Blue Destiny
Copyright information: Yugi-oh, the title and characters are all owned and copyrighted by Kazuki Takahashi, and Weekly shonen jump publication. Viz, and 4-kids are owners of the manga and anime of Yugi-Oh. Upper Deck and Konomi are owners of the trading cards and video games. All likeness to persons living or dead is purely coincidence.
Author's note: Yea, two reviews, hopefully there will be more after people check out the new chapters. ^_^
I should note that I'm using the names from the original version of the show and comic. So here's how they are set up. Yugi Moto =Yugi Mutou, Tristan Taylor =Hiroto Honda, Téa Gardner =Anzu Mazaki, Joey Wheeler =Katsuya Jonouchi, Seto Kaiba =same, Mokuba Kaiba =same, Maximillion Pegasus = Pegasus J. Crawford.
Chapter 5: Deception
"Seto?" Mokuba wandered into his brother's office, his face all smiles. Seto looked up from his computer, and smiled back as Mokuba gave him a hug.
"What's this all about?" He asked hugging Mokuba back. Seto had been making an effort to become even closer to his little brother after what happen during Battle City. Being forced to relive the life that they had led when they lived with Gozaburo had given Seto some new insights; the biggest one was that he needed to build up Mokuba's trust in him. He'd been so obsessed with beating Yugi Motou that he'd forgotten about his own dreams, and what he was like before he'd moved in with their tyrannical foster father.
"Just wanted to let you know I'm not mad at you," Mokuba said. The night before when they came back to the penthouse that Seto was renting for them, Mokuba had not talked to Seto at all. Seto had come out before Mokuba had come back to the table, so he had to lie to his big brother to cover up for where he'd been. Mokuba felt bad about doing it, but felt hurt when Seto had yelled at him for not listening. He had not spoken to Seto for the rest of the night. In the morning he'd remembered his promise to Gwen, and figured the best way to see her was to make up with his brother. After all, he realized, Seto might have the wrong impression of Gwen. He had to at least try and get Seto to see that she could be his friend as well.
"Oh, is that all," Seto gave his brother a knowing look. "Nothing else…"
"Well, um, one little thing, maybe…" Mokuba admitted, and Seto leaned back in his chair.
"Uh-huh, I thought so. What is it this time?"
Mokuba clasped his hands together, took a big breath and said, "Please, please, please, Seto can I go back to the boardwalk today. I'll be extra good, and not get into trouble. Pretty please, with a scoop of mint chocolate chip, and pecans?"
Seto blinked, "Why do you want to go back there?"
"The arcade," Mokuba told him. "I wanted to see if I can beat another game. Maybe win something different."
"Really," Seto said, slightly suspicious of his little brother. He knew that Mokuba was just as good as he was playing video games, but he'd never shown this much interest in them. He was more into Capsule Monster Chess, which he was regional champion, then any computer game out there. "Huh and why the sudden interest in the arcade?"
"Well, um," Mokuba thought fast. Gwen would be waiting and he didn't want to keep her waiting. "You see I thought it would be cool to beat as many games as I could and put Kai on there. You know, so everyone knows that my big brother is still the best gamer in the world."
"And this has nothing to do with any other prizes on the pier," Seto asked with his eyes closed and thought," or anything to do with a certain girl who you promised to stay away from, Mokuba."
"Nope," Mokuba said, still grinning. Seto looked up, he didn't believe his brother. There was something insincere about what he was saying. But he wasn't about to say that to Mokuba. He knew his little brother knew better then to lie to him, or break his promise. "Honestly Seto, don't you trust me."
"I shouldn't let you go, you know," Seto said slowly. "After all you weren't exactly on your best behavior yesterday…"
Mokuba's face fell, his plan wasn't working. He was stuck, and he was worried that Seto could see right through his strategy. Gwen would be disappointed, he'd promised to meet her there, and it was already two.
"However, I think I can let you go," Seto said and Mokuba perked up. He jumped up and ran for the door.
"Wait a minute," Seto said, and Mokuba stopped. His brother stood up and crossed his arms. "There are three rules: You only have till Three-thirty, remember we were supposed to see a movie tonight. Second, you'll be going with Price."
Mokuba's mouth fell, "That dopy bodyguard?! Come on Seto, you've gotta be kidding me…"
"Nope," Kaiba said shaking his head. "Price is going with you, and I don't expect you to give him a hard time."
