE... DID... WHAT?!!!!"
Everyone on the island gave a start when the island unexpectedly seemed to jump several feet into the air, like a bomb had just been dropped on it, before settling back into the water with a huge splash.
Elsewhere, inside the castle, Pegasus was in the middle of taking a drink from his glass of red wine, when a sudden sneezing fit hit him, causing him to choke on the strong liquid, at the same moment as the island jumped.
"Sir, are you okay?" Croquet asked as he came over after just barely managing to prevent an expensive Ming vase from crashing to the floor after the island had shook, and started patting Pegasus on the back.
"I'm fine, Croquet. The wine simply went down the wrong way when I started sneezing." Pegasus wheezed out, waved Croquet off, as he finally got his coughing fit under control, as he put the glass down, "What caused the castle to jump like that? I know it couldn't have been an earthquake."
"I don't really know sir." Croquet said sincerely, as he looked around the room "It felt more like the island itself didn't just shake, it jumped like something heavy landed on it."
"Well check and see what might have caused it." Pegasus ordered, narrowing his good eye at the older man, "And report back to me when the guards have found Serena and Mokuba. I want him brought back to the castle as soon as possible before his brother arrives."
_Why do I suddenly feel a sense of *extreme* dread coming on?_ Pegasus thought silently to himself a few moments later, after Croquet left the room, as he settled back into his chair with a fresh glass of wine in hand.
Back in the hideout, Yugi and the others were all cringing on the floor as they covered their still ringing ears after Serena's outburst, while the blond haired former senshi was now cursing a mean streak in every single language she knew, including Lunarian.
"Jeez, who would have thought somebody could yell that loud?" Joey whined as he rubbed his still ringing ears, to try and get them working again, "I think my ears are busted!"
The others who could still hear, all nodded their heads in agreement.
"Dad and I are most *definitely* going to have a little talk when I see him." Serena muttered under her breath, as she started pacing the floor a few moments. "I *can't* believe he did something like this!"
"Believe it, Serena." Joey said, as he lowered his hands from his ears, as he glanced at Yugi who was looking down at the floor "Your old man has done enough harm to us.."
"But why did he do it?" Serena demanded, as she looked around.
"Well, it's because he wants my Millennium Puzzle." Yugi said, as he glanced down at the object around his neck. "Back in Domino City, he challenged me to a duel that I couldn't refuse or else he'd hurt my friends. If I lost he would get my puzzle."
"I won the duel and he released my friends like he promised, but *then* he stole my grandpa's soul." Anger filled his voice as he remembered what happened that day, as he stared at Serena, before looking away a moment later, "He said I had to compete in this tournament and beat him again in order to get my grandfather's soul back."
"I don't know what my dad was thinking when he did this to you Yugi, but I swear I'm going to make him stop this and give your grandpa's soul back." Serena said determinately, as she groaned at the news, slapping a hand over her eyes, "I can't believe he's gone this far."
"So you *do* know what your old man's been doing." Joey stated accusingly.
"I think I know the reason *why* he's doing this, just to get your Millennium Puzzle, Yugi." Serena said, as she stared pointedly at Yugi's Millennium puzzle, "He wants the puzzle to bring my mom back."
"Bring her back?" Joey asked, confusion filling his voice, as he stared at Serena, "But didn't you say earlier that your mom's dead? How can he bring her back from the dead?"
"At the same time when my dad got his Millennium eye years ago," Serena began, a loud sigh escaping from her lips before she continued, "he found out that the Millennium items possess the power to bring the dead back to life," Serena said, a sad look appearing on her face, "But *only* if you have *all* of them together. He wants to use that power to bring mom back from the dead so we can be a family again."
"With my own Millennium Item," Serena said as she held out the hand that the ring was on, "along with his own, he's almost close to doing it." With a loud sigh, Serena turned away from the group to look away, "He's been trying to find the rest of the items since then. I guess he'll do whatever it takes to get the other items in order to bring mom back after all these years..."
"Is that even possible?" Tristan asked.
"That's what we were told. seeing the different types of powers each of the items have by themselves, it's possible." Serena said as she glanced over at Tristan, before looking directly at Yugi. "Don't you have any powers?"
"It does have its own kind of powers. But some of it is still" Yugi said, as he glanced down at his Puzzle for a moment, before turning his gaze back to Serena.
"So what kind of power does your ring have, Serena?" Téa asked a moment later.
"I can't really say." Serena said, "It's powers, but it's the main power it wields, that my dad wants but it needs the combined power of the other Millennium items to bring it up to full power. At least that's what we heard."
"So ya still trying to say you knew nothing about what your old man was doing?" Joey asked, confusion filling his voice, as he realized that he might have been wrong about his brash judgment about the blonde girl.
"Of course I'm still saying it!" Serena started pacing around the small room, as she shot Joey an angry look, "I moved back with my father just a couple of days ago, and if what you guys are saying is true, he probably would have never told me what he did." Sighing a bit, Serena stopped pacing and leaned her back against a nearby stone wall, as she crossed her arms across her chest as she got a thoughtful look on her features. "I knew I stayed away too long as it is. I don't think he wouldn't have done this if I was here."
"You said that earlier." Yugi said a moment later, confusion filling his features, as he stared at Serena, "What did you mean when you said that you haven't been living with you dad? Where have you been?"
"I've been living with relatives in Tokyo for the last six years" Serena said, just as a sheepish look appeared on her features as she looked back at the others. "That's one of the reasons I told you guys that my last name is 'Tsukino' instead of 'Pegasus'. I've spent the last six years living with that as my last name instead of the other one."
