Chapter 3 Something Strange
The Kaibas were given two rooms to stay in. However, as they had nothing to unpack (all they had brought was Kaiba's briefcase), they decided to look around the place some. Now that Pegasus was gone, it was possible to admire the castle for what it was.
Two rooms of stone were side by side, as so many of the rooms were in the castle. On two of the walls in each room were old-fashioned lamps made to appear like torches. Also, mahogany desks and chairs were an added decoration along with single beds bearing spindly posts. On each door, embossed into the wood, was a figure of a rearing winged horse. Pegasus.
After looking into their own rooms, Kaiba led the way around the castle, finding first the dueling arena with the gaping hole in the middle. He only stayed a little while before the memories of the place made him turn away. Mokuba was immediately behind him. Despite his urging to come to Duelist Kingdom, he was uneasy and following at his brother's elbow.
They wandered through the castle a little longer encountering no one. Kaiba guessed this was hardly different than when Pegasus was alive. One man does not add much warmth to a place, after all, especially one like him.
Going a full circuit, they arrived back in the courtyard after an hour and one-half. There was the Blue-Eyes waiting for them. Yet, something was wrong.
"What!"
Kaiba rushed over, checking over the craft. Smashed. The engines smashed, the control panel smashed. He wanted the person who did it to be smashed. He tried to start fixing it, but there was too much damage. All the pieces were too small to put them back together.
Mokuba had stood there staring for a minute, listening to his brother's mutterings about what had happened. Then, he joined his brother in assessing the damage, only he went under the dragon.
"Someone is obviously here and doesn't want us to leave. Now I'm more suspicious than ever." Kaiba looked around for his brother. "Mokuba?'
The boy popped his head out from under the craft. "Here, Seto."
"You can't go anywhere alone anymore."
Blinking, he crawled out from under the jet and stood near his brother. "Why?"
"Because, if they did this to stop us from leaving, I do not doubt what else they will do."
Mokuba nodded. "All right." Gazing away from his brother, he was slow on catching up to his brother's flapping blue coat. Something from where he had been gazing caught his eye, so he stopped from his jog and stared.
Kaiba inclined his ear without turning after he heard his brother stop. "What is it?"
"S-someone was there!" Mokuba pointed to the top of the encircling wall, but when his brother looked, nothing was there.
"Hmm." Narrowing his eyes, Kaiba urged his brother onward even faster.
After four hours, the boat came to dock at Duelist Kingdom. No one was watching from the rear of the ship any longer. All eyes were attuned to the island.
Suguroku, who had never been there, still shuddered. There were only bad memories there, despite the fact he had no memories of this place. His soul still quivered from the feeling of power radiating from the castle. There, a man had once captured his soul through a screen. He for one, had no qualms with the man's death.
I'm glad Hopkins will be there, he thought.
Hopkins and his daughter Rebecca had come on their own boat from America with a few others. Still, from previous calculations, the boats arrived there around the same time: 2:00 pm. Even with fewer people, the ship was as large as the other one.
At least nineteen invitations had been sent out in Japan. Most of those the gang knew, but the few they did not stayed separate from them. It was obvious from their apparel that they were big business representatives.
In America, five had gone out. It was odd that Pegasus had been on better terms with the Japanese when he himself was American, or so Hopkins thought.
The docking ships' passengers milled off the large cruisers and looked around at each other. Hopkins and Suguroku found each other quickly. Unfortunately for some, Hopkins's granddaughter also found a Mutou quickly.
"Yugi! Darling!" Rebecca leeched herself onto Yugi and squeezed him tightly. "I've missed you so much!"
Anzu, just a step behind the boy, got a very ugly expression on her face indeed. Somehow, she contained herself from physically swiping at the girl.
Jonouchi however, was more concerned with another person's arrival. "Keith! What the heck are you doing here?"
The big man laughed. "I was invited, blondie."
Jonouchi could hardly contain himself. It was a good thing Bakura and Honda grabbed him and refused to let him attack the man since Keith Howard's arms were bulging with muscles ready to pommel Jonouchi. Laughing, Keith walked on, and Jonouchi slowly calmed.
A few suited men came forward to lead them to their rooms.
"Rooms? Why rooms? We're just going to be here for the reading of the will I thought." Jonouchi, unsurprisingly, never trusted himself and looked around for someone to correct him.
No one did. Mai, however, said, "Looks like I was the only one thinking again." With a large wink, she hefted her bag to her back and walked after the goons. While others had brought food, that was all they had brought.
Slowly, the others followed, more confused than ever.
There was something castles were known for. Pegasus's was no exception as Kaiba was discovering. Searching his brother's room intently while the boy watched, he discovered an echoing wall.
"All right, you can't stay here. There's a trap door or secret passageway here."
Mokuba blinked again and padded over to the spot after his brother went to check his own room. He tapped once, then twice, listening to the sounds fading away. Then, louder, two knocks sounded again right near Mokuba's head.