Mokuba sighed, "Alright, what's the third thing then."
"You keep your promise, remember. Stay away from Gwen Scotts," Seto said in a cold voice. "Because if I find out that you broke your promise to me, you will be in a world of trouble."
"Like what?" Mokuba asked nervously seeing that his brother was very serious.
"Like being grounded for three months," Seto said as he ticked off fingers. "No tv, no games, no Capsule Monsters, and no leaving the Apartment. You come either here, or stay at home. And no going out on your own, and that's just for starters."
Mokuba's jaw dropped, "Seto that's not fair."
"I think it is," Seto said looking down at his little brother. "I'm just doing this to protect you Mokuba. That's all."
"Okay fine," Mokuba agreed and Seto gave him some money. "Thanks Seto, I'll be back by three –thirty. I promise."
Mokuba smiled as he left the office. He just hoped that whatever Gwen had planed they could get it done by at least three o'clock.
Seto waited until Mokuba had left, and picked up the phone. He was about to ask Amy to get him two of his assistances, but stopped. He put it down and sighed. He had promised himself he was going to trust Mokuba more, and not spy on him. He would not be like Gozaburo; he would not spy on his little brother like that. In his mind he could hear Gwen's sad voice saying, "So you're spying on him, what next a guilded cage with a mirror so he can keep himself busy."
Seto shook his head, and pulled out his card locket. Inside was the picture of Mokuba. He stared at it for the longest time, and wondered if his little brother still trusted him. After what Noah had pulled during their trip to the virtual world, Mokuba had been less trusting of Seto. He didn't believe everything that Seto told him, and Seto was trying to build that confidence back up. As he looked at that picture he thought about how innocent they had both been, when did Mokuba change? And why had he not realized that Mokuba was growing up so fast. Maybe Gwen was right, maybe he did want Mokuba in a cage…
"No," Seto thought shutting the locket. "It's not true. I don't want Mokuba in a cage. But I don't want to see him hurt. "
He looked out the windows in his office and saw Mokuba walking with Price across the street. "Gwen, I don't know what you're up to. But I won't let you make me doubt myself. Mokuba will see through you soon enough, I just hope that it's in time. Because if you hurt my little brother, I will hurt you, and that's something that you don't want."
Mokuba frowned. Price was on him like a fly to honey, he was a shadow that wouldn't disappear. No matter what, Price was always there watching him. They were sitting at a small hotdog stand, waiting for Gwen to show up.
"Why won't he just sit down and leave me alone," Mokuba thought annoyed. Price seemed to read his mind because he sat next to Mokuba and crossed his arms. Mokuba couldn't see his eyes due to the sunglasses the man wore, so he didn't know if he was looking at him or the woman in the skimpy top that was at the next table.
"You know I'm thirsty…" Mokuba said, and Price waved over a boy who was ridding a skate board.
"Yeah," the boy said and Price pulled out a twenty.
"Get this boy large lemonade, and you can keep the change."
"Yes Sir," the boy said overjoyed that he was getting some free money. Mokuba let out a groan. Price may have been a good bodyguard, but he stunk when it came to acting normal.
"Price, you shouldn't do that," Mokuba said, but Price was back to being silent again. The boy with the skateboard came back over with Mokuba's drink, and thanked Price, who just growled at him. The boy backed away quickly, and Mokuba shook his head.
"Of all the dumb things to do," Mokuba thought and was about to tell Price off, when he heard Gwen shout his name.
"Mokuba!" Price looked up, and she stopped in her tracks. Gwen was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, as well as blue running shoes and a blue visor, her hair was pulled back into a pony tail that swung behind her. "Um, hello there, who's your friend?"
"This is Price," Mokuba said motioning to Price who gave Gwen a stern look. But she just smiled back, and said.
"Nice to meet you, I'm the girl Mr. Kaiba hired to give Mokuba a tour of the boardwalk."
"Mr. Kaiba said nothing of this to me," Price replied robotically. Mokuba looked over at Gwen who was now tightening her smile.
"Well, maybe he forgot to mention it. Isn't that right Mokuba," she looked over at him and Mokuba nodded emphatically.
"Yeah, it must have slipped his mind."
Price didn't look like he was buying it, and he pulled out his cell phone. "Well let me see, I'll give him a call…"
"No!" Mokuba shouted and jumped on Price, making a grab for the cell phone.
