Blue Destiny
Copyright: Yugi-oh and the cast are all owned by Shonen Jump publishing, Kazuki Takahashi, Viz communications, Kanomi and Upper Deck, as well as 4-kids entertainment, and Tokyo TV.
Author's notes: Had to revise the ages, due to certain situations that will come into play later on. Sorry if this inconveniences anyone.
Chapter 2: The girl in Blue
Mokuba raced ahead of Lucy as they walked down Venture Promenade, as the boardwalk was called. The place was amazing! Tons of people wearing different outfits, in semi states of dress, wandered the walkway. There were skaters performing tricks on skateboards and inline skates. Several ramps were set up for the bike riders to do their most complex stunts. A few riders were showing off on unicycles. Clowns and magicians wandered about showing off their latest magic feats, and Mokuba was thrilled when he got picked to help out with one trick. The jugglers who were putting on the show told him to stand real still as they tossed knives and fiery torches around Mokuba's head. He wished Seto had been there to see how brave he'd been, but was pleased to see Lucy nearly faint at the sight.
Lucy Housen was a tall lean woman with brown hair pulled back into a tight bun on the back of her head and a sharp pair of black glasses. She looked more like the caricature of an old fashioned school mistress. Once the show was over Lucy pulled Mokuba aside and snapped at him, "Mr. Kaiba, how many times have I told you not to go putting yourself into dangerous situations! What would you brother think…"
Mokuba thought a second and said, "He'd say I was making the first step to be a better businessman by taking a chance in getting myself burned."
Lucy let out a loud exasperated sigh and pushed her bangs back into place. It was quite hot out, and she was dressed in her work cloths, and heels, making it that much harder to keep up with the eleven year old Mokuba. He smiled at her as sweetly as he could and asked, "So what next?"
"Next we find a place to sit down," Lucy spat and took him by the wrist. "Honestly, it's much to hot to be running about on the pier today. And there's too big a crowd."
"Means there would be more people looking out for me," Mokuba said, and Lucy rolled her eyes.
"More like more people who would turn a blind eye. It's different here then in Japan Mr. Kaiba, there are people here who are more then willing to kidnap a little boy."
"Why's that?" Mokuba asked curiously and Lucy shrugged as they paused to let two cyclists pass them.
"Not sure, but I need you to be careful," she spotted a table near a café and sat down. "Now you have your phone with you…" –Mokuba nodded and showed her –"and you know my pager number. Okay so here's the plan. You can go up to the Arcade, but no further, and call me every ten minutes. I'll be waiting for you over here…"
Her phone went off suddenly, "Hello, Lucy Housen. Mr. Kaiba. Yes your brother is here, and you want me to tell him that the meeting will be at three, so you'll be coming for lunch around four-ish. I see. Alright sir, I'll find a place to make a reservation. Yes sir, I'll keep a good eye on him. Thank you sir, have a nice meeting."
Lucy looked at Mokuba and said, "Alright you have a half an hour to play for yourself, I expect you back by three, got that, and then we're going to have to find a place to eat."
Mokuba nodded and agreed to meet Lucy back at the table where she was waiting. He wandered down the boardwalk and watched some of the other performers. There was an acting troop doing a very short version of Romeo and Juliet, making the audience laugh. Two men in stilts were jumping on pogo sticks and making balloon animals. There were a few bands, and a guy that was showing off some grifting techniques. Mokuba made his way around all these acts and soon found himself at the arcade that was at the pier. He glanced inside and saw a number of kids that were a little older then him. Two girls came out carrying stuffed version of a Time Wizard and Graceful dice. They were giggling and one was going on about how great it was that you could win Duel Monster merchandise inside.