"I don't know what's with my father." Serena said a few moments later as she leaned against a nearby wall with a groan, as she massaged her temples. "He's never been like this before he got that Millennium Eye."
_Using that stupid Millennium eye to steal people's souls and place them in cards._ Serena thought silently to herself, as she stopped pacing for the moments sit in a nearby metal chair. _He's become almost as bad as the Heart Snatchers and Sailor Animates._
"Look you. You guys don't know a thing about me!" Serena snapped as she leveled a dark glare on Joey, causing the blonde boy to cringe a bit under her gaze, "Who the *hell* do you people think you are to judge *me* simply because of who my father is?! *I* haven't done anything to you guys make you treat me like this!"
"I've spent the last seven years living with my aunt and uncle and using *their* last name, which is Tsukino, who live in Tokyo." Taking a deep breath to calm herself down a bit, she quickly continued, "Until four years ago I have had barely any contact with him at all, because I haven't had time to spend as much time with him as I used to."
~Flashback~
Mokuba stirred slightly as he started to wake up, moaning a bit as he tried to pull his blanket closer around his body to keep the chill off, as he tried to go back to sleep, as he tried to bury his face into his pillow.
_I must have left the window open last night,_ Mokuba thought sleepily, as a sudden draft blew across his body, not wanting to wake up yet. _Why's my bed so hard anyway..._
"Are you awake yet, Mokuba?" a unfamiliar voice asked from somewhere close by.
"Just a few more minutes, Seto..." Mokuba said sleepily, as he tried to go back to sleep, when he realized the voice he heard didn't belong to his big brother.
Eyes opening wide, Mokuba sat up with a start, the folds of the sleeping bag he was in falling to his sides, as he blinked away the sleep from his eyes as he looked around at his surroundings.
As he took in the forest the memory of the last few days came back to him, along with the memory of the blonde girl who had helped him.
"Serena?" Mokuba asked as he quickly looked around for his new friend, but didn't see her anywhere. The only other person he could see in the small campsite was another girl with short brown hair and blue eyes, who looked familiar, as he reached up to rub his tired eyes. "Who are you? Where's Serena?"
"Hey Mokuba. I'm Téa Gardner. I don't think you'd remember me, since we barely met the first time." Téa said, as she gave him a reassuring smile. "Serena left me here to watch over you until she came back from dueling my friend Yugi."
"Yugi?!" Mokuba exclaimed, eyes widening in surprise at the name, all signs of drowsiness instantly disappearing, as he became fully awake, "Do you mean Yugi Moto?" he asked as he finally remembered where he had seen Téa.
The last time he had seen her was when she and Yugi's other two friends were carrying Yugi's grandfather out of the dueling stadium at Kaiba Land after losing the battle with Seto.
"Yeah, Yugi's here. Like I said, Serena went off to duel with him about fifteen minutes ago, and the rest of my friends went to watch." Téa said as she stood up and dusted off the grass and twigs from her clothes.
"Why didn't she wake me up when he got here?" Mokuba demanded as he pushed off the rest of the sleeping bag and stood up, stretching a bit as he did so, and searched the ground for the card case containing his new deck of cards Serena had given him, and quickly picked it up. "I wanted to duel him. Where did they go?"
Before Téa could answer, the sudden sound of a loud roar could be heard echoing throughout the forest, causing the two to jump in surprise.
"What was that?!" Téa exclaimed as she looked around in surprise for the source of the sound.
"I don't know." Mokuba said, as he glanced in the direction the roar seemed to have come from. "It almost sounded like a dragon, but I can't tell which one it is."
"Do you want to go watch if it's not over yet?" Téa asked as she looked over at the younger boy, "They couldn't have gone far."
"I don't think so," a menacing voice said, "You're not going anywhere Mokuba except back to the castle dungeons."
Both Mokuba and Téa turned in the direction that the voice had come from to see one of Pegasus' men, standing nearby, arms crossed over his chest as he smirked, just as three other men came crashing through the trees to stand at his side.
"Oh no..." Mokuba said as he started backing away, his head swiveling from side to side as he looked for an easy way out of there.
"What's going on here?" Téa demanded as she stood in front of Mokuba protectively as she glared at the four men, "What do you mean take him back to the castle dungeons? Why are you guys picking on Mokuba?"
"Mind your own business, little girl. This doesn't involve you." one of the other men said, as he walked forward and roughly shoved Téa out of the way, knocking her to the ground as he approached Mokuba, as the other men followed after him, "Our boss wants this brat and we're here to get him."
"You leave him alone, you bullies!" Téa exclaimed angrily as she moved forward to try and block the man's path to Mokuba, but was roughly pushed aside, getting knocked to the ground, as the men continued to advanced on the younger boy. "Mokuba, run! Get out of here!"
Mokuba glanced over at Téa with a fearful look on his features, before giving her a small nod, and glancing back at the men, just barely managing to avoid their grasping hands, as he took off running, with them right behind him.
_I'll try and get them away from Téa, so she won't be hurt. It's me they want, not her._ Mokuba thought silently to himself, as, with one last glance at Téa, he quickly turned on his heal and started running, with the four men right behind him.
As he runs he sees Yugi and the others running towards them...
~End Flashback~
"...That's when the guys arrived and tried to stop them from taking Mokuba..." Téa said, as she looked from Serena to Yugi and back, "If you guys hadn't come back when you did, they would have taken Mokuba away, and I wouldn't have been able to stop them."