"Wha…Mr. Kaiba, please control yourself," Price shouted, as Mokuba tried to grab hold of the cell phone. "Your brother left me strict orders about…"
Gwen grabbed the phone from behind, and turned it off. "Oh I'm sure he wouldn't want to be bothered about this little detail. He paid in full, and I'm certain he would be annoyed if you went and disturbed him over something so trivial."
"Well, yes, but…" Price said, but Gwen cut him off.
"Then it's settled," she pressed several buttons and then flipped the phone back to Price. "I'll take Mokuba on his tour, and you can wait here. Okay?"
Price thought about this a moment then reluctantly nodded. Gwen gave him a kind smile and grabbed Mokuba's hand, saying, "Ready then, Prince Charming?"
"Yeah," Mokuba said and waved bye to Price who returned to his stone face look. Gwen and Mokuba ran down the pier away from where Price was sitting and when they were far enough away they started to laugh.
"That was amazing," Mokuba said to Gwen. "Where'd you come up with an idea like that? And what did you punch into the cell phone?"
"Oh here and there," Gwen told him. "There are groups that do give you tours around Venture, but not of the pier itself, of course you're friend doesn't know this. As for the phone, well let's just say I programmed it so you need to put in a code in order to call to your brother's office."
Mokuba chuckled; he was glad that Gwen was so fast on her feet. She smiled at him again and put her hands on her hips. "So where do you want to go first, sky's the limit you know."
"Well," Mokuba said slowly. "You see I only have till three-thirty. So we have to stay nearby."
"I see," Gwen frowned a bit, and closed her eyes as if thinking. Suddenly her eyes flew open and she clapped her fist to her palm. "I've got it. I can take you to two places and the arcade today. Okay?"
"Sure," Mokuba said, glad to go anywhere with his new friend. "So where to first, Gwen?"
She grabbed his hand again, and Mokuba felt his ears burn. The two made their way past the arcade and closer to where some loud music was being played. Gwen stopped in front of a small brown wooden building; on the outside were several very old posters with silent movie stars. 'Carson's Moving Picture Theater' read the yellow sign over the door.
"What's this?" Mokuba asked as Gwen led him inside. Like the outside the theater was made to look like a really old movie theater. There were several wooden benches, and people were spread out all over. The place was very dark, and there was an organ in the corner. A woman sat there, and Gwen took him down to the front, and whispered.
"This place is a replica of what original movie theaters use to look like. They show silent movies and the woman over there plays music to go along with the shows. I think its Charlie Chaplin today. He was a very famous actor who came from England, and was known for this character that he made up, the Little Tramp."
"Cool, "said Mokuba and two people shushed him. He looked sheepish, and saw that the movie was starting. They watched three movies, and Mokuba laughed at all the right places. He was having a great time, and was sad when Gwen told him that they had to go.
"That was really neat. How did you know about that place?" Mokuba asked when they went outside. The bright light made him squint.
"Well, let's just say that someone I was really close to showed me it," Gwen said, she blinked her eyes hard. Mokuba saw her look away when a brother and sister walk by.
"Mikey, thanks for winning the doggy for me," the little girl was saying to her older brother who was beaming at her.
"You're welcome, Lisa," said the boy. "I knew that having you around would bring me luck."
"Lucky Star," Gwen said softly watching them go and Mokuba gently tugged at her arm. She looked down and saw he was staring at her with an expression of worry.
"Gwen, are you okay?" Mokuba asked and she nodded her head, smiling at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine; just remember something from a long time ago. Come on, we've got ten minutes before the other show starts, and we need to get the best seat."
Mokuba followed as Gwen led him further away from the old fashioned movie theater and back towards the arcade. Then they went down a set of stairs to the beach, and through the crowds of people sunbathing and swimming. Finally they stopped at an out door stage, and sat on the sand. There were a lot of people milling about, and Mokuba wasn't sure what they were about to see. He was about to ask Gwen what was going on when a man in a really silly knight costume came out. His armor and sword were all made of aluminum, plastic trash bags painted silver, and cardboard.
"Sirs and Ladies," said the man in a ridiculous Scottish accent, "Please take your seats, and be prepared to be amazed as the Fable Players Present, "Romeo and Juliet" in fifteen minutes."
Several people cheered, and Mokuba glanced over to Gwen who said, "Just watch. These guys are really good."