"Hmmm," thought Mokuba and he walked inside. The place had loud music blaring, and lights flashed on and off as people won games. There was a disco ball that reflected several colored lights that flashed from the ceiling. The noise level was enough to distract anyone, and Mokuba started to re-think coming inside, when he spotted two very unique baseball caps sitting at the tip top of the prize group. They were black with a pair of Blue-Eyes White dragons embroider on the front. The guy at the counter, a boy that couldn't have been much older the Seto looked over at him and saw what he was looking at. He was dressed in a Hawaiian flowered shirt over a white tank and a black Giants cap turned backwards on his head. His hair was unkempt, but he had a kind of silly smile, and winked at Mokuba with a knowing look to his blue eyes.
"Pair of sweet caps, ain't they."
"Yeah, uh, how much are they," Mokuba asked but the guy shook his head when he pulled out the fifty.
"Can't buy 'em little man. Gotta earn 'em. Play the games, win the tickets, and then come get them."
"Well, "Mokuba asked, slightly annoyed, "How many tickets then?"
"Hundred and thirty," the guy said and took Mokuba's money, "I'll cash it in for twenty dollars okay. And here's a free tip, the video games in the back give out the most tickets in the joint."
"Okay," Mokuba said, taking his change and the tokens. The guy at the counter pointed out the direction and he started to wander towards the back. Half way there he found a large group of teenagers making bets on a miniature version of Duel Monsters. Mokuba recognized it as one of Kaiba Corps smaller holographic tables. He gently pushed his way through the crowd and saw that there was a big boy with a green t-shirt that barely fit over his portly belly, spiky red hair, and ugliest face Mokuba had ever seen. It looked like he had smashed his nose into a wall, and stretched out his face to draw attention from the flat nose. This boy was on one side of the table, with some money on the edge; Mokuba counted at least a hundred dollars, and had out a Celtic Guardian and an Uraby. He was grinning nastily at his opponent, which Mokuba could not see.
"What do you think of that, and I'm gonna pull out my Call of the Haunted, and that will bring back my Silver Fang." The boy looked extremely sure of himself, that's when Mokuba heard a yawn from the other side of the table. Some of the teens had moved just enough for him to see that the opponent was a girl wearing blue. She laid down two cards, and suddenly the boys Guardian and Uraby vanished. Then a third card that destroyed his Silver Fang, and Mokuba heard her say.
"Finishing with Tremendous Fire," and the boy's life points were wiped away. His ugly face fell and he growled a curse word at the girl.
"Hey, not my fault that you suck at this game," she said to him in a tired voice. "Waste of my time you know…"
"I'll show you a waste of time…" the boy started to say, when Mokuba saw the guy at the counter march over, his brow narrowed and angry.
"I thought I told you punks, no gambling!"
The boy with the strange face gave the counter guy an annoyed look, "But we wasn't…"
"Yes you 'was'" hissed the counter guy and the two started to argue. Mokuba quietly slipped away from the scene. He didn't want to get into that mess at all. Besides he needed to get those hundred and thirty tickets for the Blue Eyes caps. As he wandered to the back he saw a stark white hand take the money from the side of the table, and disappear into the crowd. A hand went on his shoulder breaking him from watching the other hand, and a boy asked.
"Looking for the video games?"
Mokuba nodded, and the boy thumbed to a row of Duel Monster arcade games along the wall. "Middle one's the best for tickets, and if you beat the high score you get a bonus."
"T-Thanks," Mokuba said as he hustled over to the arcade games. He noticed that the screen flashed the name Blue Destiny Entertainment, as the game started. He'd heard the name mentioned by Seto that morning, and the night before. Blue Destiny was supposedly the best video game company in the world, and was head quartered here in Venture. Mokuba shrugged and put in his tokens, and the game came to life.
The game was basically a strategy/battle game. Select three monsters to start with, gain more as you beat levels, and unlock hidden monsters during the game. You had to collect different items in order to keep your monsters health up. Mokuba chose three monsters, La Jinn, Karibo, and Ryukashan to start with and the game began.
From where she stood the girl with the white hand could see the screen of the arcade game that the boy with the black hair was playing. She smiled, sipping her drink, and chuckled in her mind. Already a small crowd was building around him, after all he looked like he was only a bit older then ten, and seemed very intent on winning the game.