"I'm not letting anyone hurt him." Serena said determinately, as she glared at Yugi. "I know he has to make up for what he's done, but I won't let him be hurt."
Just then, before Yugi could say anything else, his puzzle gave off a soft glow, as Yugi's body became taller, as the spirit of the puzzle took over.
"It's not a matter of him getting hurt." Yami said, an angry look appearing on his features as he frowned at Serena, "He still has to pay for what he's done, and I'm the one who will see to it."
"I don't need you to tell me that. I don't like what he's been doing. But I have no part in it." She said, as a thoughtful look appeared on her features, "There's no telling what he's been doing since the last time I saw him..."
"Which means your dad has a lot to answer for if he's done this sort of thing before to other people." Yami said.
"He's the only thing I have left. And I'll be damned before I'll let anyone hurt him for *any* reason. Or else they're going to answer to *me*."
"Let me ask you something, Yugi. And tell me truthfully." Serena said, as she stared directly at the other teen, holding his gaze as she spoke.
"What is it?" Yami asked.
"What if it was *your* grandfather doing this instead of my dad?" Serena asked, her voice quiet as she asked the question, "Wouldn't you do everything you could to make him stop what he's doing, and keep him from getting hurt?"
"This is different..." Yami began only to be cut off when Serena shot him an angry look.
"You're only saying that because he's not related to you." Serena exclaimed, her expression look both sad and angry at the same time, before she turned her back on them and started walking away. "You don't care what happens to him when this is all over, but I do."
"Serena..." Téa said.
"I'm not kidding, Yugi." Serena said, a defiant look appearing in her eyes as she glanced over her shoulder to star back at Yugi, not backing down an inch, as she ignored Téa. "I don't know what my dad's done in the past couple of years. And if what he's done to your grandfather is part of it. But he's still my dad."
"It's not your decision to make." Serena stated firmly, as she glared at Yami-Yugi a minute. "You can go ahead and duel my dad to get your grandfathers soul back, but when the time comes, *I* will deal with my father, not you."
Joey and Tristan were looking around the cavern as they waited for the others to return, and were staring at all of the old pictures and decorations that were covering the walls, while Mokuba trudged along behind them, as they all waited for the others to come back.
"Hey guys look at this!" Joey said, stopping suddenly as he reached out to take down a faded old picture that was hanging on the wall. "This is really weird..."
"What's weird Joey?" Tristan said, as he came over to see what was bothering the blonde haired boy. "Did something happen?"
"It's this picture. For a second there I almost thought this was Kaiba." Joey said, as he turned towards the other two boys to show it to them, "This kid in the picture almost looks like Kaiba, except for the hair color."
"Who looks like Seto?" Mokuba asked he also came over to take a look at the picture. As soon as he saw the picture, he took a sharp breath at the figures in the picture.
The image in the faded picture seemed to be some kind of a family picture. It showed three couples with three kids.
On the far left side was the unmistakable image of a younger Maximillian Pegasus, without his Millennium Eye, hugging a blonde woman close to him, as they both smiled happily for the camera.
Standing in the middle was a young woman with violet hair and sapphire blue eyes, sitting on a tree stump holding a small baby in her arms, while a man with short cropped brown hair stood knelt next to her on the ground looking adoringly at both his wife and the baby.
Standing next to them was another couple. The man looked to be in his mid thirties with pitch-black hair, and a mustache. He had his arms wrapped around a petite looking young woman, with teal green hair and blue eyes.
But it was the two small grubby looking children standing side by side with one another, holding hands while smiling for the camera, which caught everyone's attention.
Both of the children looked to be around six years old. One was a young girl with short blond hair tied into twin ponytails with balls on top of her head, dressed in a pair of navy blue overalls with a white shirt. Next to her was a young boy dressed in a pure white uniform, and both were giving the victory sign to the camera with their free hands.
"Well I can already tell that that's Pegasus in the picture, and the little girl must be Serena. And the lady Pegasus is hugging must have been his wife," Tristan said, a thoughtful look on his features as he stared at the picture on the wall. "But who're the other people in the picture? Do you know who they are, Mokuba?"
"That looks like my foster father, Gozaburo Kaiba, I guess back when he was younger." Mokuba said, as he stared intently at the picture, "I think the woman next to him is his wife."
"You don't sound too sure about that Mokuba." Joey said, as he looked down in concern at the younger boy.
"I never met her. When Seto and I were adopted, we always saw pictures of her around the house." Mokuba said, a touch of sadness in his voice, "I remember one time I asked about her, we were told she died in an plane crash three years before we came along." Making a face as he frowned while staring at the green haired boy in the picture who looked so much like his own brother. "But I don't know who that boy is. I've never saw him before."
"Man, I wonder who he is if he isn't Seto Kaiba?" Joey said, as he rubbed the back of his head in confusion, as he looked down at the picture, before looking at Mokuba once more, "Are ya *sure* ya don't have *another* brother somewhere, Mokuba?"
"Of course I'm sure! It's *always* been just me and Seto, Joey," Mokuba exclaimed, irritation filling his voice as he gave the older boy a strange look, before turning back to examine the picture, "I don't know who he is, or why does he look so much like Seto..."
"That's Neia Kaiba," Serena's voice said, coming directly from behind the three boys, causing all of them to jump in fright, "My best friend, and the only son of Gozaburo Kaiba."