Just then three other men came on stage; each was dressed in some weird looking costume made up of scraps of clothing, and one with a goatee, had on a bright pink wig and a ugly plaid skirt. They all took their places on stage, and the man in the armor set the scene.
"We begin our tale in Verona, the swankest place in all of Italy," he said and several people laughed. Then the play started. Mokuba wasn't totally sure what was going on, but he knew it was funny. The actors used a lot of slap stick to tell their story, and the best part was the balcony scene where the two leads kept joking about how bad the other was as a kisser, and other goofy stuff happened. Including Romeo shouting to Juliet to lower her hair, and Juliet replying, "Dude, do I look like Repunzal?"
"No, but you'd never make it as a drag queen either," said Romeo, and the audience roared with laughter. By the time the show was over Mokuba was clapping just as hard as the others, and had tears in his eyes from laughing so much. The men took their bows and Gwen and Mokuba got up to leave. She glanced at her watch.
"Humm, we've got some time to kill. Want to go to the arcade?"
"Sure," Mokuba said, he wanted to try some of the other games there. As they walked Gwen asked Mokuba how he liked Venture, and what he'd seen so far.
"Not much, Seto's been very busy," Mokuba explained. "But we did go check out the museum. They have a really neat wing with all sorts of toys there… "
"Really," Gwen said softly. "Well that is interesting. I'm glad you liked it there. My family donated money to make that wing. We had it filled with all sorts of toys from all over the world."
"Yeah it was really cool," Mokuba said as they walked into the arcade. Gwen smiled at him; this was too perfect for her. She'd get more info out of Mokuba then she ever could out of any other mean on Seto Kaiba, especially his weakness.
"Hey, want to duel?" she asked suddenly.
"Huh," Mokuba said, "I thought you wanted to play some video games…"
"Well, it would be fun, but I want to see if it's true," Gwen said going over to the counter and pulled out money from her pocket.
"If what's true?" Mokuba asked, he didn't know what she was talking about and she turned, grinning.
"If it's true that all Kaibas are good at playing games," She pointed to two structure decks in the case and Steve pulled them out.
"That will be thirty," Steve said
and then saw Mokuba. "Hey little dude, what's up? You
know our local champ here?"
"Yeah, we met yesterday," Mokuba said smiling. Steve turned to Gwen and took her money.
"Don't tell me you're going to duel him Reggie," Steve laughed as Mokuba mouthed 'Reggie' to Gwen who just smiled.
"Yup, that I am, and it should be a lot of fun." She took the packs, thanking Steve, and turned to Mokuba. "Okay, pick one."
Mokuba picked the deck with the Summon Skull on it, and Gwen took the one with the Mask of Restrict on the cover. Gwen led Mokuba over to the duel table and deposited some money. "Hey, why did Steve call you Reggie?"
"If you beat me, I'll tell you. I've set it for fifteen minutes," She announced to him. "That way we'll have about eleven or twelve minutes to get back to Price. We'll play by Industrial Illusion Rules, okay?"
"Okay," Mokuba said and Gwen flipped a coin. Mokuba went first and drew Judgeman (2200), and set him, then set a trap. "You're turn."
Gwen summoned Gemini Elf (1900/900), and equipped it with a Malevolent Nuzzler bringing the Elf up to 2600, then set another two cards face down, and ended her turn. Mokuba set a Four-star Lady Bug of Doom, and then ended his turn. He figured that Gwen would attack, but she didn't. Instead she just drew a card, and set one face down. Mokuba went again, wondering what she had in mind.
"Huh, Mystic Elf (300/2000), Ryu-Kishin Powered (1600/1200), and Wingwever (2750/2000), humm," he thought looking at his hand, and then noticed a very good magic card. "Well I can use this and power up my Judgeman, but I wish I had a crush card."
He set his Ryu-Kishin Powered and placed another magic card face down. Gwen smiled sweetly, as she drew another card, set it face down, set two more cards and then played gravity bind. Mokuba felt his jaw drop. Now he couldn't attack with anything higher then a level three card. But neither could she and he drew the Flame Manipulator then set him out in attack mode.
"And I'll power him up with my two equipment cards, and I'll play a trap card that lowers your Elf's attack. Now Flame Manipulator, destroy her Elf, Raging Fire Blast!"
