From Darkness To Light: School
By Asher Tye
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, I wish I did 'cause then I'd be rich. Since I'm not, suing me would be pointless.
Summary: A fight at school, a monster at home, and a evil Tomb Robber... Is it any wonder Mokuba leaves?
*_* - Personal Thoughts
/_/ - Yugi to Yami
\_\ - Yami to Yugi
***************************************************************************
Running. He was running.
"Killer!" He tried as hard as he could to drown out the voices, to make them stop.
"Murderer!" It seemed though that the harder he tried to drown them out, though, the
louder they became.
"Monster!!" Mokuba had to get away from the yells and tormented screams that rose
through the air to meet him.
"Be quiet!" the raven-haired boy called, falling to his knees as he covered his ears, still
trying to shut out the awful things being said to him. He opened his eyes and, where once
there had been a calm field, now only ruin existed, as though something, or someone, had
attacked the place. Rubble that might have at one time been homes littered the once clean
field along with bones of humans, elves, and creatures Mokuba couldn't even begin to
recognize. That was when he noticed a group running towards him, each wielding weapons of
both the edged and blunt variety. What made this group even more frightening to the boy was
the fact that he recognized each and every member of the group. Leading the charge was
Gaia, the Dragon Champion, riding the Curse of Dragon. The knight was clad in smoldering
armor, as though he had already been in a battle. A Manticore was running along side the
warrior, not flying because one of its wings was visibly broken. Alongside him ran a man-
shaped lizard that could only be Krokodilus, carrying some sort of club. And bringing up the
rear was none other than the Dark Magician and his sister, the Dark Magician Girl, both of
whom looked tired as they ran.
Mokuba watched as the assembled monsters approached him, more than a little
amazed that he was watching what he'd always believed to be simply cards as flesh and blood.
The group came to a screeching halt right in front of the surprised boy as Gaia raised his
weapon in what Mokuba recognized as a salute.
*Why is he saluting me?* Mokuba thought to himself. He didn't even have the knight
in his deck.
"The battle has been joined on the eastern front... Our warriors are valiant, but they
will be unable to hold the line for long," Gaia said, a low growl of confirmation coming from
his mount. The blue armored warrior then gestured to the village around him. "I'm sorry
we've been forced to summon you without warning, but as you can see from this example of
our enemies 'mercy' we have ample reason."
"What... what are you talking about?" Mokuba asked.
"Your lordship, please. This is no time for games, we need your help." The young
Kaiba was confused as he saw the expectant look on the quintet's faces.
"I'm not a lord, I'm just a kid. I'm sorry, but whoever you're looking for, I'm not
him."
"Who else could you be?" Gaia said, offering a hand to the boy. "Now please, you
have to get up... get up... get up..."
***************************************************************************
"Get up. Get UP," came a voice that invaded Mokuba's dreams. "Mokuba, I'm telling you for the last time, GET UP!!"
"Mmmph mmphy mmmmph." Mokuba's head buried itself beneath three pillows as he tried to hide from the brilliant light that had come on.
"Honestly," said a aged feminine voice as a plump woman wearing a purple skirt and jacket along with a ruffled white shirt. Her gray hair was done up in a bun, and her face was wrinkled, though her eyes retained a youthful spirit all their own. She looked at the boy still laying in bed. The woman took one look around the newly illuminated room, and a scowl came over her face as she saw all the video games that littered the area around the television. "Just as I thought, you were up all night playing those video games again. And on a school night no less. Well, if you insist on doing the crime, you'll just have to pay the penalty." With those words, the old woman grabbed Mokuba's pillows and sheets and roughly yanked them from the bed. Mokuba's eyes flashed open for a brief second before he squeezed them tight, trying to block out the offending light.
"NAAH!!" Mokuba yelled, twisting around in his bed as he tried to continue sleeping.
"I warn you, one of my jobs is to make sure you get to school on time, and it's a job I intend to perform without flaw. With those words, the woman left.
*A bluff... (yawn) I knew it,* Mokuba happily thought as he began to focus on recapturing the sleep he'd lost by staying up until four in the morning, blissfully unaware of his immanent peril.
***********
Meanwhile, on the ground floor of the Kaiba mansion, Seto sat in the dining room, sipping on a cup of coffee as he finished his hard-boiled eggs as he looked over his itinerary for the day.
"AAAAAHHHHH THAT'S COLD!!" Mokuba screamed upstairs. Typically, Mokuba's screaming even a little would have brought his elder brother running up to his younger brother's room to find out what was room. However, Seto knew exactly what was wrong, the same thing that was wrong every time Mokuba decided to go on one of his all night video game binges. The teen shuddered as he tried to think of what sadistic torture Mrs. Carmine had come up with to wake the young boy up. Soon there came the sound of feet stomping the floor; Mokuba had apparently decided not to try his luck anymore. Down the stairs came Mrs. Carmine, a pleased expression on her face as she went into the kitchen, flashing a pleasant smile at Seto as she did so. A few minutes later, his younger brother came tromping down the stairs, pulling a green and blue shirt down over his head.
"Good morning Mokuba," Mrs. Carmine said as she came out of the kitchen, a plate of
eggs and some toast in her hands.
"Good morning," Mokuba said gruffly, clearly put out by whatever the elderly housekeeper had done to get him up.
"I'll have none of that, there's no excuse for rudeness," the woman said sternly. Mokuba looked to his elder brother for help, but Seto simply ignored the raven haired boy. Soon, Mrs. Carmine left the two boys to go back into the kitchen, probably working on Mokuba's lunch.
"I don't like her," Mokuba whispered to Seto.
"You say that every time she has to make you do something," the brown haired teen pointed out. "I get the feeling what you don't like is she isn't buying into that innocent little boy act you always put up." The elder Kaiba took a last sip of his coffee before looking at his wristwatch. "I need to get going, Mokuba, I trust you won't let yourself be late for school."
"Yes big brother," Mokuba said, his mouth full of toast. As soon as Mokuba finished his breakfast, the boy grabbed both his and his brother's plate as he went into the kitchen, placing both in the sink for Mrs. Carmine.
"Thank you Mokuba, you're a very good boy," the housekeeper said, patting her charge on the head. "Has your brother gotten himself off for the day?"
"Yeah, he left about half an hour ago."
