Something Corporate

Chapter 4:

The next day, after Marik, Malik and Pips had gone to their homes, they met again at Pips apartment. Marik and Malik couldn't take the bus (because the bus driver still hadn't forgiven Marik for his rude comments) and they had to walk about three miles to the apartment complex that Pips lived in.

Marik knocked on the door of apartment 2B, "Hey, Pips, open up."

"Hello!" Pips opened the door immediately and welcomed both Marik and Malik inside. Once they came in, they saw that the apartment wasn't exactly the definition of clean and tidy. The entire room was decorated in yellow and was covered from top to bottom in dirty clothes.

"I like all the yellow." Malik said, "It speaks to me."

Marik looked around, "Enough speaking, let's just get down to business."

"I'm sorry the place is such a mess. All of these clothes aren't mine. They belong to Mr. Kaiba. I'm sure he'll be asking about them someday, but I have to get it all washed."

"Ew, you did his laundry?" Marik asked, obliviously disgusted, "You couldn't pay me enough to touch somebody's dirty clothes."

"I know, he had me do a lot of things like that. I was always happy to help whenever possible."

"Well, you can do our laundry now. Heh… Our clothes are more fun anyway. You'll never know what you can find in my pockets. " Marik said and Malik nodded. "True, true."

"Oh, I'm so happy! I finally have people to be my friends!" Pips danced around the cluttered room and sat himself down at the small table, "Mr. Kaiba never came over to my house. It always made me so miserable, but now…!"

"…" Marik sat down on the couch and ignored Pips' comment about friends, "So where's this dog we keep hearing about?"

"Oh!" Pips stood up and grinned shyly, "You want to see my little Rupert?"

They both nodded slightly.

Pips turned around, "Okay, don't move," and walked into the hallway. Even though he couldn't be seen, Marik and Malik could hear a door open and Pips talking to, who they guessed, was the dog.

He came out in less than a minute with a bundle of fur in his arms. "This is Rupert." Pips held him up so that Marik and Malik could see a little brown puppy with big brown eyes.

"Uh…" Malik looked closer at the puppy in Pips' arms, "Something isn't exactly right here."

"Wait a minute!" Marik raced up to Pips and Malik and starred at the puppy, "That thing isn't living!"

Pips twisted his mouth and sighed, "Well… Rupert had a bit of an accident last year. I'm afraid a car ran over him. But my dad was an expert taxidermist so he fixed Rupert right up!" He cuddled the dead thing in his arms, "Yes, he did! And now he's all better!"

"…Oh, you are sick and weird!" Malik exclaimed, "I can't believe you would-"

Marik clamped his hand on his hikari's mouth, "Malik, if we want this guy to help us, we can't criticize his… questionable behavior." he whispered.

"Okay." Malik whispered back, "But I better not have to pet that thing."

When Marik and Malik sat back on the couch, Pips sat Rupert down in front of a food bowl and the stuffed dog tipped over.

"Well, let's get down to business." Pips said, "I'm assuming that you do have a product? What is it?"

Marik slid the black armband off his wrist and held it up in front of Pips, "This is a Miniport. It's a instant transport… uh, thing. Yup."

"Instant transport…?" Pips leaned closer to it, "R-Really?"

"Uh-huh." Malik nodded, "In a few seconds, it'll get ya where ya need to go."

Pips stood up, "This is ingenious! Even Mr. Kaiba didn't come up with anything like this! You're both sure you were the ones who invented this?"

"Eh heh… Yeah, we invented them." Marik lied.

"Are you sure?"

"What's with all the third degree! What, you don't believe me?" He pouted. "I mean sheesh!"

"Oh, no, no, no! Nothing like that at all!" Pips reassured him, "All I'm saying is that… well, you two don't seem exactly like the… um, smart type."

Marik groaned, "Here we go."

"No, but seriously, if you did invent these… this could be the beginning of a totally new age." Pips looked at Malik now, "How many do you have?"

"Two."

"Hmm. Not good. But that's okay… I know a few high-ranking people at the patenting office… and maybe I should call my brother in the Blackmarket industry… just to take care of all the loose ends."

"No way! Your brother operates in the Blackmarket group!" Marik asked.

"Yes. He's vice president. If I talk to him, maybe we can pull this off on a limited budget. You both do have money, right?"

They looked at each other in confusion, "Money?"

"Money… common currency… cash… dollars… bills-"

"We know what it is!" Marik said, "Uh… We just didn't know we needed it."

"You have to have some startup money. How do you expect to buy the things we need to even get Ishtar Industries off the ground? We're going to need to duplicate the Miniport… that's going to cost a lot!"