"Mirror Wall," Gwen said activating her trap blocking his attack, sending his score down. "My turn then, okay, Ookazi first, then I'll play my Hayabusa Knight (1000/700), and equip the Ax of Despair to him. Bringing him up to 2000 attack points and that's not all. I'm flipping up my other face down card, Fissure, which allows me to destroy your face down card. And then I'm going to use this other card to take a thousand points from you're Judgeman, and raise my Knights attack to 3000, and making your Judge a mere 1200 attack points. But first I'll use my Obliteration of the Dead to destroy your Manipulator."
Mokuba watched as his monster was engulfed by a giant hole on the field and then Gwen smiled at him. "And now, I'll have my knight attack your Judgeman reducing your score not once, but twice!"
Mokuba watched as the Hayabusa Knight attacked his Judgeman, sending his life points plummeting, but then braced as the knight attacked him directly and destroyed his remaining life points all together. Mokuba stood there stunned. He lost to her, and she wasn't even using her own deck. If this was how she played with unknown cards, he thought, and then she must be a killer when it came to fighting with her own deck. Mokuba suddenly felt very sorry for anyone who was dumb enough to challenge Gwen.
"Five minutes remaining," Gwen laughed. "Want to play again?"
"Um, no thanks," Mokuba told her and Gwen suggested that they get something to drink.
"Dueling gets me thirsty, always has," she handed Mokuba some water, then sat down next to him at the small table. "So did I do well?"
"Yeah, that was pretty neat," Mokuba said, "But not as good as my big Brother. He's the best when it comes to Duel Monsters. There have only been two people who have ever gotten the better of him."
"Well one would be Yugi Mutou," Gwen stated knowingly, "but who's the other?"
"Pegasus Crawford," Mokuba said bluntly, and frowned. "But he cheated when he played Seto, I know that if they ever dueled again, Seto would totally beat him."
"Really, you have that much faith in your brother's skills," Gwen said slowly, "and what do you owe your brother's great ability too, hummm?"
Mokuba thought a minute then said plainly, "Other then his skills, he's learning to put his heart in his cards…"
Gwen laughed, "Heart in his cards, and how do you do that? Pour some of your blood and sweat over them?"
Mokuba shook his head, "No, you just have to believe in them. And Seto believes in his skills and in his best card. The Blue Eyes White Dragon."
"Really, now, and why's that?"
"Can't tell you that," Mokuba said sweetly. "It's between me and my brother."
"I see, you two are really close then huh," Gwen said resting her chin in her hands, and her elbows on the table.
"Yeah, we are. Seto's the most important person in my life, and he say's that I'm the most important thing to him. I think our cook once said that I was his treasure," Mokuba said, then paused. He remembered that right at that moment Seto was probably sitting all alone in his office. Working over a computer, and not having any fun. And here he was, lying to his big brother, and hanging out with Gwen when he wasn't supposed to. It made his stomach all queasy and he pushed away his drink. "Um, do you think it would be okay if we went home now?"
"Sure thing," Gwen said and they left the arcade. Mokuba dashed ahead of Gwen, and was first to meet with Price who was still sitting in the same chair, in the same position. When Gwen came over she looked at the bodyguard and said while poking him, "Is he dead?"
"I'll thank you for not poking me," Price said and Gwen jumped back.
"Sorry," she blurted out. Mokuba laughed, he knew that Price was probably sleeping, but he was always alert to what was going on around him. "Can I see his cell phone, I so need to get one, and his looks so cool."
"Don't worry about it," Mokuba told her and Gwen nodded. She grabbed Price's phone off the table as if to examine it again, punched in some numbers, and handed it back to Price.
"You're an extra three minutes early, Mr. Kaiba will be pleased to hear this, younger Mr. Kaiba," Price said in his robotic manner. Mokuba laughed, it was weird hearing Price talk like that, and, unfortunately Price didn't get the joke. Rather he asked Gwen, "Will there be anymore tours then?"
"Yeah, actually we didn't get to see much today," Gwen told Price in her sweetest voice, "I was hoping Mokuba could come back tomorrow and we could see some more then?"
"Of course," Price replied. "If Mr. Kaiba paid for this tour, then Mokuba will be back tomorrow."
"Yes," thought Mokuba. Price was too perfect for this, now all he needed to do was to get Seto to let him go again the next day. Gwen stood there smiling politely and waved good-bye as Mokuba left with Price, only after he was gone did she drop the sweet act and pull out her cell phone.