"Good, now why don't you go finish getting ready." With those words, Mrs. Carmine turned back to the counter, cutting a sandwich in two as she prepared Mokuba's lunch. Fifteen minutes later and Mrs. Carmine heard a knock on the door. She opened it to find Lance, one of the drivers Seto Kaiba hired to chauffeur his younger brother around whenever they couldn't travel together. The man also played a duel role as a bodyguard, as evidenced by the slight bulge in his coat that indicated a gun.
"Is Mr. Mokuba ready for school?" Lance asked.
"For heaven's sake you make him sound like an old man instead of a little boy," Mrs. Carmine said. "Mokuba, it's time to go!" No response came to from the boy. "Mokuba! One moment, I'll find him." The elderly woman walked into the kitchen, but Mokuba wasn't there. In fact he wasn't on the entire first floor. Mrs. Carmine walked up the stairs to the second floor, where she saw the bathroom light was on. The elderly woman knocked on the open door before looking in to find Mokuba in the process of brushing his teeth. Or at least he had been. Right now, the boy was staring at his own reflection like a zombie, the foam from his toothpaste dribbling down his chin. "Mokuba, you're going to be late for school." Mokuba seemed to snap out of his staring contest.
"Hmm... What happened?" asked the slightly confused Kaiba.
"I don't know, you were just standing here staring at the mirror," Mrs. Carmine said, taking a washcloth to wipe the boy's face. "Now then, Lance is here, so you need to grab your backpack. Your lunch is waiting for you on the kitchen counter." Realizing he was going to be late, Mokuba charged out of the bathroom, and out the door.
*****************************************
A black limousine made it's way carefully up the sidestreet of Six/Six Intermediate School, making sure to avoid the mob of children all being let off and trying to get into the school. A few of the children who hadn't gone to Three/Four Elementary School stopped to look at the black car, imagining what it was like to ride in it. Of course, it wasn't as if it was anything new, the car had been arriving almost every day since it's sole passenger had begun attending the middle school. As soon as the crowd had dispersed a bit, Lance got out of the driver's side of the limo and ran to open Mokuba's door. Gingerly the boy jumped out, bidding his driver a polite thank you before he began scanning the milling crowd. A smile spread across the boy's face as he spotted two other boys talking to each other, and he ran to them.
"Jake, Shale!!" Mokuba cried.
"Finally made it, eh Mokuba," the boy with the freckled skin and red hair said, smiling.
"I got stopped at every red light coming here Shale."
"Well, we do have enough time for a duel if you wanna try to beat me," said the white haired boy wearing a T-shirt with a Red-Eyes Black Dragon embroidered on it who could only be Jake. Mokuba began patting each of his pockets as a look of horror swept over his face.
"Oh no! I musta forgot my deck at home!" Mokuba said.
"Bummer," Jake said.
"Dude you have a housemaid who makes sure everything else is ready for you to get here, and you can't remember your deck on your own?"
"I had other things on my mind," Mokuba lamented.
"Musta gotten his bank statement yesterday," Shale said, just loud enough to let Mokuba hear, while Jake giggled.
"Oh very funny," Mokuba said, a look of mock anger on his face. "I'll just remember that the next time it's raining and you two smart-alecks need a ride home."
"Well if you can't duel with us, you might as well watch us," Jake said as he began to pull out his deck. That was when Shale saw something that made him start.
"Put your deck away Jake, it's Jesse," Shale said, pointing at a rather large eighth grader coming their way.
"Hey shrimps, where's your 'drooling' decks?" Jesse asked as he flipped through a deck of his own. He had a greedy look on his face as he eyed the three friends, imagining how nice a price their cards would fetch.
"Oh too bad Jess," Jake said. "We were all in such a hurry we just forgot our decks."
"Then what's that?" Jesse said, pointing to the cards that had fallen behind Jake. The large boy reached for the cards, ready to add them to his collection. "I was gonna give you a chance ta duel me for these, but since you lied to me, I don't think you deserve it." Shale and Jake groaned as Jesse's hand closed around the cards, just before a foot stamped down on his hand, forcing the bully to let go.
"Why don't you just leave us alone," Mokuba said, as Jesse stood up to his full height, dwarfing the smaller boy as he rubbed his injured hand. Mokuba began to have serious doubts about what he'd done.
"So the rich twerp wants to tell me what to do. Well how about I stomp on you for a while?" Just then the school bell sounded, signaling it was time to head inside for classes. "Consider this a stay of execution twerp, but we'll finish this at lunch." Jesse jabbed a finger into Mokuba's chest, knocking him to the ground before leaving.
"Dude, I think you're in trouble," Shale said as he and Jake helped Mokuba back up.
"Just what I needed to start my day."
**********************************************************
The clock struck twelve, indicating it was lunch time at Domino High School, and Ryou had taken up his usual spot in the cafeteria next to the window as he began to unpack his lunch. So far it had proven to be a pretty uneventful day, and such days were the best in the white-haired boy's opinion, as they gave little reason for his darker half to come out of the Millennium Ring and cause trouble. The young man looked around the room hoping to spot Yugi and his other friends. Sure enough they were all standing in a long line, waiting for their food.
*I hope they don't have that mystery meat again,* Ryou thought, not wanting to listen to another hour of Joey and Tristan's tasteless jokes about the inedible entree they were sure to buy. That was when the teen began to feel a pulling sensation at his chest. He looked down to find five points appearing from underneath his jacket. Something had activated the Millennium Ring. *Oh no!!* Ryou thought as he felt his conscious mind slipping away. Soon, the quiet and gentle Ryou was replaced by his darker half, the ancient tomb robber, Bakura. The ancient spirit undid his jacket, allowing his millennium item to hang freely, and he was a bit surprised to find the ring almost trying to yank itself off his neck. That could mean only one thing, it had locked onto a great source of power. Though originally designed to lock onto the other six millennium items, the ring was also sensitive to any great concentrations of dark magic.
*It would seem there's a new player in town,* Bakura thought as all five of the item's pointers stood completely on end. Tossing Ryou's lunch away, Bakura got up and left, careful to avoid detection by Yugi.
*************************************************
At the same time as this, Mrs. Carmine busied herself with the dishes, humming a quiet tune to herself. Nearby sat a small television turned to the news, helping to keep the elderly woman updated on current events. She lifted the glass she was cleaning to look at it, inspecting it before putting it into the dishwasher, and, much to her surprise, she saw a pair of eyes staring at her. Mrs. Carmine turned around to find a small, grayish purple cat staring at her from the living room. Since the only small animal Seto Kaiba ever even seemed to like was Mokuba, the housekeeper could not help but wonder where this one had come from.