Spinning around they see Serena Yugi and Téa standing directly behind them, and flinched at the angry look Serena was giving them, hands on her hips as she frowned at them.
"Neia Kaiba?" Mokuba asked, surprise filling his voice as he looked back at the picture on the wall in confusion, as he stared at the little boy. "Why haven't I heard about him before? Where is he?"
"You haven't met him before is because he's dead." Serena said sadly as she reached out and took the picture from Joey hands, and put it back on the wall, "Both him and his mom were killed in a car accident, seven years ago."
"Seven years? But Seto and I were adopted into the Kaiba family six years ago." Mokuba said, a thoughtful look appearing on his face as he looked back at the picture.
"I figured out you and your brother must have been adopted." Serena shrugged her shoulders as if saying it didn't really matter, but answered anyway, "Gozaburo Kaiba was my uncle. His wife was my dad's sister. Neia was their only child."
"Who are the other couple in the picture?" Téa asked, curiosity getting the better of her, as she looked at the picture on the wall.
"That's my aunt and uncle Irene and Ken Tsukino." Serena said, a slight smirk appearing on her face, as she saw the surprised looks on everyone's faces, before continuing "The baby in my Auntie Irene's arms is my other cousin, Sammy, when he was only three months old."
"He looks cute as a baby." Téa said, as she stared at the picture.
"He became a major menace when he grew up." Serena said, "The picture was taken a few months before my mom got sick and died." Serena said, her tone becoming saddened once more as she turned away from the picture.
"Well a girls got to watch out for her cousins doesn't she?" Serena said
"'Cousins'??" Mokuba asked as he turned his full attention back on Serena. "What are you talking about?"
"Gozaburo Kaiba was my uncle because he married my mom's sister." Serena said simply as she stared back at Mokuba, before reaching out to put a hand on his head as she stared directly into his eyes with a small smile on her features. "I still consider him my uncle even though my aunt and cousin died."
"What are you talking about?" Mokuba reached up to brush her hand away from his head, as he looked confusedly at her. "I don't see how that would make us your cousins. We're not related to you by blood."
"That's where your wrong, Mokuba." Serena said, crossing her hands across her chest, as she stared at Mokuba as she spoke, "Since you and Seto were adopted by him, that automatically makes both of *you* guys my cousins, right?" Glancing around the room at the others, she continued, "Despite what my dad did, as far as *I'm* concerned, you guys are family now, and I always watch out for my family."
"Come on let's get going." Serena said, as she started walking away down another corridor, stopping only long enough to grab her stuff along the way.
"Where are we going now, Serena?" Téa asked as she and the others followed after her.
Serena said, not slowing her stride, "There's another entrance that leads back up, to the surface."
"Why'd we need to go back up for?" Joey asked.
"We can't stay down here forever. We have to go back up sometime." Serena stated firmly. "It's not that far from where we first entered last time, so it should give us enough time to decide what to do..."
Awhile later, a patch of grass was lifted up off the ground from underneath, as Serena's blonde head peeked out, and did a quick scan of the area for any sign of life, before throwing the covering aside, and pulled herself out.
"Come on you guys." Serena called back, as she turned her attention back towards the tunnel. "The coast is clear."
Soon Yugi and the others were standing topside, as Serena carefully replaced the covering over the opening, flattening it out just enough to make it look like it had never been disturbed in the first place, before turning back to the others.
"What do you guys plan on doing now?" Serena asked, as she looked up at the darkening night sky, "It's going to be dark soon, so it doesn't seem any sense for you guys to go anywhere now."
"I still am offering some of my food."
"I'm not hungry!" Joey stated firmly as he started marching away, but the sudden growling of his stomach stopped him dead in his tracks, as a light blush crept to his cheeks, "Well maybe I am hungry a little."
"Then come back here and we'll eat. I have more than enough here for everyone" Serena said as she sat down and pulled off her backpack, and started pulling out sandwiches and drinks and passing them out to everyone.
Just as they were all starting to settle down to eat their food, the sudden sound of rustling from some nearby bushes caught everyone's attention, putting all of them on the defensive until a familiar blonde haired girl stepped through the bushes, followed by a teenage boy wearing a red ski cap.
"I *thought* I heard voices coming from this direction. Looks like we're in luck Rex." Mai said as she smirked at the group and sauntered over. "Hello everyone."
"Mai!" Yugi called out, surprised at seeing the blond girl, "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you guys." Mai said, as she looked around the group, and noticed the two new additions to the group, "Who are your new friends?"
"I'm Mokuba Kaiba." Mokuba said, calming down a bit when he saw that Yugi and the others knew this new girl.
"I'm Serena Tsukino Pegasus." Serena said as she stared at the other blonde girl. "Who are you?"
"I'm Mai Valentine." Mai said, eyes widening in surprise on her features as she looked Serena over after hearing what her name was.
"I'm Rex Raptor." the odd looking boy next to Mai said, as he stared intently at Serena in surprise, "Your last name is Pegasus? Are you Maximillian Pegasus' daughter?"
"Yes, I am." Serena said, as she eyed the seedy looking Rex warily, as he leered at her. "What do you want?"
"What are you doing hanging, out with these guys?" Mai said, as she looked around at the others, "You should be with people who have more class."
"That's a rather *rude* thing to say about people, especially when their right here." Serena said, as her eyes narrowed angrily at Mai's words. "I don't care about 'class' as you call it. It's what's on a persons outside that counts."
"Hold it right there, Mai." Rex said, as he glanced over at Mai seeing that he had "There's been a change of plans. I don't want to duel Wheeler."