"Donovan, yeah it's me. Listen; cancel my appointments for the next couple of days. Tell them a personal matter came up, and that I'll be very busy." She hung up before he could protest and thought. "This is going along swimmingly. Soon Seto I'll have Mokuba wrapped around my little finger, and the Dragon will be mine."
"Again?!" Seto exclaimed as Mokuba asked that night after the movie. "You want to go to the boardwalk again? What for?"
"Please, Seto," Mokuba begged. "There were too many kids there today so I only got to play one racing game."
"And what makes you think there won't be as many there tomorrow as there was there today?" Seto asked raising an eyebrow. Something was funny about this, and he didn't like it.
"Please Seto," Mokuba pleaded. Seto sighed; he knew that Mokuba was up to something. He just didn't know what, and he didn't want his little brother thinking he knew. "I'll be extra good if you let me go."
"Whatever," Seto said. "Just try to not get too hooked on those games. I don't want you wasting all your time there."
"Right, thanks Seto, you're the best," Mokuba said hugging his brother as they got out of the car and went up to the penthouse. While Mokuba went to bed Seto sat down and read a novel that he had to finish for his literature teacher; his junior year of high-school would be starting in April, and while he was one of the top ranked students in his year, he still had several challenges to overcome. Among them was his History and Literature teacher, Mr. Kazimera, who seemed intent on digging into Seto's personal life. He'd given the students a list of books to read over the summer and write about how they felt about the story. This one was called "Blood Brothers" and told the story of two brothers: one older, one younger who are trying to find a new life in the nineteen twenties. It was an okay read, but Seto didn't understand the point of it. So far all he could tell was that the writer was trying to explain about what drove the two boys to go their separate ways in their lives, other then that Seto found it a very dull book. The characters were boring, and he found the older one to be a bit of a bully to the younger one, who was a jerk. He also had a bad feeling about the woman that had just started to date the younger brother. The whole thing seemed stupid to him. What was Kazimera getting at?
Before he'd left school Kazimera had stopped Seto on the way out, and had told him to pay special attention to the characters in this particular novel. Seto had rolled his eyes behind Kazimera's back; even so the teacher kept smiling and insisted that by the end of the upcoming school year he'd have a very different out look on life. Seto stared at the blank sheet of notebook paper, and slammed the novel shut. He didn't have time for teachers who talked in riddles. People like Kazimera were a pain to him; they thought that they could understand him. It used to make him laugh; now it just bothered him. What was really starting to egg him was that ever since Battle City ended he kept remembering things that he promised when he was younger. Things that he knew were impossible, and yet he was determined to do them. Some where in his mind he heard Anzu Mazaki telling him that he had no heart, that spending time with his machines had turned him cold. Back then he believed he really did have everything he need. But now he was starting to doubt it.
When they were still in the orphanage Seto was always playing with Mokuba because a lot of the other kids were older then him. The two were bonded to one another, and now that bond was weakening. Mokuba didn't trust him as much as he used to. And he blamed Noa for that one; Seto wanted nothing to do with the past. If he dwelled in it there was no way he would be able to live now. Mokuba was his world, for him he would pay the ultimate price if he had to. He'd threatened to jump during Duelist Kingdom, Yugi called off his monster, but somewhere in the back of his mind Seto's younger self was yelling at him for pulling such a stupid stunt.
"How will this help Mokuba?" Young Seto was screaming. "He need's you Seto Kaiba. He needs you to protect him."
But did Mokuba need him now? He knew that his little brother would always need him around, but at what point would he have to let him go? And then would he be alone? Was Mazaki right in saying that Yugi had a heart because he had so many friends? And if that was the reason he won against Pegasus and later against both himself and Malik then was he hurting Mokuba by keeping him just to himself? These questions had been haunting him for the longest time, and he still had no answers.
Eventually Seto did go to bed, but he couldn't sleep. Something was nagging at his gut, and he got up only to spend the rest of the night playing a game of solitaire in hopes of getting some sleep. The following day was just as bad as the night. Nothing was going right; he woke up late, and found out that several new cards from the latest set of Magic and Wizards from Industrial Illusions were not registering in the duel disk system. He rubbed his temples; this whole trip was turning out to be a disaster. But he refused to give up, and by the afternoon things had seemed to calm down. That is, everything was calm, until about two o'clock.