"Trial of the Pharaoh's Servants", at the time it had sounded like the perfect name. Naturally the setting would be Ancient Egypt, and –as per Mr. Crawford's rules – the characters would unlock only if the person was truly able to understand the secrets of the game. What a pity it was, the girl thought, that the boy would play the game for nothing. No one had gotten to the level twenty, out side of herself. And no one would ever be able to unlock the key to winning the game. Unless, they were really good; and in her opinion, the boy would probably loose just like all the others that had tried to tackle it. She had to wonder why Steve, the guy at the counter, had sent him to the back in the first place.
The girl was getting board now, a number of guys had surrounded the boy and the screen was blocked from view.
"Ah, well," she thought getting up and stretching, "at least the morning wasn't a total waste…"
"Holy crap!" a shout from someone in the crowd made her pause mid yawn. "This little dude just unlocked the Black Magician!"
"Check out the score man," another chimed in, and the girl felt a sweat drop slip down her face. "He's only in the third level and look at that score! No one's gotten so high so fast!"
The girl wandered over, she was…intrigued. Glancing over the others in the crowd she saw the screen and let out a light gasp. It was true; the boy had already unlocked the Black Magician, and was nearly done with the third level.
"How the hell is this even possible," she muttered to herself watching him play. The game was designed specifically not to unlock the Black Magician until the tenth level, and even that was early for most players. But this, this…. Boy… had managed to unlock him even before the harder levels. She wandered to the back of the crowd, and wondered, "How is he doing it, how?"
"Hey check it," she glanced up, "he's just warped jumped to level twelve! Little dudes unstoppable."
This made the girl's eyes widen. No way was it possible, yet it was true. He'd found the hidden warp hole and was jogging along merrily as if he'd created the game himself. She was perplexed to find that she wasn't angry at him; rather he reminded him of someone who had been very close to her. She listened as the crowd roared, and saw that he was beating the harder levels now.
"Two more to go dude, you can make it!" shouted one boy. And the girl moved closer to watch the final battle.
Mokuba felt hot, the crowd that had gathered to watch him play was right on top of him. The heat and the smell from all of them so close together was stifling to him. Couldn't they give him a break, or was this how all Americans acted when they were excited about something. He was on level twenty now, the final level of the game. All he had to do was fight off the Black Skull Dragon and he was finished.
But as he started to engage the monster in battle he realized that none of his monsters were strong enough to beat it. He'd managed to find the three hidden Blue-Eyes in the game, but he couldn't summon them in the castle. His fingers were cramping up, and he felt sick.
"How long have I been playing?" He wondered as the Skull came at full force. Mokuba didn't even see the attack coming. He swallowed hard as the Skull Dragon reared up and came at him again. Only by invoking a trap card was he able to deflect the attack. His life points were falling faster then he expected. And the Skull Dragon wasn't even warmed up. It roared viciously at the Black Magician and Battle Ox, who were standing their grounds.
"Dude, oh man, I don't think he's gonna make it," a voice whispered in the crowd.
"Looks like he's gonna be sick man."
"Poor guy. He was doing so good, too."
"Stupid kid shoulda picked a different monster…"
The whispered comments rang loudly in Mokuba's ears. He lowered his head. What had he been thinking?! He never should have tried to play this game. It was too hard, and he was hungry, and tired.
"Little kids shouldn't play with grown-up games," the boy with the green shirt snorted in the back, and Mokuba gritted his teeth. He'd show him who was little. He was Seto Kaiba's brother, the World Champion. He wasn't about to let some dumb game beat him, not now, not when he was so close to winning.
"But how?" a voice broke into his thoughts. "How can you win if you don't have the right cards or monsters on the field?"
"Wrong cards," Mokuba thought. Then he realized that the two monsters he had out were not enough to over power the Black Skull by themselves. It was then that that the computer invoked a spell and a magic card attached itself to the Black Skull, Metal Nails! That raised the Black Skull's attack by five hundred, and Mokuba watched in horror as the Skull unleashed a terrible blow on Battle Ox, destroying it instantly!