"What are you talking about Rex?!" Mai demanded as she placed her hands on her hips as she turned to glare at the boy, "We had a deal, remember?"
"Don't get me wrong, Valentine. I'm not weaseling out of our deal. Like I said, I don't want to duel Wheeler, there's more than enough time to do it later. Besides, I'm more interested in dueling *her*." Rex said as he turned away from Mai to look directly at Serena and pointed at her. "If you accept my challenge, you have to go out on a date with me when I win."
"Say what?!"
"No way!"
"Why you little punk!" Joey started as he got up to approach Rex, only to stop when Serena placed a hand in front of him.
"You mean '*if* you win' don't you, Rex? Look, I don't date sleazoids like you." Serena said as she glared over at Rex indignantly, as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Why don't you go find yourself a nice hole and bury yourself in it?"
"What's the problem?" Rex asked, as he stared at her, "Is the daughter of Maximillian Pegasus *so* afraid that she'd lose to a great duelist like me." Smirking before raising his arms in an arrogant shrug of indifference, as he started to turn away. "I bet you're not even that good at duel monsters to begin with..."
If Rex had still been facing Serena at that moment, he would have seen the battle aura appear around the blondes small frame, at his words about her dueling skills, that caused everyone else to back away in surprise.
"In *that* case, I've changed my mind." Serena said a little too sweetly, smiling a bit as she stood up and dusted off her clothes, as Rex turned back around to face her, giving her a confident smirk. "If *I* win, you stop bugging me."
"It's a deal." Rex said, a smug smirk on his features, as he thought of how easy this win would be, _She couldn't be *that* good, or else I'd have heard about her before now..._ "What kind of a bet?" Rex asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously filling his voice as he eyed Serena warily.
"If I can beat you in 5 turns or less,
----------
Starting Score:
Serena: 2,000 LP
Rex: 2,000 LP
----------
Arriving at a nearby dueling arena, the two stood on opposite ends of the playing field, they both quickly drew out their first hand and activated the platforms, starting the game.
Glancing down at the cards she had just drawn, she smiled at what she saw The cards she held Judge Man, Flute of Dragon Summoning, Red Archery Girl, Hibikime, Harpie's Brother, and Pot of Greed
_I'll save Flute of Dragon Summoning and Pot of Greed for later,_ Serena thought to herself, as she removed Red Archery Girl and Judge Man from her hand.
"Are you done yet?!" Rex exclaimed rudely from his side of the field, as he glared at Serena in annoyance, "Let's duel already, I don't have all day!"
"I'll go first." Serena said annoyance filling her voice, as she placed the two cards onto the platform, "I play Red Archery Girl (1,400/1,500) in Attack Mode. And I leave this card face down in defense mode."
"This is too easy," Rex said, as he pulled out his card from his hand and placed it on the platform. "I play Two-Headed King Rex (1,600/1,200) in attack mode!" Rex shouted as he placed the card down on the platform, and the two-headed purple dinosaur appeared on the field with a mighty roar.
"And thanks to our location, Two-Headed King Rex gets an *added* Field bonus," A smug look appeared on Rex's features as he continued speaking, "making his attack power automatically go up 500 points (2,100/1,200)."
"Oh shoot!" Serena said, as she watched Two-Headed King Rex's attack points jump up higher, making him stronger than Red Archery Girl.
"Two-Headed King Rex, tear apart Red Archery Girl!!"
Serena flinched as the dinosaur charged at her mermaid and snapped her in half with both of its massive jaws, and Red Archery Girl disappeared in a explosion of light.
----------
Current Score:
Serena: 1,300 LP
Rex: 2,000 LP
----------
"Nice going Rex!" Mai shouted from below, as she cheered on Rex's win. "Hurry up and beat her!"
"That was a lucky shot." Joey exclaimed as he watched the duel taking place.
"You're just scared that Rex is going to whip your butt when he duels you, Joey." Mai said, as she shot Joey a smug look.
"Don't be so sure that Serena's going to lose, Mai." Yugi piped in as he stood off to the side of her, "Serena's a good duelist. Even I had trouble trying to beat her."
"She couldn't be that good." Mai said, not turning her gaze away from the duel as she spoke.
Glaring, Serena reached up to brush aside a stray strand of her hair as she drew a new card from her hand, as a bright smile appeared on her features as she looked down at it.
"Nice move, Rex, using this dueling arena's location as a Field to automatically power up your monsters. But it's not good enough." Serena said as she put her own card down. "Two can play at this game. I flip over my face down card, so that I can play Judge Man (2,200/1,500) in attack mode!"
In a flash of light, the club wielding Warrior type monster appeared on the field, smacking his club into his left hand as he faced off with Two-Headed King Rex.
"Oh no!" Rex exclaimed as the monster appeared on the field.
"And with the extra field bonus points, his attack power should rise up 500 points (2,700/1,500)." Serena said, a smug look on her face, as Judge Man's power grew.
"NO!!!" Rex cried out as he realized what about to happen.
"Say goodbye to your Two-Headed King Rex, Rex." Serena said, as she turned towards her monster and shouted, "Judge Man, hit Two-Headed King Rex with Destiny's Judgment!!!"
With one powerful swing of Judge Man's club, Two-Headed King Rex was reduced to atoms.
----------
Current Score:
Serena: 1,300 LP
Rex: 1,400 LP
----------
"
----------
Current Score:
Serena: 1,300 LP
Rex: 1,400 LP
----------
"You specialize in Dinosaur type monsters." Serena said simply, as she crossed her arms across her chest, as she glanced across the field at Rex. "Everyone has their favorite monster type."