Once again Mokuba went out with Price, he asked Seto for an hour more, and Seto had told him to come back by four. Then, as with the day before, Mokuba asked Seto if he could go again to the boardwalk the next day, and once more Seto reluctantly agreed. This went on for several days; and by the fourth day Seto was becoming suspicious of the whole thing. By the fifth day, he was beginning to doubt Mokuba's stories about not being able to play all the games in the arcade. On the sixth day he knew something was up because Mokuba came in with sand in his shoes. When asked about it, Mokuba got very defensive saying that he went down to the beach to find some shells. On the seventh day Seto had had enough; after Mokuba came back he told him to go back to the penthouse and wait for him there. Then he called in Price and began to question him about what was happening when he took Mokuba down to the boardwalk.
"Well sir," Price explained in his robotic way, something that exasperated Seto very much. "You see young Mr. Kaiba will wait for about ten minutes, and will order lemonade. Then we will sit there and watch people."
"Your starting to aggravate me, Price, get to the point already," Seto told him and Price quickly went on.
"Sir, after about ten minutes, give or take, a young woman comes over and takes Mokuba on a tour of the board walk. I wait for him at the designated spot, and they always come back before the appointed time. And that is all I know, Mr. Kaiba. Your brother does mention some of the places that he's been, among them the arcade, several diners on the walk, and some other buildings housing entertainment venues."
"Wait, you said something about a girl, what did she look like?" Seto asked harshly.
"I'm not sure sir, I didn't really notice her all that much," Price told him and Seto gritted his teeth. How could a bodyguard be so stupid? He was paid to notice everything, and he noticed nothing at all about a person that kept taking Mokuba away from him? What was this moron doing, checking out women when he should be watching his brother? Seto was more then pissed off. There was only one reasonable explanation to the situation. It had to be Gwen; there was no one else that Mokuba would willingly go with.
"You mean to tell me you let my
brother wander off with a total stranger, and you don't even remember what she
looks like?! Do you even know where she takes him to?"
"Sir she said she's a tour guide for the boardwalk, which you paid for her to show young Mr. Kaiba around." Price explained and Seto felt his blood pressure rise. He clenched his teeth, and felt his face twitch. He was furious! If it was Gwen then Mokuba had been lying to him, but he didn't want to doubt his little brother. Mokuba wouldn't do this when Seto had asked him, practically begged him, to not see her again.
"I did no such thing, you moron." Seto barked at Price who, for the first time, showed that he was at least somewhat edgy. The bodyguard moved back in his chair and sat up. Seto noticed that he was sweating quite a bit, but he was far too angry at the moment to take any pleasure in it. Price had let him down, and was going to face consequences for screwing up so badly. "You think I would pay for someone to take Mokuba on a tour of a boardwalk?! There's never been such a thing; it's imbecilic to even think that there was. And why didn't you call me when this woman first approached you? Well, I'm waiting Price, and it better be good."
"Well, Mr. Kaiba," Seto saw Price pull out a handkerchief and dab his brow. "You see when I tried to the woman took the phone from me, and what she said sounded so convincing that I just went along with it. Sir, if you no longer want me to take Mokuba to the boardwalk, I won't."
"Oh, you're right about not taking Mokuba to the boardwalk, Price." Seto said sneering at him, "In fact you won't be taking my brother anywhere at all. You're fired! Effective immediately! And don't bother picking up your stuff. I want you out of my office and out of my sight before I throw you out myself."
"Mr. Kaiba, you can't do this…" Price was saying when Seto pressed a button on his phone.
"Amy, tell the security guards to come up here, I have a trespasser in my office that I want removed."
Price felt sick, but wasn't about to argue with Kaiba. He turned and left the office in a hurry, and Seto pulled his finger off the ring button. All that did was change the tone of the ring on the phone. He got up and headed out of the office. Price was long gone, and Amy was just coming back into the office.
"Mr. Kaiba, is something wrong," she asked quickly, but went quiet when she saw the look in his eye.
"Amy, do me a favor, I need you to find out how much tickets cost in San Francisco," Seto told her. "Oh and what's the going rate for skyboxes?"
"Y-yes sir," Amy said and quickly got on the phone as Seto headed for the door.
"Oh and one other thing," he said before he left, "When you find out call me on my cell phone."
"Of course Mr. Kaiba," Amy replied and Seto headed out towards the elevators. When he got outside his driver was already waiting. He was holding an envelope in his hand, and Seto noticed that he seemed puzzled by it.