The boy dashed over to his brother's room, clutching his brother's blue sleeve.
"Seto! Someone was there! In the secret passage!"
Kaiba stopped his search and went back into the other room again. Nothing seemed to have changed. Still, he moved cautiously and quietly over to the spot on the stone wall that was much thinner than the others.
He had raised his hand to knock again when he saw something. There, in the wall, a brick must have changed position, because gazing out at him in a bloodshot setting was an eye.
Stumbling backward, Kaiba almost fell into his brother. Righting himself, he urged the boy ahead of him and ran down the hall.
Panting, Mokuba asked, "What was it?"
Kaiba glanced back down the hall before answering. "Probably nothing. Someone is trying to mess with our minds."
Seeing that they had halted next to winding staircase, Mokuba glanced down the great maw of the darkness. A cool draft blew up from the depths of its throat, the darkness looming up with arms ready to snatch him away.
"Mokuba. Mokuba!" Kaiba called.
Finally, the boy turned his gaze to his older sibling. "Sorry, nii-sama," he said quietly, eyes still drawn to the stairs.
Kaiba glanced down the stairwell once, seeing the lack of torches or lights there. Everything was darkness. It was not too long a staircase before there was a door down there, but it did not look like it had a keyhole. Instead, there was a crank device that seemed broken on the door.
Shaking his head, he wondered why his brother had been so mesmerized. "Come on, we're going back to my room, at least. It didn't seem like anything was there. And there was a key, which may mean nothing, but it makes me feel a little better."
The boy tore his eyes from the blackness and followed. No one protested or commented when he put his small hand on his brother's arm.
The men dressed in suits showed each of them their individual rooms in a long corridor. Most were like the Kaibas' rooms, though a few had a couple beds in each room. People sharing rooms were all in their teens. The business representatives, Suguroku, Hopkins, Keith, Mai, Rishid, and Isis all had individual rooms.
Yugi sat down on his bed and wondered what to do.
He did not have to wait long. Rebecca flounced into the room and seated herself right next to him.
"Hello, my dear." She smiled at him and took his hand.
Gulping, Yugi tried to discreetly free himself, but it was in vain. "Don't you have unpacking to do?"
"What unpacking? I didn't bring anything."
"Well, yes, doesn't that seem odd that we're given rooms for just a reading of a will?"
"Oh, Yugi, you're looking too deeply into it. Don't do that! You'll start to see all kinds of odd things. It's called the self-fulfilling prophecy. Haven't you heard of symbolic interactionists?" She was a little miffed. Yugi just stared blankly during his college lesson. Finally, Rebecca just burst out, "We probably leave again tomorrow!"
The high school boy was not so certain.
Next door, Mai lounged on her bed and looked over at Anzu. "A vacation in a castle without having to duel to stay. A girl could get used to this!"
"Great, Mai." Anzu gritted her teeth. "Now, why don't you go to your own room? Since you have a single room…"
"Oh. I didn't think you wanted to stay with Rebecca. So long, then."
Speaking of Rebecca…Anzu could not see her. Great, that meant she was probably harassing Yugi.
The goons who head led them here had left just as abruptly as did the ones who had shown Kaiba to his room. Shrugging, most of the gang continued to converse or unpack. A few wanted to wander, but not wanting to risk missing the reading of the will, they stayed where they were.
Besides the gang, there were the few people unknown to everyone. One was a woman—the only one who was representing a business. One other was wearing a tie with a cartoon rabbit on it, so the majority understood he was someone representing Pegasus's favorite cartoon.
"I can't believe that guy is here." Anzu turned away from him. "I couldn't stand the card with the character. I wonder what this guy is like?"
Fortunately or unfortunately, most of the adults unknown to the gang stayed away from them. One, however, sent chills down Isis's back as she glanced his way. She would have wanted to use the Millennium Necklace to see what it would show her, but Rishid had come with Malik to see if there was anything she knew about this place that she was not telling them. By the time she remembered the strange man, the cold feeling had left and she was not so worried.
Kaiba was staring out of the bedroom window thinking with his arms crossed. He had no idea that the gang had arrived. Well, that is not strictly accurate. Having an idea of how long it takes to arrive by boat and what the time of departure from Japan was, Kaiba knew an estimate. However, he was not thinking of that or realizing the time.
After having flopped on the bed for about twenty minutes, Mokuba finally stood up. The uneasy feeling had left him, and now he had business to take care of. One of his hands was on the door when his brother suddenly said:
"Don't touch that door, Mokuba."
The boy froze, whipping around to look at his brother's back. Seto had not even turned around.
"But, nii-sama, I have to go."
"Hmm." Now Kaiba fully turned and looked at his uncomfortable brother. He knew Mokuba could be devious when he wanted. And Mokuba commonly liked to go exploring or run about. "All right. You can only go if what you mean by that involves flushing out the end of the gastrointestinal tract."
