Chapter Fifteen-One Final Meeting

Mokuba kicked the vent cover hard. He'd been stuck in the same duct for two days. He knew Lorelai was looking for him, and he'd done a good job of keeping ahead of her. Thankfully, all those times of being kidnapped were finally coming in handy. Appearently, no one had warned Lorelai Cadell he was an escape artist. The young Kaiba finally got the cover off, and jumped down into a darkened corridor. He recognized it instantly, as the one he'd been in with Christien, only it had been filled with light before. Up ahead of him, he heard voices. Very familiar voices. He was afraid to call out until he was sure though,in case it was a trick. The boy inched towards the voices, as his eyes adjusted to the dark.

"I can't wait to hold my brothers close to my side again. I'll never complain about them again!" Espa Roba was saying.

"I know the feelin'. I'm just really glad it wasn't Serenity involved. Although, knowing her, she'd probably say it was much worse to involve Lacey!" Joey commented.

Mokuba edged into view. "Joey! Hey,Joey!"

"Mokuba! You're alright!" Espa smiled at his brother's best friend.

"Yeah. I got away from her, before she could put me to sleep too." Mokuba told them. "Have you heard from the others?"

"Just a while ago. Your brother and the Ishtars are with them in Lorelai's lair." Espa informed the young Kaiba. "Can you tell us where it is?"

"Yeah,but we'll have to be very careful. Her henchmen are still looking for me."

"Eh…probably us too." Rex spoke up now. He looked at the others. "Well, let's go. I'm tired of being without my sister!"

"Ditto." Weevil and Cedric chorused.

"All right, Mokuba. Lead the way." Espa said quietly.

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Meanwhile, underneath the labyrinth, the group of children, and the three older chaperones had run into a dead end. They were stuck in the long hall that contained Lorelai's lair.

"She'll takes 'way…." Monica whimpered.

"Oh no she won't!" Kenny insisted. "We've got Seto Kaiba, and the Ishtars on our side now!"

"That's right, and I promise you, no one will touch you children again." Marik added firmly.

Jonathan was holding on to Little E tightly. The psychic baby had fallen asleep, presumably due to overexertion of his newfound gift. "Christien, how's Andrew?"

"He's asleep again. She must've dosed him really good." Chris' voice held a note of hatred that was unnatural for the Roba clan.

"No matter. She will get hers." Rishid assured the Robas.

"Is that so, Mr. Ishtar? I hate to point out the obvious, but you are in no position to be making threats such as that." Lorelai spoke up now. She'd crept up behind them.

The younger children shrank back against the older ones, the youngest breaking into tears,crying for their older siblings.

Rishid was still holding Alex Wilson in his arms, and he held on to her even tighter now. "It is alright, Small one. She won't hurt you."

"That is where you are wrong!" Lorelai announced.

"Where's my brother, you wicked woman!" Seto spoke up now.

"I don't know. The little brat escaped!"

"Yes! Go Mokuba!" Jonathan couldn't help but smirk.

"Celebrate while you can, you pathetic excuse for a child! We will find him. In the meantime, all of you will return to your cellls, now!" As she said that, Lorelai was passed by several of her guards, who headed for the children.

"No!" Little E woke up suddenly, staring at the guards wide-eyed.

"Yes!" One lunged for him.

Jonathan backed up, holding his brother tightly. "Leave us alone!" He cried out, as another grabbed him from behind.

"Jonathan!" A very welcome voice called out.

"Espa!" Christien and Andrew chorused, fighting off their respective assailants.

"Get away from them! Now!"Espa commanded angrily. There was a very dangerous tone in his voice; a tone the younger Robas had never heard before.

"Make us!" The guards chided.

Espa turned to the others. "Get them out of here."

"But Big Brother…." Jon began.

"NOW!" Espa ordered.

Ishizu and the others ushered the children out of the way, and through the place which Espa and the others had come from.

"Show yourself, Ms. Cadell!" Espa commanded, an anger rising him that he'd long since put to rest.

"Espa Roba…. We meet again." The woman came into view.

"What do you want with me and my friends?!"

"Really,I just needed them out of my way to get to you and your brothers." Lorelai told him calmly.

"Why?! What have we done to you? We don't even know you!" Espa exclaimed in exasperation.

"Oh, I assure you, Roba, you know me. I was the main attraction until your family showed up with it's "pyschic" claims! Then it turned out your were frauds! But still Lyle refused to fire you!"

"The….the carnie queen! Lorelai Butler! But why go through all the trouble of setting up duels?!"

"To catch your attention of course. I knew how much you loved the dueling arena." The woman glared at him. "And now, I have you and your pesky brothers where I want you!"

"You will not win, you wretched woman! Little Espa wasn't even born when we were there! And as for us being frauds, you are sorely mistaken!" Espa took a deep breath, concentrating really hard. "You're going to pay for what you've done!"

Lorelai smirked. "You can't do anything to me, little boy!" Suddenly, the woman's eyes widened, as she was lifted to the ceiling. "What….what are you doing to me?!"