"Once I play what's in my hand, I'll win this match hands down." Serena said simply, as she removed three cards from her hand. Holding one of the cards up, she revealed it to be the Lord of Dragons card. Rex broke off into a fit of laughter, at the sight of the monster across the field. "You've got to be kidding me! My monster can destroy that one easy."
"I play Lord of Dragons (1,200/1,100) in Attack Mode," Serena said as she placed the card onto the dueling platform and the armored warrior appeared on the field.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Rex exclaimed, as he started laughing at the sight of the monster Serena had summoned, "My Red eyes can beat your Lord of Dragons easy."
"Don't be too sure about that Rex." Serena said, as she glanced over the field at him, giving him a knowing look, "This match is over before it even begun." Serena said, as she looked down at the cards in her hand, as a slow smile crept to her lips. "I will win by the end of the next round"
"What are you talking about?!" Rex demanded, looking a little bit panicky, as he saw the look on Serena's face as she turned her gaze towards him once more.
"Don't count me out yet, Rex, because I'm not finished yet." Serena said, the smile still remaining on her face, as she put down the two remaining cards that she had taken out of her hand, "Next I will equip him *two* Flutes of Summoning Dragon."
"Huh?" Joey exclaimed as he watched Serena's move, confusion appearing on his features as he watched two dragon flutes appear in Lord of Dragons hands. "Why is she giving her monster *two* flutes of Dragon Summoning?"
"You really don't know anything do you Joey about ?" Mai asked, as she sent Joey a dark look.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Joey asked, confusion filling his voice, as he stared at Mai.
"Flute of Dragon Summoning is a magic card, specially made for Lord of Dragons." Mai explained, shaking her head, as she glanced back to the field with a worried expression, "When it's equipped with Lord of Dragons, you can summon any two dragons you want to the field from her deck."
"Huh?" Joey asked, completely clueless.
Glancing back at Joey for a moment, Mai see's the confused look he was still giving her, and smirked. "Think about it for a second, Joey. Since Serena equipped Lord of Dragons with *two* flutes..."
"She can summon *FOUR* dragons to the field?!" Joey exclaimed, as he finally realized what was about to happen.
By this time, Rex was already sweating bullets, as he also realized what was about to happen.
"Like I said before, Rex?" Serena said, "I win this match hands down. Lord of Dragons, play!"
At her command, Lord of Dragons brought both flutes to his mouth and blew, and four empty magic circles appeared around him.
"I call forth my Red Eyes Black Dragon (2,800/2,400), and Meteor Dragon (1,800/2,000) to the field." "AND my two Blue Eyes White Dragon cards!"
"Say what?!" Joey exclaimed as he stared in shock as the two familiar dragons appeared on the field in front of them. "No way did that just happen!"
"What's going on?" Téa asked, as she stared at the two towering white dragons in disbelief, as they settled around Lord of Dragons and the other two dragons.
"Two more Blue Eyes? I thought there were only four Blue Eyes White Dragon cards in existence." Tristan said, as he turned towards Yugi for confirmation.
"Kaiba has three and the fourth was."
"Next I'm going to turn over one of my facedown cards, and reveal my Polymerization card, which I will use to fuse together Red Eyes Black Dragon and Meteor Dragon to create, Meteor Black Dragon (3,500/2,000)!'
"My favorite card is Flame Swordsman (1,800/1,600). I think it kicks butt in every duel!" Joey said proudly, as he held up the warrior's card.
"Mine is Cyber Commander (750/700)." Tristan said.
"She might be the weakest card in my deck, but the Magician of Faith (300/400) has always been my favorite card." Téa said, as she pulled out her card.
"It's also the weakest." Joey said, as he and Tristan chuckled a bit at the sight of the card, earning themselves a dark look from Téa.
"The Dark Magician's (2,500/2,100) has always helped me out of tight binds with duels." Yugi said.
"And what's your favorite monster card, Serena?" Barkura asked as he turned his attention towards Serena who was shifting through her cards for one particular card.
"Dragon cards are more my thing, but I can't decided on which one. So, I'll pick the next best thing to the Dark Magician," Serena said with a small smile on her lips, as she finally withdrew the card from her deck, and held it up for the others to see. "My favorite non-dragon card is the Dark Magician Girl (2,000/1,700)."
"So what's your favorite card, Bakura?" Serena asked as she turned her attention towards the silver haired boy curiously.
"This one." Bakura said. He pulled out a card. "It's called Change of Heart. It can really turn the tide in a duel. If you want to see what it does, why don't you and I have a duel just for fun, Yugi?" Bakura suggested.
"Sounds okay with me," Yugi said, as he smiled at the other boy, nodding his head in agreement, "Let's duel one another."
"That's great Yugi." Bakura said, as he glanced around at everyone as he spoke, "Why not make things more interesting, by all of you join your favorite cards with Yugi's?"
Everyone there agreed with Bakura's suggestion, and joined their cards with Yugi's deck. Everyone that is except Serena who was looking around the clearing in search of something.
"Hey, Serena. Is something the matter?" Bakura asked concern filling his voice as he stared at the blonde haired girl, "Aren't you going to join in?"
"No. I think I'll skip this round if you guys don't mind." Serena said as she started to get up, as she continued look around their area. "I'm going to go look for Mai and Mokuba. They should have been back by now."