"How did you get in here?" Mrs. Carmine asked, not really expecting an answer. She began to walk over to the cat, wanting to see if it had any tags.
"I got in with the greatest of ease, now please stay where you are, I would prefer not to hurt you," the cat said as it walked into the kitchen. Mrs. Carmine backed away in fight as she saw the cat's full body. It possessed two white feathery wings, and a long scaly tail.
"What... What in the world?" the elderly woman said, backing up into the kitchen counter. The Fusionist jumped up onto the counter, baring it's fangs at the woman.
"Do not scream, I would hate to have to kill you... Now, I'm looking for someone, Seto Kaiba. I'm told this is his place of residence, but I've searched all over and been unable to find him. Where is he?" Mrs. Carmine thought furiously. What answer could she give that would keep this horrific cat from finding her employer, and keep herself alive.
"Mr. Kaiba starts out an early day... He's probably already in his office at KaibaCorp," the old woman said.
"Of course, you humans have no concept of cat naps..." The Fusionist turned to leave. "Now, be a dear and do stay here, in case I can't find him..." As soon as the cat was gone, Mrs. Carmine raced to the phone, scrambling to dial Seto Kaiba's cell phone number.
*************************************
Seto Kaiba bit into his turkey and peanut butter sandwich, savoring the twin tastes of his favorite food. It always reminded him of his mother, who loved experimenting with different flavors. Gozabura had tried to stamp out such tastes in his adopted son, and for a while it seemed he had succeeded. Seto had to smile as he remembered the happy accident that had reintroduced him to his culinary love. Suddenly, the young CEO heard the sound of his cell phone ringing. Immediately, Kaiba felt a stab of fear run through him. He had a standing rule that no one was to contact him on this line unless it was an emergency, the last fool who had tried otherwise had found himself jobless.
"Hello? Mrs. Carmine? What's wrong?"
"Mr. Kaiba, I'm so sorry to call you on this line, but I need to warn you."
"Warn me about what?"
"This is going to sound ludicrous, I know. I wouldn't believe it myself, but I swear it's true."
"Calm down Mrs. Carmine! Now tell me, what is wrong."
"There was this cat in the house, only it wasn't a cat... I mean, it looked like one, but it had wings, and it talked... I know it's insane but it's..." Seto closed his eyes. Mrs. Carmine was right, this did sound insane, and had anyone else been telling him this story, he would have quickly lost his temper and hung up the phone, vowing revenge on the crank caller. He found himself sorely tempted to ask the housekeeper if she'd been drinking, but that was as ludicrous as a cat with wings. "Mr. Kaiba, it was looking for you."
"What?"
"I told it you were at KaibaCorp, so it said it would return if it couldn't find you there."
"Okay, calm down, I'll be there shortly. I don't want you to stay there though if it's not safe. I'll contact you later on your pager once I've dealt with this 'cat,'" Seto said. The idea of someone being after him was not new to Seto, especially after the attempt on his life the other day. Mokuba had said it had been Witty Phantom who'd pushed him, and now Mrs. Carmine was talking about a cat with wings. Someone was obviously going to a lot of trouble to hide their identity, that was sure, possibly that Egyptian person Mokuba had been with. Regardless, Seto needed to get to the bottom of this.
*****************************************************
Elsewhere as these events unfolded, Mokuba sat in his classroom, looking at the clock. It was only a single minute until lunch time. Typically this was something he looked forward to, it meant a chance to hang with his friends and play a few rounds of duel monster, or even capsule monsters. Now, though, the only thing he could think about was Jesse's promise to turn the young Kaiba into roadkill.
"Mr. Kaiba," came a shrill voice as a ruler slammed down on Mokuba's desk, breaking his concentration. "If my lessons are boring you, please let me know. I can always go over them again with you, AFTER school."
"Sorry Ms. Takai," Mokuba said, smiling sheepishly at his history teacher. It was then that the lunch bell rang, signaling the end of class.
"Have a good lunch class," the teacher called as her students stampeded out of her
room. Mokuba was somewhat less enthusiastic, hope to see Jesse coming before the bigger boy caught him. Thus, he was totally oblivious to the presence of Jake and Shale, at least until he crashed into them.
"Hey! Oh hi guys," Mokuba said as he two friends looked at him. Suddenly, Shale
grabbed his jacket, putting it over the raven-haired boy's head. "Hey whaterya trying to do?"
"Simple, if we can hide you from Jesse, he'll probably forget about wanting to pound you by the end of the day," Shale said.
"Yeah, Jess isn't the brightest bulb in the box and someone else will probably do something to tick him off more than you," Jake said as they began to sneak down the hall. They got about ten feet before a gruff voice startled them all.
"Hey, shrimp sandwich!" Jesse called as he turned the corner to block the trio's path. "Now you didn't forget we had business at lunch, did ya horse-boy..." Mokuba looked up from under the jacket to see Jesse cracking his knuckles, not a good sign. Knowing he was no match for the big eighth grader, the young Kaiba tried to think of some way out of this predicament. When nothing presented itself, the boy was stuck with only one route.
"Wouldyoulookatthetime,gottago," Mokuba said as he threw the jacket over Jesse's head, turning on his heel as he took off back down the hall at warp speed. Jesse angrily yanked the offending article of clothing off his head quickly, watching Mokuba run away.
"You wimp!" said the bigger boy as he began to give chase. To their credit, Jake and Shale did try to stop him, only to be roughly shoved aside. Mokuba's smaller body was able to take a pretty good lead as the chase began.
*With any luck I can loose the big idiot,* Mokuba thought to himself, sprinting through the halls. He cast a quick look behind him to see his tormentor was beginning to close the gap between them. The dark haired boy turned his head back around just in time to watch himself crash head on into a wall.
"Well, well, well. Not the most coordinated shrimp in the sea, are ya?" Jesse said as he picked Mokuba up by the shoulders and slammed him back into the wall. "Now I get to teach it's not nice to stamp on other people's hands." With those words, Jesse drew his fist back, ready to knock the wind out of his victim. Before the fist could land, however, Mokuba's own hand shot up, catching the offending appendage in mid-strike. The young Kaiba's face now held a wicked sneer, as though he were a crocodile who'd just landed a fat wildebeest. Jesse's eyes began to grow wide as he felt his fist being pushed back. Reflexively, the bully's other hand let go of Mokuba's shoulder so it could try to strike the his face. Mokuba let go of Jesse's other hand and ducked under the incoming arms. Jesse felt the raven haired boy's hands latch onto his chest as the smaller boy continued to smile.