"Smith, what's the problem?" Seto asked and the elderly gentleman showed him the white envelope.
"Oh, Good-evening Mr. Kaiba," Smith said and opened the door for him. Seto climbed in and Smith got into the driver side of the car.
"I asked you if there was something bothering you, Smith," Kaiba said as they headed down the freeway. "I would like some sort of answer."
"Well sir," Smith replied handing him the envelope and Seto took it. "I was given this by a gentleman with brown hair. He said to give it to you straight away. I wasn't sure about it, so I was debating about giving it to you, you know, incase it was anything dangerous."
Seto nodded and ripped open the white envelope. Inside what he saw made his stomach twist up in knots. It was pictures of Mokuba, and someone, obviously having a fun time together. Seto didn't need to see the face to know who it was. There were several different shots of his brother. If they could get this close to him…Seto shivered. They could just as easily kidnap him, or worse. He felt sick. This was worse then with Pegasus. At least then Mokuba realized he was in trouble, with Gwen he had no idea how dangerous she was. She was playing with him, and he didn't know a thing about it. Seto knew he needed to get Mokuba away from her as fast as he could. The trip to San Francisco would be a start. Maybe if he had some luck there would be an office opening down there where he could move Kaiba Corporation down to the bay area. At least there Mokuba would be away from Venture, and would be safe from Gwen. Then he'd get back at her. There was no way he was going to let her get away with this. For insulting his family, he'd make sure that she'd never either them again, one way or another, she would go down.
"Scotts you're going to wish you had never tried to mess with me," Seto thought as the car pulled up to the main door of the apartment building. He got out of the car and headed into the lobby, that's when his cell phone went off.
"Kaiba. Amy, you got the tickets," Seto asked her. When she said that she had he smiled, "Perfect. They'll be waiting at the box office, alright, good job. Yes, Good night to you too."
He turned off the phone. Amy, while helpful, was just as bothersome as Anzu, and Seto wanted no reminder of Yugi's little cheerleading girlfriend, if she was even that. He took the elevator up to the top floor, and got off. Inside the penthouse he found Mokuba reading a comic, and Seto put on a smile.
"So, is it a good story?" Mokuba looked up and gave Seto a big smile.
"Yeah, these American comics are pretty cool," he showed Seto the comic; it was of Insect-man, a boy who had the abilities of several insects after being bitten by a radioactive super bug. Seto looked it over and tossed it back to his brother. "So, um, Seto…"
"Yeah," Seto said grabbing a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.
"Can I go to the boardwalk tomorrow? Please?" Mokuba asked he smiled brightly at Seto who closed his eyes as if to think.
"Hummm, No."
"Wha…" Mokuba's jaw fell. For a second he thought he didn't hear right. "What do you mean, no."
"Just that, you're not going to the boardwalk tomorrow," Seto told him and watched as Mokuba's face twisted from shock to scared.
"Why not, Seto," Mokuba asked. His first thought was that Seto had found out about him seeing Gwen. He knew his big brother would never hurt him, but he hated the idea of disappointing Seto. He wished now that he hadn't promised to see Gwen. But she was always coming up with new ways to have fun, and he liked her. So Mokuba stood there holding his breath.
"Because," Seto said drawing the moment out. He saw the fear in Mokuba's eyes, and knew he'd guessed right that Mokuba was covering up something. But even though he had the pictures, he couldn't prove that it was Gwen with him. That was what was so frustrating.
"What?" Mokuba shouted, and cringed. "Please Seto, tell me why?"
Seto took a slug from the bottled water and said calmly, "Because you and I are going to go to a baseball game tomorrow."
Mokuba's mouth fell, "We…We are?"
"Didn't you tell me you wanted to see one when we got over here?" Seto said with a smile. He was still upset at his brother, but with no proof he decided to play it safe and not let on that he knew something was going on. Mokuba hurried over and hugged Seto tightly; he was so relieved that he wasn't in trouble. "I'll take that as a yes then."
That night Mokuba went to bed happy, he was going to get to see a game with his brother. He couldn't wait. But just as he drifted off to sleep he remembered something that Gwen said that afternoon to him and it made him sit up. "Mokuba, these past few days have been the best I've had in a long time. I'd feel so sad if I didn't get to see you. You're a great friend. I don't know what I'd do without you."