After nodding, Mokuba opened the heavy door and started wandering down the hall. If only the castle had some signs…
There had only been a few turns when Mokuba saw the welcome sight—a toilet! He was rushing forward when something caught his eye at the end of the hall. A figure with white hair had vanished down the hallway. Mokuba thought he knew the person, but with the brief glance, could not be certain. It helped remind him that the others would be arriving, so her hurried with the toilet.
When he got back to the room, he realized his brother already knew the others were here by the sour expression on his face.
"The head guard summoned us to the reading of the will in ten minutes. They'll return to escort us. Soon, this will all be over."
Mokuba nodded and sat down awaiting the summons. More and more he was regretting dragging his brother along to Duelist Kingdom. If they had been able, the boy would have asked to leave.
Knocking on everyone's door, even if it was open, the head goon called everyone down with the same words: "It is time to read the will."
Soon, a long line of mostly teenagers fell in behind him. They walked through the drafty corridors until they reached a room filled with comfortable-looking couches and a large hearth already lit.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable."
Instantly, seats were fought over. Kaiba took one on the very end and Mokuba sat next to him. Honda was fighting with Jonouchi about who got to sit next to Serenity.
Otogi hissed harshly, "Stop it! Pegasus is dead and all you can think about is who gets to sit where." He sat far from the others.
"Poor Otogi," Shizuka whispered.
"Poor Otogi is right, little sister. He can't seem to get over the fact that Pegasus is dead. And, I must admit that I feel sorry he ever liked the man so much."
"Katsuya!" Shizuka hissed in dismay. "Show some respect."
"Sorry," he muttered, humbled.
The rest quickly filled in the seats, though the man that sent chills down Isis's spine was looking over the crowd and doing the same to the others now. When he chose the last seat, one next to the man in the cartoon tie, he gazed intently at Mokuba. The boy inched a little closer to his brother.
Clearing his throat, the lead goon began, "This is an official reading of the will set out by Pegasus J. Crawford. Anything spoken of here is decided upon and cannot be changed. Now, I will begin reading." He took out a piece of paper and looked directly at it as he read aloud, "Because of my so untimely death, I have written down my explicit desires of whom gets what from me. But, hmm, it was—"
"Hold on! That 'hmm' was written in?" Jonouchi could not believe it.
The goon could almost be said to be squirming, but that was too undignified for him. "If you would let me proceed." The goon looked at everyone for a moment, not seeming affected by their wide-eyed looks of shock. He continued, "It was a difficult decision, of course. One thing that was obvious immediately was to whom ten shares of my company goes to."
From a different direction, another voice continued, "I give it directly over to the producers of the Funny Rabbit cartoon!"
Everyone whirled around and turned white. There, walking straight towards them in his regular red suit was Pegasus alive. He was smiling at their shocked looks
"What? You don't think the cartoon company deserves it? That's too bad." Pegasus handed over another piece of paper to the gaping man in the cartoon tie.
After a moment, the representative recovered himself and shook Pegasus's hand. "Thank you, sir."
Smiling still, Pegasus helped him to his feet. "You may go. You shall be escorted off the island personally right now." At a snap, a goon strode forward and led the man away. Then, Pegasus took his place at the front of the room.
"What's going on here, Pegasus?" Kaiba asked, scowling. "I would leave, but someone sabotaged my jet. I want answers and a way out of here!"
"And you shall get them in time, Kaiba-boy."
Others were muttering under Pegasus's response. "His jet destroyed?" "Now that I think of it, I remember seeing the boat pull out again." "I wonder if we can even get off!"
Jonouchi stood. "I'm leaving right now. Come on, Shizuka."
His sister obediently stood, but goons were blocking all the exits. The way the representative of the Funny Rabbit cartoon had gone was no longer evident.
"I'm with you, Jonouchi. We can take these goons." Honda glared around as well.
"Everyone calm down. You were brought here for the reading of the will, were you not? Why don't you let me say the terms?" He was enjoying himself immensely, which further angered everyone.
A flash hardly noticeable in the hearth room indicated a change. The Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle had decided to speak out.
"Terms?" he asked. "I don't think we came to hear terms, Pegasus."
"It doesn't matter if you did or didn't, Yugi-boy, because that is all that is left for you. As you have noticed, there is no way off the island except my way. So," he added, turning to Jonouchi and Honda, "trying to fight all my employees will avail you not at all."
Otogi was finally recovering himself. "Calm down and listen, guys! I'm sure Mr. Crawford has important things to say."
After casting a smile at the inventor of Dragon, Dice and Dungeon, Pegasus spread out his hands. "Now, to business. The real reason I summoned you all here is because someone is after my billions. He threatened me repeatedly with death." He paused to emphasize his next line. "It was one of you."
People began whispering. Kaiba stood up.
Over them all, the owner of the island proclaimed, "And now, until you discover who it is, none of you can leave!"