"Now I teach you a lesson," Mokuba said in a voice that was grainy and less friendly than his normal one.
"What are you...?"
"OBLIVION!!" Purple energy flew from the boy's hands smashing into the eighth grader's chest and sending him flailing into the row of lockers behind him, severely denting the metal containers.
"Hmm, I must be weaker than I thought," Mokuba said, still wearing the same smile on his face. "Oh well." A ball of purple energy appeared at the tip of the boy's finger as it pointed right at Jesse's forehead as his eyes took on a red and black coloration.
"MR. KAIBA!!" Came a shrill voice as a wrinkled hand grabbed his shoulder. Instantly, the purple energy ball evaporated as the boy's eyes once more took on their normal blue color.
"W... What?" Mokuba said, confused as to why someone was grabbing his shoulder. He turned around to see Ms. Takai scowling at him, obviously upset. At that point, Shale and Jake rounded the corner, hoping to arrive before their long haired friend had the tar beaten out of him.
"Woah, what happened here?" The two boys asked in unison.
"OW!" Jesse cried from where he was embedded in the lockers. "My arm, it hurts." Sure enough, the young teen's arm was bent in an odd direction where it had hit the dividing wall between two lockers.
"Oh dear," Ms. Takai said, rushing over to the injured student. She took one look at Jesse's broken arm and turned to Shale. "This boy needs attention, I want you to go get the nurse." Shale nodded at the teacher, taking off to find the requested help. That done, Ms. Takai turned back to Mokuba. "And YOU Mr. Kaiba. I don't know how you did this but I know you did it."
"He was gonna try to kill me," Mokuba protested, still a bit unsure as to what had happened to change THAT scenario.
"I knew your brother had a meanstreak, but I had hoped you at least knew how to behave yourself. Now I have to stay with Mr. Sinclair, but I want you to go directly to the principal's office this moment."
"But..."
"I don't want to hear it, now go!" Unable to offer up any arguments, Mokuba sadly turned to leave. Jake turned as well, ready to follow Mokuba down to the principal's office as moral support. "Not you Jake. You get back to the cafeteria."
Mokuba continued on his journey down the hallway, trying to think of some way to explain all this to the principal. He wasn't particularly worried about his brother, it was almost a sure thing that Seto would believe anything Mokuba told him, but that wouldn't stop the principal from suspending him if he saw fit.
*There has to be a way out of this mess,* Mokuba thought. That's when he noticed he was about to pass by the school exit. Suddenly, the young Kaiba began to feel the same drowsy feeling he'd had during his elder brother's duel. *I need to leave.* With those thoughts, Mokuba began to walk down the hallway, only to be stopped by a hall monitor.
"Don't think so, kid," said the hall monitor as he barred Mokuba's way. "You know the rules, you're not allowed to leave school grounds during school. Now I suggest you go where ever you're supposed to be before I write you up." In response, Mokuba reached into his back pocket, a small purple light glowing for a short while as he pulled out a dueling deck of all things. Swiftly, the boy drew a single card from the bottom of the deck.
"I'm afraid I really must be going," Mokuba said, his voice once more taking on a grainy tone as he displayed the card for the hall monitor to see.
"What is that?"
"It's a very special dueling card, a magical spell I can use to keep you from interfering with my work."
"You've got some imagination kid, thinking a scrap of paper can get you out of..."
"MESMERIZE!!" Mokuba called as his eyes once more took on their red and black countenance. The card in his hand glowed purple, transforming into a ball hanging from a string that began to swing back and forth in front of the hall monitor's face. The young teen's eyes began to droop as he became hypnotized by the ball. Mokuba smiled as he let go of the string, watching as the ball continued to swing in mid-air. Quickly, the boy opened the door, leaving the school and his helpless victim.
*****************************
Bakura sat in a tree, less than an hour after leaving his own school, rubbing his neck after almost having it broken by his own millennium item. The youthful looking tomb robber was puzzled, and more than a little upset. The signal his ring had been getting had been flickering in and out ever since he'd begun tracking it, but he'd been able to follow his pointers straight here. One final tug and now, the energy was all but gone. Bakura looked at the school.
*Where would a school come up with such a massive amount of dark energy?* Bakura thought to himself. Whatever it had been, it had either depleted itself or was gone, which meant the tomb robber was risking detention for his lighter half for nothing. Still, Bakura could almost taste the energy in the air. He had to be close. That was when he noticed an ambulance pull up to the school. A few minutes and the drivers were pulling someone out on a stretcher. *One of the brats got hurt?* This was interesting, considering the energy spike he'd felt. The thief tried to get a better look at the person on the stretcher, but adults blocked his every vantage.
Thinking up a new strategy, Bakura reached into his pocket, pulling forth a small golden ball, the Millennium Eye. If his eyes couldn't see what was happening, his new item surely could. Carefully, Bakura brought the golden eye closer to his own, being very careful not to let the two touch. That way he would not be stuck with the golden eye on his face forever. He very much doubted he could come up with a convincing reason as to why he had it that wouldn't get him in trouble. Quietly, Bakura began to scan the minds of those below him. What he got was fear and pain from the one in the stretcher. Though the tomb robber had defeated Pegasus for the item, he didn't have the experience the multi-millionare had with the artifact, and the fact that it wouldn't completely obey him made this tougher.
That was when he felt another tug around his neck. Bakura looked down to see one of his Millennium Ring's pointers was now pointing away from the school. It felt like the same power from before, but now it was in downtown Domino City. The tomb robber smiled. That meant the power was mobile, and would be easier to steal.
****************************************
Quietly, Mokuba got off the subway, hoping not to attract much attention to himself. He was now wearing a tattered coat, a grimy shirt, and pants with holes in them, all part of the disguise he hoped would keep him from being recognized too quickly. Quietly he raised his hand as the Invitation to a Dark Sleep card returned to his hand, releasing the homeless boy it had entranced into switching clothes with Mokuba.
The young Kaiba looked around, as if to make sure the subway car had taken him to the right place. All around him were signs of decay, graffiti, and the unfortunates of society, as well as those that preyed on them. The lower side of downtown was not a nice place to be, nor a safe place for a little kid to visit; unless he had some protection. His preparations complete, Mokuba began walking down the worn streets, searching.
***************************************************************************
To Be Continued...