"Hey that's right." Joey said, as worry filled him "They've been gone a long time."
"That's okay with me, if you want to go look for them." Barkura said, smiling a bit as his features suddenly became more sinister, "But before you leave Serena, I want to show all of you something." Suddenly, before anyone could react, Bakura's Millennium Ring began to glow, bathing the other teens with it's light.
"Hey what's going on!" Joey exclaimed as the light hit the entire group.
"What..." Serena managed to get out, but all she could here was the sound of Bakura's evil laughter before her entire world turned black.
"This was *too* easy." Kage (A.N. I'm going to be calling Yami-Bakura this from now on) thought to himself, smirking a bit, as he stood up and walked over to the soulless bodies of the fallen teens. "Now that their souls are trapped within the cards, no one can stop me from taking the Millennium Puzzle and the Band and add a few new cards to my collection while I'm at it."
Stopping next to Serena's body, Kage bent over and picked up the limp hand that had the Millennium Band on it, and tried to remove it, only to get a sharp jolt from the ring, that sent him flying backwards to land onto his butt.
"What the hell!" Kage exclaimed angrily as a long string of curses erupted from Kage's mouth, as he quickly recovered from the shock, and glared at the ring, which was still on Serena's finger. "The Band must be protected by something that's keeping me from being able to remove it."
Moving back to Serena's body, he bent over once more only this time to pick up Serena's discarded Dark Magician Girl card, which had fallen from her limp hands and smiled, as he added the card to his deck, and made his way over to Yugi's unmoving body.
As he bent down to remove the Puzzle from around Yugi's neck, the puzzle suddenly gave off an eerie glow, as Yugi's body seemed to grow and making him look older, moments before Yugi's eyes flew wide open to glare up at Kage angrily.
"I don't think so. Who are you? Your not Bakura." Yami snapped as he slapped Kage's hand away from him,
"You're right, I'm not that weakling Bakura." Kage said, as a wide smirk appeared on his features as his hands grasped the ring around his neck, "I'm the spirit of the Millennium Ring. But you can call me Kage."
"If you want the puzzle, you will have to duel me for it, Bakura."
"Where's Serena's card?" Yami demanded when he realized that Serena's Dark Magician Girl card wasn't around.
"I have it right here in my own deck." Kage said, tapping one finger on his deck cards, as an innocent, yet sinister, grin appeared on his features, as he smirked at Yami. "If you had come out a moment sooner you probably would have gotten it along with the others."
"I don't know what your up to Bakura, and I don't like it." Yami said, eyeing the other teen suspiciously, as he reluctantly added Yugi and the other's cards to his deck, _What could he be up to?_
Yami and Kage dueled for a while playing their best cards against each other, and it hadn't taken Yami long to realize what Kage had been planning. After discovering that the souls of Yugi and his friends were trapped inside of their favorite monster cards had him on edge as he was forced to continue playing in order to save them all, as he kept an eye on Bakura's hand for any sign of Serena's card.
Finally Yami had Yugi, Tristan, and Joey on the field. After rescuing Tristan from the Graveyard with the Monster Reborn card, the group was now waiting for Kage to make his next move.
Yami had informed the three boys on what was going on, Yami was now waiting for Kage to make his next move, while the others waited worriedly.
Kage pulled his next card from the deck, glanced over it, then smirked when he realized which card it was. "Well now, it looks like this is my lucky day. Take a wild guess at which card this is."
With those words, Kage turned the card around to show the others the image on the card. It was the Dark Magician Girl card.
"Aw man, isn't that Serena's card?" Tristan asked, as he glanced at the others for confirmation.
"Yeah it is." Joey said, his brow creased in worry as he glanced up at Yami with an accusing look, "Why didn't you get her card before Bakura got his hands on it?"
"Bakura managed to get his hands onto of Serena's card before I came out of the puzzle." Yami explained, as he shot Kage a dark look, before glancing apologetically down at the others, "If I had known this would happen I would have..."
"Enough chit chat. I have this game won already. Your Millennium Puzzle is mine!" Kage cut in, as he placed the Dark Magician Girl card down onto the dueling machine, "I summon Dark Magician Girl in attack mode!"
"Hey what's going on?" Serena asked in confusion, as she materialized on Kage's side of the playing field, dressed in Dark Magician Girl's costume and wielding her staff. "Where am I?"
As she looked around the unfamiliar surroundings, before her eyes settled on the giant sized Yugi on the other side of the playing field, and let out a startled yelp. "Yugi why are you big?"
"Serena, that's not me." Yugi called out from his side of the field, "I'm down here."
"Yugi? Joey? Tristan?" Serena asked as her gaze dropped back down to the playing field, and saw the two boys dressed up as their favorite Duel Monsters. "What's going on here you guys, and why are you guys dressed up like Duel Monsters?!"
"Something weird's going on here, Serena." Joey called out, "It looks like all of us have been turned into Duel Monsters by Bakura."
"'All of us'?... Ack!" At that moment, Serena had finally noticed what she was clutching in her hands, and took a better at the rest of her appearance from what she could see, as her eyes widening in shock the whole time, causing her to almost drop her staff in surprise.
"Why am I dressed up like Dark Magician Girl!!!!" Serena demanded as she looked herself over, while trying to cover up the more revealing parts of her costume with her hands, _This skirts shorter than the sailor senshi uniforms!_
"Bakura put our souls inside of our favorite duel monster cards, and now... the me up there is dueling to set all of us free." Yugi supplied, as he motioned towards the giant sized version of himself. "That's not Bakura up there!"