"Oh no!" Mokuba shouted, watching in horror as the Skull turned its attention to the Black Magician. Mokuba felt hot tears come to his eyes. He couldn't loose. Why was this happening now?! He closed his eyes waiting for the final blow that would wipe out all his life points. And he knew he didn't have time to restart the game.
"I'm sorry Seto," Mokuba thought bitterly, "I'm not as strong as you are…"
"Right, left, jump, magic, trap, trap, magic, jump, up, down, down, right," a confident voice said into his ear and he saw a white hand placed atop his.
"Like this," the voice said, and Mokuba looked up. There was a girl standing behind him, her long white hair hung down around the sides of his face as she leaned over him to see the screen, but he couldn't see her face all that well. She had a kind voice, a type that once you hear you can't ever forget. It wasn't light and bubbly, but sweet with a ting of…sadness to it. The girl's hand rapidly guided him through the sequence, saying it again. "Right, left, jump, magic button, trap button twice, magic again, jump and up, down twice in succession, now right and hit the attack button."
Mokuba did as was told and from behind the Skull came a burst of bright light. Then he saw the three Blue-Eyes that he collected fly into the light and from that light emerged the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. There were several audible gasps from the crowd, but the girl's voice whispered again.
"Okay, here's what you do, attack with the Black Magician, now while the Skull is distracted to weaken it, then use the middle head of the dragon on it. That will make it confused, then, while it's confused, summon the Magician of Black Chaos, and attack with both it and the Ultimate Blue-Eyes at the same time. Skull head won't know what hit him."
"Alright, here goes," Mokuba said as he followed her instructions again, and watched as the Black Magician became the Magician of Black Chaos. The two monsters hit the Black Skull Dragon with all they had and the whole screen went white! When the screen's fuzz cleared the scene quickly shifted to a victory celebration and the Pharaoh thanking the Magician and the Blue-Eyes. The words Winner displayed, and prompted Mokuba to type in his name. He did so, and when he turned around the crowd was just staring in awe of him. Suddenly a guy in the back screamed.
"ALRIGHT!!!!!" and the rest of the crowd cheered Mokuba with shouts of, "Amazing," and "Never seen anything like it," and "You da boss, man." "Where'd you learn to play like that…?"
Mokuba wasn't sure what to say, but he smiled and took his tickets as they spat out of the machine. As he hustled over to the counter to claim his prizes, he saw the girl with white hair, in blue jeans, and a blue tank top, finishing up a soda. He wanted to go up and thank her, but she was soon covered up by the crowd of boys and girls who wanted to talk to him.
"Um excuse me, but I have to get going," Mokuba laughed as his hand was shaken again and again. And several people patted him on the back telling him he was, "Awesome" and "Rockin'" He hustled up to the counter, and glanced at the clock, he had five minutes to get back to Lucy. He hopped he could make it in time. The guy at the counter, who congratulated Mokuba as well and mentioned that his name was Steve, told him he had enough to get the two hats and forty left over tickets. Mokuba chose four packets of Duel Monster cards, a case for cards that had a Blue-Eyes carved onto the cover, and two key chains that had the "Duel Monsters" logo on the front.
Steve put this all in a bag for him, and plopped the second cap on his head. "There you go champ. Only a true Dragon Master can play with Big Blue…"
Mokuba smiled brightly and thanked Steve again. Then ran out of the store.
From where she sat the girl in blue watched as Mokuba left with his prizes. She glanced up at the still clanging machine, and saw the score. He'd beaten the last record holder, which was her, and she let out a half smile.
"Well, that's okay; I'll just come back tomorrow and beat his score by triple," She finished off the drink, tossed the cup in the trash, and headed out onto the boardwalk.
To be continued…
Author's footnote: Grifting, for those who don't know, is card tricks and scams that some people play on the streets. It use to be a viable trade for con-artists, but now it's used by up close magicians and others who perform outside.