"Fine, we'll get the money!" Marik took Malik's hand and walked out the door. "Why doesn't anyone tell me these things!"

"Where are we going, Marik?" Malik asked.

"To get Pips' stupid money." They got out of the complex and stopped at the bus stop once again. This time they got on a different bus and traveled all the way across town.

The bus stopped and Marik and Malik got off in front of the extremely tall Kaiba Corp building. (The place where they met Pips, the night before!)

Marik was beginning to go in through the front door, but Malik stopped him, "Marik, what are we doing here?"

"You know, you notice things too much. Sit back and relax." He continued through the first floor and went inside the elevator.

The bland elevator music made Malik even more restless, so he asked the question that had been burning on his mind ever since they got off the bus, "… Are we here to see Kaiba?"

"Bingo, baby, that's exactly what we're here to do."

"Oh, Marik! We can't just go rushing to him every time we need money!"

"And why not?" The elevator door opened and they walked out, "Now, listen you." Marik turned to Malik, "When we're with Kaiba, don't go saying anything dumb. Like We need a lot of money so we can make our company better than yours."

"I won't…"

"'Kay." They walked across the hall to a large door that had Seto Kaiba written on the top. They knocked at the same time and two large guards came out.

"Who are you and what to you want?" One of them said, gruffly.

Marik put his hands on his hips, "I'm Marik and that's Malik. Tell Kaiba we're here to see him."

"Oh… it's you two." He rolled his eyes and put his head in the door. In a second he turned around, "He'll see you."

The doors were opened for them and they went right in. Kaiba was leaning against the desk, looking in their direction, "The only reason I let you in here is because if I didn't, you'd scratch at my door all day long."

"What? No hi, how are you?" Marik sat down in one of the chairs, "You could be a little nicer to us, Kaiba. We're your friends."

"Pheh."

Malik looked around at the walls, "Kaiba, did you get new wallpaper? This is gorgeous…!"

"Isn't it?" He grinned, "This office was done by Nancy Regan's decorator."

"Really! I was looking at a magazine yesterday and she-"

"Enough!" Marik glared at his hikari, "We're here on official business!"

Kaiba shifted, "I know why you're here. You aren't here for business, you're here for a welfare check. I'm not giving you any money."

"You don't even know what we need it for!"

"I don't need to know!"

Malik sighed, "I told you so."

"Silence, Malik." Marik stood up, "Kaiba, we're starting a company and we need startup money, that's why we came."

"Yeah, well I can't be-" Kaiba tilted his head, "Did you say you're starting a company? As in an organization?"

He nodded, "Ishtar Industries."

"…" Kaiba starred at him for a minute, then fell backwards, laughing and howling, "Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Marik and Malik looked at each other in question and decided to wait till Kaiba was through with his little episode.

About thirty minutes passed and he was still rolling around on the floor, "Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"All right, already!" Marik screamed, "It isn't that funny!"

"He he he… oh my…" Kaiba grabbed the side of the desk and stood up, "T-That was great… I haven't had such a good laugh in a long, long time…"

"…" Marik growled.

Kaiba smiled and pulled something out of his desk drawer, "That's so cute. You two want to start a wittle company?"

Marik was about to protest to Kaiba calling it 'wittle' but Malik stepped in first, "Um, Yes, we want to get it off the ground." 'Hmm.' Kaiba thought, 'This would be terribly funny, if I were to…'

"So, what's it gonna be, Kaiba?" Marik asked, impatiently, "We don't have all day, are you gonna give us some money or what?"

"…Hmm." Kaiba opened the small book he had put on his desk and began writing in it. When he was done, he ripped out the piece of paper and handed it to Marik. "Now go. Let me see what your cute, little company will do with this."

Marik looked at the check that was given to him, "Boom, that's what I'm talking about!" He turned for the door, "Let's go Malik. See ya, Kaiba, thanks for the start."

-

At Pips apartment, he was sitting where Marik and Malik had left him. On a chair, petting and stroking Rupert.

The front door's handle jiggled and Marik along with Malik came inside.

Pips looked at them and smiled, "Well, that took less time than I thought. Where did you go?"

"Kaiba's office," Malik said as he plopped onto the couch.

"Mr. Kaiba!" Pips dropped Rupert on the floor, "What business did you have there!"

"Take a look." Marik held out the check so that Pips could see it.

"…My goodness! A million dollars! T-That's spectacular… It's more than enough for what I have in mind. Come to think of it, Mr. Kaiba never gave me any money. Not even on payday." he shrugged, "Oh well, it's all good. We'll start the process tomorrow."