By Asher Tye
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, I wish I did 'cause then I'd be rich. Since I'm not, suing me would be pointless.
Summary: A fight at school, a monster at home, and a evil Tomb Robber... Is it any wonder Mokuba leaves?
*_* - Personal Thoughts
/_/ - Yugi to Yami
\_\ - Yami to Yugi
***************************************************************************
Running. He was running.
"Killer!" He tried as hard as he could to drown out the voices, to make them stop.
"Murderer!" It seemed though that the harder he tried to drown them out, though, the
louder they became.
"Monster!!" Mokuba had to get away from the yells and tormented screams that rose
through the air to meet him.
"Be quiet!" the raven-haired boy called, falling to his knees as he covered his ears, still
trying to shut out the awful things being said to him. He opened his eyes and, where once
there had been a calm field, now only ruin existed, as though something, or someone, had
attacked the place. Rubble that might have at one time been homes littered the once clean
field along with bones of humans, elves, and creatures Mokuba couldn't even begin to
recognize. That was when he noticed a group running towards him, each wielding weapons of
both the edged and blunt variety. What made this group even more frightening to the boy was
the fact that he recognized each and every member of the group. Leading the charge was
Gaia, the Dragon Champion, riding the Curse of Dragon. The knight was clad in smoldering
armor, as though he had already been in a battle. A Manticore was running along side the
warrior, not flying because one of its wings was visibly broken. Alongside him ran a man-
shaped lizard that could only be Krokodilus, carrying some sort of club. And bringing up the
rear was none other than the Dark Magician and his sister, the Dark Magician Girl, both of
whom looked tired as they ran.
Mokuba watched as the assembled monsters approached him, more than a little
amazed that he was watching what he'd always believed to be simply cards as flesh and blood.
The group came to a screeching halt right in front of the surprised boy as Gaia raised his
weapon in what Mokuba recognized as a salute.
*Why is he saluting me?* Mokuba thought to himself. He didn't even have the knight
in his deck.
"The battle has been joined on the eastern front... Our warriors are valiant, but they
will be unable to hold the line for long," Gaia said, a low growl of confirmation coming from
his mount. The blue armored warrior then gestured to the village around him. "I'm sorry
we've been forced to summon you without warning, but as you can see from this example of
our enemies 'mercy' we have ample reason."
"What... what are you talking about?" Mokuba asked.
"Your lordship, please. This is no time for games, we need your help." The young
Kaiba was confused as he saw the expectant look on the quintet's faces.
"I'm not a lord, I'm just a kid. I'm sorry, but whoever you're looking for, I'm not
him."
"Who else could you be?" Gaia said, offering a hand to the boy. "Now please, you
have to get up... get up... get up..."
***************************************************************************
"Get up. Get UP," came a voice that invaded Mokuba's dreams. "Mokuba, I'm telling you for the last time, GET UP!!"
"Mmmph mmphy mmmmph." Mokuba's head buried itself beneath three pillows as he tried to hide from the brilliant light that had come on.
"Honestly," said a aged feminine voice as a plump woman wearing a purple skirt and jacket along with a ruffled white shirt. Her gray hair was done up in a bun, and her face was wrinkled, though her eyes retained a youthful spirit all their own. She looked at the boy still laying in bed. The woman took one look around the newly illuminated room, and a scowl came over her face as she saw all the video games that littered the area around the television. "Just as I thought, you were up all night playing those video games again. And on a school night no less. Well, if you insist on doing the crime, you'll just have to pay the penalty." With those words, the old woman grabbed Mokuba's pillows and sheets and roughly yanked them from the bed. Mokuba's eyes flashed open for a brief second before he squeezed them tight, trying to block out the offending light.
"NAAH!!" Mokuba yelled, twisting around in his bed as he tried to continue sleeping.
"I warn you, one of my jobs is to make sure you get to school on time, and it's a job I intend to perform without flaw. With those words, the woman left.
*A bluff... (yawn) I knew it,* Mokuba happily thought as he began to focus on recapturing the sleep he'd lost by staying up until four in the morning, blissfully unaware of his immanent peril.
***********
Meanwhile, on the ground floor of the Kaiba mansion, Seto sat in the dining room, sipping on a cup of coffee as he finished his hard-boiled eggs as he looked over his itinerary for the day.
"AAAAAHHHHH THAT'S COLD!!" Mokuba screamed upstairs. Typically, Mokuba's screaming even a little would have brought his elder brother running up to his younger brother's room to find out what was room. However, Seto knew exactly what was wrong, the same thing that was wrong every time Mokuba decided to go on one of his all night video game binges. The teen shuddered as he tried to think of what sadistic torture Mrs. Carmine had come up with to wake the young boy up. Soon there came the sound of feet stomping the floor; Mokuba had apparently decided not to try his luck anymore. Down the stairs came Mrs. Carmine, a pleased expression on her face as she went into the kitchen, flashing a pleasant smile at Seto as she did so. A few minutes later, his younger brother came tromping down the stairs, pulling a green and blue shirt down over his head.
"Good morning Mokuba," Mrs. Carmine said as she came out of the kitchen, a plate of
eggs and some toast in her hands.
"Good morning," Mokuba said gruffly, clearly put out by whatever the elderly housekeeper had done to get him up.
"I'll have none of that, there's no excuse for rudeness," the woman said sternly. Mokuba looked to his elder brother for help, but Seto simply ignored the raven haired boy. Soon, Mrs. Carmine left the two boys to go back into the kitchen, probably working on Mokuba's lunch.
"I don't like her," Mokuba whispered to Seto.
"You say that every time she has to make you do something," the brown haired teen pointed out. "I get the feeling what you don't like is she isn't buying into that innocent little boy act you always put up." The elder Kaiba took a last sip of his coffee before looking at his wristwatch. "I need to get going, Mokuba, I trust you won't let yourself be late for school."
"Yes big brother," Mokuba said, his mouth full of toast. As soon as Mokuba finished his breakfast, the boy grabbed both his and his brother's plate as he went into the kitchen, placing both in the sink for Mrs. Carmine.
"Thank you Mokuba, you're a very good boy," the housekeeper said, patting her charge on the head. "Has your brother gotten himself off for the day?"
"Yeah, he left about half an hour ago."