"Giving you a demonstration of the power I am more than capable of using, and believe me, this isn't all of it!" Espa had a look of pure hatred plain on his face.

"Please! Get me down! It's starting to burn!!" Lorelai's face twisted in pain.

"It's a lot less than you deserve!" Espa informed her.

"Espa! Put her down!" The psychic could hear Rex's voice from behind him. "Come on, man! Let the police deal out the punishment!"

With a very deeps sigh of reluctance, Espa let the woman drop, walking to his brothers.

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Seto was already on the phone by the time Espa rejoined them. "Just get the police here now, damn it!" The CEO ordered, before hanging up. He was holding Mokuba in his right arm tightly. "She is going to jail for a very long time."

"That's good then!" Rishid announced, looking around, as the reunion of siblings and relatives commenced.

"Oh Kenny….I'll never treat you so wrong again!" Weevil held on to his tearful younger sister tightly.

"I missed you so much, Weevil. If it weren't for you, I would've never made it through all that therapy to re-teach myself to walk . You were my strength, Brother. Not Mom,and not Dad. You." The younger Underwood told him.

"Me? But I was so mean…." Weevil felt even worse.

"That never bothered me, Weevil. You were there when it counted most." The Underwoods hugged each other tightly.

In another corner, Lacey and Joey were having their own reunion. "Cousin Joey's so sorry, Lace. I will never put my dueling before you again."

"It's tay, Tousin." The little girl wrapped her arms around Joey tightly. "We see 'Renity soon?"

"Yeah….She'll be back home tomorrow." Joey smiled, rubbing her back.

Rex held on to his baby sister tightly. "Shhh….Brother's here now. We're going to be going home in the morning,Monica. "

"Neber weave aden!" Monica ordered through her tears.

"I don't plan on it. And if I do, you'll be right there with me!" Rex assured her, before looking over at Espa and his crew. "Hey…Roba…."

Espa looked up, from his group hug. "Yes?"

"Thanks. We would've never gotten through this without you."

"You're wrong. I didn't do this, Rex." Espa looked around at everyone. "We all did. Every one of us." He looked up at Ishizu, Marik and Rishid. "You three are amazing. How is it you always know when your friends are in trouble?"

"You are not the only one with premonitions, Mr. Roba." Rishid told him softly, with a secretive smile at Marik.

"Speaking of being psychic, how come your little brother's powers only worked recently? We could've used that early on." Kenny spoke up.

"It must've been triggered by his intense fear of everyone leaving him. He must've mistaken the mere tranquilizer for a poison, and thought his brothers and friends were dying." Espa guessed. "That's how my powers started too."

"That makes perfect sense!" Randi remarked. "I read a book about Psychics once. But it was nothing like you and your brother, Espa."

The eldest Roba chuckled. "Probably not. Most books are not." He turned, and with his brothers beside him once more, headed for the hotel.

"Hey,Espa!" Joey called now.

Espa turned to look at Joey. "Yeah?"

"Tomorrow night,my place. We're going to watch movies." He looked at everyone. "What the heck! You're all invited!"

Seto grunted. "Like I'll have time for that! This has been a wasted weekend!" He led Mokuba to their helicopter. "Come on Mokuba. You can see your new friends in school on Monday." The Kaiba Corporation helicopter departed moments later.

"That ungrateful creep! He'll never change!" Joey shook his fist at the departing aircraft. "You owe me on, Kaiba! You hear me?!"

Rex shook his head in amusement. "Let it go, Wheeler. Let's get out of here. I don't want to stay another night in this creepy place!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, heading for the charter bus.

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"You kids back all ready?" The bus driver looked at his watch. "I just dropped you off an hour ago."

"What?" Espa stared at him in disbelief.

"It's only been an hour?! That's nuts! We've been gone for two days!" Joey exclaimed.

"Are you lot alright? It's still only ten o'clock." The driver showed Espa his watch.

"Impossible!" Sure enough, the watch said ten o'clock. What was even more astounding was that the date was also the same as it had been when they'd all departed from the bus! Espa shook his head, staring back at the park gates, with a shiver. "Well, whatever the case, we want to be as far as we can get from here as fast as we can get there!" His friends nodded in agreement, and they all boarded the bus.

As the bus carried them farther from the park, Espa listened to the snatches of conversation around him. Jonathan and Kendra were talking about the upcoming soccer season, while Andrew and Monica talked about Show and Tell. Whatever had happened in that Park, Espa knew that forevermore, he would never have to cope with raising his brothers alone again. He had true friends now. He looked over at Cedric and smiled. His sisters were all playing with Baby Espa. The baby Roba seemed to relish the attention, but also seemed to be more settled,as if his ear infection never existed. Espa was glad of that. He took one last glance at Thunderbourough, before sighing in contentment, and falling into as well earned nap.

(A/N: And that completes my first Roba fic ever. I hope you have all enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone who reviewed,and especially to Melissa, who as always supports me. Daisy, for encouraging me to try my hand at a mystery fic in the first place,Ron aka Raky for reviewing it,and pushing me to finish what I start!)