"What's the big idea of turning me into a monster card!!" Serena shouted up at Kage, hands on her hips as she glared up at him. "And why am I on your side of the field?!"
"It was a spur of the moment decision. I wanted your Millennium Band, but I couldn't get my hands on it without getting zapped," Kage said with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he smirked down at Serena. "So I took your soul card as consolation prize. Maybe if the Yugi over there had been faster in coming out of the puzzle, you'd be on his side instead of mine."
"Why you..." Serena started only to be cut off, as Kage waved a dismissive hand at her.
"Enough of this chatter. You're only delaying the inevitable by stalling." Kage snapped as he glared at his opponent, ignoring the dark look Serena shooting at him. "Dark Magician Girl has a special effect, that raises her attack power 300 points for each Dark Magician or Magician of Black Chaos card that's on the field. (2,300/1,700)" Kage ordered. "Attack Yugi's Cyber Commander!!"
...
"What the..."Kage muttered when nothing happened, and he glanced down at Serena, to see her sitting Indian style on the playing field with her staff resting in her lap, as she quietly filled with the notch on the end of the staff, completely ignoring him.
"Hey! I ordered you to attack Yugi's monster! So go and do it!" Kage demanded, as he glared down at Serena's small figure. "You're my duel monster and you have to do what I say."
"And your point is?" Serena countered as she glanced over her shoulder to frown up at Kage, and crossed her arms over her chest, with a defiant look on her tiny features, "After taking my soul and turning me into a Duel monster, you *really* expect me to quietly do what *you* tell me to do, you better think again. I'm not attacking anybody."
Serena was sitting on a boulder munching on sandwich, as she watched the sun set over the horizon. It was the last day of the tournament, and tomorrow would be the start of the finals, and she was just now hanging out by herself, since she now had all of the required star chips that were needed to get into the castle.
Most of the duelists that had been invited to the island had already been kicked off because of lack of star chips, and there wasn't anything else to do now except wait for the finals in the morning.
"I wonder how Yugi and the others are doing? The finals are tomorrow, and I hope they manage to get in..." Serena thought silently to herself, worry lines appearing on her face, as she stared out over the horizon, and was quickly replaced by anger "I *still* can't believe he had me banned from the castle until the finals!!"
Ever since Mokuba had been recaptured and taken back up to the castle by her father's men, Pegasus had left orders that Serena was to be barred from the castle, until the day of the finals, so she wouldn't have a chance to speak to him about what he was doing, until some time tomorrow night.
"I just hope Mokuba is okay up at the castle." Serena thought as she leaned back onto the boulder.
"Hey you!!" an unfamiliar voice cried out from behind her, causing her to jump in surprise. "Are you Serena Pegasus?!"
"Who wants to know?" Serena asked as she turned her head to look at who was addressing her, her eyes widened in surprise when she saw who it was.
Standing just a few feet away from her, with his hands on his hips and glaring menacingly at her, was none other than Seto Kaiba.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes:
I came up with the idea of Serena's secret underground hideout, from what I remembered of the Duelist Kingdom arc of Yugi-oh. There seemed to be a lot of secret entrances/exits around both the castle and the island itself.
*Crosses arms across chest and frowns a bit at some of her readers* Everyone, *please* remember that the one who holds Serena's heart is somebody she's *already* met in *this* lifetime.
She has *never* met *any* of the *current* male Yugi-oh characters *before* Duelist Kingdom. *Especially* the *dead* ones. But she *does* have a history with some of them from back in Ancient Egypt.
I've said this before a couple of chapters ago. Forbidden Hearts is *NOT* going to be either a Yami-Yugi/Serena; Yugi/Serena; Serena/Seto; Serena/Joey; Serena/Tristan; Yami-Bakura/Serena; Bakura/Serena; *OR* a Serena/Duke fic. (though that *last* one is *really* tempting ^_^).
I already have most of these guys already vaguely paired up with someone else in my story. And only a *few* of you have already guessed right about who the mystery guy from Serena's past is.
Other author's has done those match up ideas already, and I think it's time for a different match up. Maybe it'll be a Serena/Duke fic in 'My Brother's Keeper' whenever I finish up writing the first chapter.
For those of you who are wondering who Neia is, who probably don't already know. Neia Kaiba shows up later in the series a little bit after the start of the Battle City Tournament finals. He *was* Seto and Mokuba's foster father's biological son, who nobody knows about yet (not even Mokuba or Seto knew about him until everybody meets him later in the series).
He looks like a miniature version of Seto (which a lot of the characters *do* comment on when they first see him), only with light green hair. He'd be around Yugi and co's age if he wasn't... And no, Neia's not the one either.. ^_^
I don't know how many out there actually know about Neia, since I don't remember seeing him being mentioned in any Yugi-oh fics.
As for Pluto's name, I prefer 'Susan' better than 'Trista' as her English name. Main reason is that it's closer to her Japanese name than the other one is. The company who dubbed the episodes with Pluto should have given her that name instead of Trista. Or let her keep her original name like they did with Hotaru.
And Haruka needs a more boyish name that fits her characters personality. 'Amara' doesn't fit her at all. *Especially* when she's supposed to be pretending to be a *boy* in order to be allowed to race vehicles in Japanese society (at least in the anime and magna it was).
This way, none of her rivals can accuse her of lying about her name that way to get her disqualified when she beats them, since a name like 'Alex' can be used as the shortened version for any name.