"Good, now why don't you go finish getting ready." With those words, Mrs. Carmine turned back to the counter, cutting a sandwich in two as she prepared Mokuba's lunch. Fifteen minutes later and Mrs. Carmine heard a knock on the door. She opened it to find Lance, one of the drivers Seto Kaiba hired to chauffeur his younger brother around whenever they couldn't travel together. The man also played a duel role as a bodyguard, as evidenced by the slight bulge in his coat that indicated a gun.
"Is Mr. Mokuba ready for school?" Lance asked.
"For heaven's sake you make him sound like an old man instead of a little boy," Mrs. Carmine said. "Mokuba, it's time to go!" No response came to from the boy. "Mokuba! One moment, I'll find him." The elderly woman walked into the kitchen, but Mokuba wasn't there. In fact he wasn't on the entire first floor. Mrs. Carmine walked up the stairs to the second floor, where she saw the bathroom light was on. The elderly woman knocked on the open door before looking in to find Mokuba in the process of brushing his teeth. Or at least he had been. Right now, the boy was staring at his own reflection like a zombie, the foam from his toothpaste dribbling down his chin. "Mokuba, you're going to be late for school." Mokuba seemed to snap out of his staring contest.
"Hmm... What happened?" asked the slightly confused Kaiba.
"I don't know, you were just standing here staring at the mirror," Mrs. Carmine said, taking a washcloth to wipe the boy's face. "Now then, Lance is here, so you need to grab your backpack. Your lunch is waiting for you on the kitchen counter." Realizing he was going to be late, Mokuba charged out of the bathroom, and out the door.
*****************************************
A black limousine made it's way carefully up the sidestreet of Six/Six Intermediate School, making sure to avoid the mob of children all being let off and trying to get into the school. A few of the children who hadn't gone to Three/Four Elementary School stopped to look at the black car, imagining what it was like to ride in it. Of course, it wasn't as if it was anything new, the car had been arriving almost every day since it's sole passenger had begun attending the middle school. As soon as the crowd had dispersed a bit, Lance got out of the driver's side of the limo and ran to open Mokuba's door. Gingerly the boy jumped out, bidding his driver a polite thank you before he began scanning the milling crowd. A smile spread across the boy's face as he spotted two other boys talking to each other, and he ran to them.
"Jake, Shale!!" Mokuba cried.
"Finally made it, eh Mokuba," the boy with the freckled skin and red hair said, smiling.
"I got stopped at every red light coming here Shale."
"Well, we do have enough time for a duel if you wanna try to beat me," said the white haired boy wearing a T-shirt with a Red-Eyes Black Dragon embroidered on it who could only be Jake. Mokuba began patting each of his pockets as a look of horror swept over his face.
"Oh no! I musta forgot my deck at home!" Mokuba said.
"Bummer," Jake said.
"Dude you have a housemaid who makes sure everything else is ready for you to get here, and you can't remember your deck on your own?"
"I had other things on my mind," Mokuba lamented.
"Musta gotten his bank statement yesterday," Shale said, just loud enough to let Mokuba hear, while Jake giggled.
"Oh very funny," Mokuba said, a look of mock anger on his face. "I'll just remember that the next time it's raining and you two smart-alecks need a ride home."
"Well if you can't duel with us, you might as well watch us," Jake said as he began to pull out his deck. That was when Shale saw something that made him start.
"Put your deck away Jake, it's Jesse," Shale said, pointing at a rather large eighth grader coming their way.
"Hey shrimps, where's your 'drooling' decks?" Jesse asked as he flipped through a deck of his own. He had a greedy look on his face as he eyed the three friends, imagining how nice a price their cards would fetch.
"Oh too bad Jess," Jake said. "We were all in such a hurry we just forgot our decks."
"Then what's that?" Jesse said, pointing to the cards that had fallen behind Jake. The large boy reached for the cards, ready to add them to his collection. "I was gonna give you a chance ta duel me for these, but since you lied to me, I don't think you deserve it." Shale and Jake groaned as Jesse's hand closed around the cards, just before a foot stamped down on his hand, forcing the bully to let go.
"Why don't you just leave us alone," Mokuba said, as Jesse stood up to his full height, dwarfing the smaller boy as he rubbed his injured hand. Mokuba began to have serious doubts about what he'd done.
"So the rich twerp wants to tell me what to do. Well how about I stomp on you for a while?" Just then the school bell sounded, signaling it was time to head inside for classes. "Consider this a stay of execution twerp, but we'll finish this at lunch." Jesse jabbed a finger into Mokuba's chest, knocking him to the ground before leaving.
"Dude, I think you're in trouble," Shale said as he and Jake helped Mokuba back up.
"Just what I needed to start my day."
**********************************************************
The clock struck twelve, indicating it was lunch time at Domino High School, and Ryou had taken up his usual spot in the cafeteria next to the window as he began to unpack his lunch. So far it had proven to be a pretty uneventful day, and such days were the best in the white-haired boy's opinion, as they gave little reason for his darker half to come out of the Millennium Ring and cause trouble. The young man looked around the room hoping to spot Yugi and his other friends. Sure enough they were all standing in a long line, waiting for their food.
*I hope they don't have that mystery meat again,* Ryou thought, not wanting to listen to another hour of Joey and Tristan's tasteless jokes about the inedible entree they were sure to buy. That was when the teen began to feel a pulling sensation at his chest. He looked down to find five points appearing from underneath his jacket. Something had activated the Millennium Ring. *Oh no!!* Ryou thought as he felt his conscious mind slipping away. Soon, the quiet and gentle Ryou was replaced by his darker half, the ancient tomb robber, Bakura. The ancient spirit undid his jacket, allowing his millennium item to hang freely, and he was a bit surprised to find the ring almost trying to yank itself off his neck. That could mean only one thing, it had locked onto a great source of power. Though originally designed to lock onto the other six millennium items, the ring was also sensitive to any great concentrations of dark magic.
*It would seem there's a new player in town,* Bakura thought as all five of the item's pointers stood completely on end. Tossing Ryou's lunch away, Bakura got up and left, careful to avoid detection by Yugi.
*************************************************
At the same time as this, Mrs. Carmine busied herself with the dishes, humming a quiet tune to herself. Nearby sat a small television turned to the news, helping to keep the elderly woman updated on current events. She lifted the glass she was cleaning to look at it, inspecting it before putting it into the dishwasher, and, much to her surprise, she saw a pair of eyes staring at her. Mrs. Carmine turned around to find a small, grayish purple cat staring at her from the living room. Since the only small animal Seto Kaiba ever even seemed to like was Mokuba, the housekeeper could not help but wonder where this one had come from.
"How did you get in here?" Mrs. Carmine asked, not really expecting an answer. She began to walk over to the cat, wanting to see if it had any tags.
"I got in with the greatest of ease, now please stay where you are, I would prefer not to hurt you," the cat said as it walked into the kitchen. Mrs. Carmine backed away in fight as she saw the cat's full body. It possessed two white feathery wings, and a long scaly tail.
"What... What in the world?" the elderly woman said, backing up into the kitchen counter. The Fusionist jumped up onto the counter, baring it's fangs at the woman.
"Do not scream, I would hate to have to kill you... Now, I'm looking for someone, Seto Kaiba. I'm told this is his place of residence, but I've searched all over and been unable to find him. Where is he?" Mrs. Carmine thought furiously. What answer could she give that would keep this horrific cat from finding her employer, and keep herself alive.
"Mr. Kaiba starts out an early day... He's probably already in his office at KaibaCorp," the old woman said.
"Of course, you humans have no concept of cat naps..." The Fusionist turned to leave. "Now, be a dear and do stay here, in case I can't find him..." As soon as the cat was gone, Mrs. Carmine raced to the phone, scrambling to dial Seto Kaiba's cell phone number.
*************************************
Seto Kaiba bit into his turkey and peanut butter sandwich, savoring the twin tastes of his favorite food. It always reminded him of his mother, who loved experimenting with different flavors. Gozabura had tried to stamp out such tastes in his adopted son, and for a while it seemed he had succeeded. Seto had to smile as he remembered the happy accident that had reintroduced him to his culinary love. Suddenly, the young CEO heard the sound of his cell phone ringing. Immediately, Kaiba felt a stab of fear run through him. He had a standing rule that no one was to contact him on this line unless it was an emergency, the last fool who had tried otherwise had found himself jobless.
"Hello? Mrs. Carmine? What's wrong?"
"Mr. Kaiba, I'm so sorry to call you on this line, but I need to warn you."
"Warn me about what?"
"This is going to sound ludicrous, I know. I wouldn't believe it myself, but I swear it's true."
"Calm down Mrs. Carmine! Now tell me, what is wrong."
"There was this cat in the house, only it wasn't a cat... I mean, it looked like one, but it had wings, and it talked... I know it's insane but it's..." Seto closed his eyes. Mrs. Carmine was right, this did sound insane, and had anyone else been telling him this story, he would have quickly lost his temper and hung up the phone, vowing revenge on the crank caller. He found himself sorely tempted to ask the housekeeper if she'd been drinking, but that was as ludicrous as a cat with wings. "Mr. Kaiba, it was looking for you."
"What?"
"I told it you were at KaibaCorp, so it said it would return if it couldn't find you there."
"Okay, calm down, I'll be there shortly. I don't want you to stay there though if it's not safe. I'll contact you later on your pager once I've dealt with this 'cat,'" Seto said. The idea of someone being after him was not new to Seto, especially after the attempt on his life the other day. Mokuba had said it had been Witty Phantom who'd pushed him, and now Mrs. Carmine was talking about a cat with wings. Someone was obviously going to a lot of trouble to hide their identity, that was sure, possibly that Egyptian person Mokuba had been with. Regardless, Seto needed to get to the bottom of this.
*****************************************************
Elsewhere as these events unfolded, Mokuba sat in his classroom, looking at the clock. It was only a single minute until lunch time. Typically this was something he looked forward to, it meant a chance to hang with his friends and play a few rounds of duel monster, or even capsule monsters. Now, though, the only thing he could think about was Jesse's promise to turn the young Kaiba into roadkill.
"Mr. Kaiba," came a shrill voice as a ruler slammed down on Mokuba's desk, breaking his concentration. "If my lessons are boring you, please let me know. I can always go over them again with you, AFTER school."
"Sorry Ms. Takai," Mokuba said, smiling sheepishly at his history teacher. It was then that the lunch bell rang, signaling the end of class.
"Have a good lunch class," the teacher called as her students stampeded out of her
room. Mokuba was somewhat less enthusiastic, hope to see Jesse coming before the bigger boy caught him. Thus, he was totally oblivious to the presence of Jake and Shale, at least until he crashed into them.
"Hey! Oh hi guys," Mokuba said as he two friends looked at him. Suddenly, Shale
grabbed his jacket, putting it over the raven-haired boy's head. "Hey whaterya trying to do?"
"Simple, if we can hide you from Jesse, he'll probably forget about wanting to pound you by the end of the day," Shale said.
"Yeah, Jess isn't the brightest bulb in the box and someone else will probably do something to tick him off more than you," Jake said as they began to sneak down the hall. They got about ten feet before a gruff voice startled them all.
"Hey, shrimp sandwich!" Jesse called as he turned the corner to block the trio's path. "Now you didn't forget we had business at lunch, did ya horse-boy..." Mokuba looked up from under the jacket to see Jesse cracking his knuckles, not a good sign. Knowing he was no match for the big eighth grader, the young Kaiba tried to think of some way out of this predicament. When nothing presented itself, the boy was stuck with only one route.
"Wouldyoulookatthetime,gottago," Mokuba said as he threw the jacket over Jesse's head, turning on his heel as he took off back down the hall at warp speed. Jesse angrily yanked the offending article of clothing off his head quickly, watching Mokuba run away.
"You wimp!" said the bigger boy as he began to give chase. To their credit, Jake and Shale did try to stop him, only to be roughly shoved aside. Mokuba's smaller body was able to take a pretty good lead as the chase began.
*With any luck I can loose the big idiot,* Mokuba thought to himself, sprinting through the halls. He cast a quick look behind him to see his tormentor was beginning to close the gap between them. The dark haired boy turned his head back around just in time to watch himself crash head on into a wall.
"Well, well, well. Not the most coordinated shrimp in the sea, are ya?" Jesse said as he picked Mokuba up by the shoulders and slammed him back into the wall. "Now I get to teach it's not nice to stamp on other people's hands." With those words, Jesse drew his fist back, ready to knock the wind out of his victim. Before the fist could land, however, Mokuba's own hand shot up, catching the offending appendage in mid-strike. The young Kaiba's face now held a wicked sneer, as though he were a crocodile who'd just landed a fat wildebeest. Jesse's eyes began to grow wide as he felt his fist being pushed back. Reflexively, the bully's other hand let go of Mokuba's shoulder so it could try to strike the his face. Mokuba let go of Jesse's other hand and ducked under the incoming arms. Jesse felt the raven haired boy's hands latch onto his chest as the smaller boy continued to smile.
"Now I teach you a lesson," Mokuba said in a voice that was grainy and less friendly than his normal one.
"What are you...?"
"OBLIVION!!" Purple energy flew from the boy's hands smashing into the eighth grader's chest and sending him flailing into the row of lockers behind him, severely denting the metal containers.
"Hmm, I must be weaker than I thought," Mokuba said, still wearing the same smile on his face. "Oh well." A ball of purple energy appeared at the tip of the boy's finger as it pointed right at Jesse's forehead as his eyes took on a red and black coloration.
"MR. KAIBA!!" Came a shrill voice as a wrinkled hand grabbed his shoulder. Instantly, the purple energy ball evaporated as the boy's eyes once more took on their normal blue color.
"W... What?" Mokuba said, confused as to why someone was grabbing his shoulder. He turned around to see Ms. Takai scowling at him, obviously upset. At that point, Shale and Jake rounded the corner, hoping to arrive before their long haired friend had the tar beaten out of him.
"Woah, what happened here?" The two boys asked in unison.
"OW!" Jesse cried from where he was embedded in the lockers. "My arm, it hurts." Sure enough, the young teen's arm was bent in an odd direction where it had hit the dividing wall between two lockers.
"Oh dear," Ms. Takai said, rushing over to the injured student. She took one look at Jesse's broken arm and turned to Shale. "This boy needs attention, I want you to go get the nurse." Shale nodded at the teacher, taking off to find the requested help. That done, Ms. Takai turned back to Mokuba. "And YOU Mr. Kaiba. I don't know how you did this but I know you did it."
"He was gonna try to kill me," Mokuba protested, still a bit unsure as to what had happened to change THAT scenario.
"I knew your brother had a meanstreak, but I had hoped you at least knew how to behave yourself. Now I have to stay with Mr. Sinclair, but I want you to go directly to the principal's office this moment."
"But..."
"I don't want to hear it, now go!" Unable to offer up any arguments, Mokuba sadly turned to leave. Jake turned as well, ready to follow Mokuba down to the principal's office as moral support. "Not you Jake. You get back to the cafeteria."
Mokuba continued on his journey down the hallway, trying to think of some way to explain all this to the principal. He wasn't particularly worried about his brother, it was almost a sure thing that Seto would believe anything Mokuba told him, but that wouldn't stop the principal from suspending him if he saw fit.
*There has to be a way out of this mess,* Mokuba thought. That's when he noticed he was about to pass by the school exit. Suddenly, the young Kaiba began to feel the same drowsy feeling he'd had during his elder brother's duel. *I need to leave.* With those thoughts, Mokuba began to walk down the hallway, only to be stopped by a hall monitor.
"Don't think so, kid," said the hall monitor as he barred Mokuba's way. "You know the rules, you're not allowed to leave school grounds during school. Now I suggest you go where ever you're supposed to be before I write you up." In response, Mokuba reached into his back pocket, a small purple light glowing for a short while as he pulled out a dueling deck of all things. Swiftly, the boy drew a single card from the bottom of the deck.
"I'm afraid I really must be going," Mokuba said, his voice once more taking on a grainy tone as he displayed the card for the hall monitor to see.
"What is that?"
"It's a very special dueling card, a magical spell I can use to keep you from interfering with my work."
"You've got some imagination kid, thinking a scrap of paper can get you out of..."
"MESMERIZE!!" Mokuba called as his eyes once more took on their red and black countenance. The card in his hand glowed purple, transforming into a ball hanging from a string that began to swing back and forth in front of the hall monitor's face. The young teen's eyes began to droop as he became hypnotized by the ball. Mokuba smiled as he let go of the string, watching as the ball continued to swing in mid-air. Quickly, the boy opened the door, leaving the school and his helpless victim.
*****************************
Bakura sat in a tree, less than an hour after leaving his own school, rubbing his neck after almost having it broken by his own millennium item. The youthful looking tomb robber was puzzled, and more than a little upset. The signal his ring had been getting had been flickering in and out ever since he'd begun tracking it, but he'd been able to follow his pointers straight here. One final tug and now, the energy was all but gone. Bakura looked at the school.
*Where would a school come up with such a massive amount of dark energy?* Bakura thought to himself. Whatever it had been, it had either depleted itself or was gone, which meant the tomb robber was risking detention for his lighter half for nothing. Still, Bakura could almost taste the energy in the air. He had to be close. That was when he noticed an ambulance pull up to the school. A few minutes and the drivers were pulling someone out on a stretcher. *One of the brats got hurt?* This was interesting, considering the energy spike he'd felt. The thief tried to get a better look at the person on the stretcher, but adults blocked his every vantage.
Thinking up a new strategy, Bakura reached into his pocket, pulling forth a small golden ball, the Millennium Eye. If his eyes couldn't see what was happening, his new item surely could. Carefully, Bakura brought the golden eye closer to his own, being very careful not to let the two touch. That way he would not be stuck with the golden eye on his face forever. He very much doubted he could come up with a convincing reason as to why he had it that wouldn't get him in trouble. Quietly, Bakura began to scan the minds of those below him. What he got was fear and pain from the one in the stretcher. Though the tomb robber had defeated Pegasus for the item, he didn't have the experience the multi-millionare had with the artifact, and the fact that it wouldn't completely obey him made this tougher.
That was when he felt another tug around his neck. Bakura looked down to see one of his Millennium Ring's pointers was now pointing away from the school. It felt like the same power from before, but now it was in downtown Domino City. The tomb robber smiled. That meant the power was mobile, and would be easier to steal.
****************************************
Quietly, Mokuba got off the subway, hoping not to attract much attention to himself. He was now wearing a tattered coat, a grimy shirt, and pants with holes in them, all part of the disguise he hoped would keep him from being recognized too quickly. Quietly he raised his hand as the Invitation to a Dark Sleep card returned to his hand, releasing the homeless boy it had entranced into switching clothes with Mokuba.
The young Kaiba looked around, as if to make sure the subway car had taken him to the right place. All around him were signs of decay, graffiti, and the unfortunates of society, as well as those that preyed on them. The lower side of downtown was not a nice place to be, nor a safe place for a little kid to visit; unless he had some protection. His preparations complete, Mokuba began walking down the worn streets, searching.
***************************************************************************
To Be Continued...