Chapter Twelve: The Woeful Wizard of Oz

The Kaiba brothers and their friends landed from their flight with the Egyptian Armada right in the heart of the Emerald City and in front of the Wizard of Oz's castle.

"Here we are," White-Hair smirked as he gently put Ryou on the ground.

"Thank you so much," Mokuba said.

"Like our leader said earlier, it's the least we can do," Marik brushed aside Mokuba's comment.

Kaiba smiled. "C'mon…we have to go in and see the Wizard…"

The others followed Kaiba up the stairs and toward the door.

Ryou, however, did not move and instead looked down at the Wicked Wiz's magic staff still in his hand, and then at White-Hair.

"So this staff bound you the Wiz of the West?" he asked.

White-Hair nodded. "Yeah. Anyone who holds it has power over the lot of us."

Ryou felt a little sorry for the Egyptian Armada; they were almost slaves to Gozaburo…

"Ryou, c'mon!" Jou called.

"Coming!" Ryou yelled back.

He looked at White-Hair. "Don't leave…I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Whatever you say, cutie," White-Hair chuckled, "But don't expect the Egyptian Armada to look around."

"Go on ahead," Ryou grinned, before turning around to join his friends.

White-Hair watched the Tinman leave in a mixture of amusement and fondness.

"Hell…" he muttered to himself, "I think I'm going soft on that little cutie…"


"Can I believe my eyes?" the Wizard's voice boomed throughout the room, "Why have you come back?"

Kaiba stepped forward.

"Please, sir," he spoke straight-forwardly, "We've done what you asked of us…we brought you the magic staff of the Wicked Wiz of the West," he gestured to Ryou, who held up the staff, "I threw water on him, and he-"

"I see," the Wizard replied superiorly, "He short-circuited. Very resourceful of you."

"Thank you, sir," Kaiba said modestly, "Now we'd like it if you'd keep your promise to us and give us what we've asked for."

"Not so fast, not so fast!" the Wizard raised his voice ever-so-slightly, "I'll have to give the matter a little thought…go away and come back tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Kaiba repeated in shock and desperation, "But Mokuba and I have nowhere to stay until then!"

Jou stepped forward, his temper rising and his fear evaporating. "You've had plenty of time already! If you really were a great and powerful wizard, you'd keep your promises!"

Flames shot up on either side of the room as if to intimidate Jou, but Jou barely flinched.

"You dare to provoke the fury of the Great and Powerful Oz in words of honor? I said come back tomorrow!"

"You don't even care, do you?" Ryou stepped forward too, "You're so focused on your owninterests that you're not even thinking about everything Kaiba and Mokuba have done to get here!"

Wind blew on all sides of the room with enough force to knock Ryou over, but Ryou didn't even budge.

"Do you really think that pity will get you anything more than the gracious Oz has given you? Think yourself lucky that I'm giving you and your friends audience tomorrow instead of twenty years from now!"

"So you can make yourself another challenge or excuse?" Yami snorted as he too stepped forward, "At least where I come from, royal promises are considered something!"

"And at least where I come from, a few well-placed magic tricks doesn't automatically make you a Wizard," Kaiba said coolly.

There was a silence.

"How DARE you question my powers!" the Wizard roared.

At those words, the CEO began to laugh.

Jou and Mokuba looked at Kaiba in shock. What was he doing?

"What's so funny?" the Wizard shouted, "Stop that laughing NOW! There's no joke here, you fool!"

"Oh, but there is," Kaiba disagreed rather calmly, "The joke I'm laughing at is the one I'm looking at right now…you. You're the funniest joke I've seen in a long, long time."

And without warning, Kaiba jumped up to the Wizard's throne, and with one brandish of his hand toppled the throne over…but the Wizard still sat where he was as though the chair had never moved, flickering slightly like a badly-tuned TV.

Jou stared.

"A hologram?" Ryou whispered.

The Wizard's eyes became wide. "How did you know?"

"Gozaburo being a robot all took us by surprise," Kaiba smirked, "But when we came back here, I had a suspicion about this 'wonderful Wizard' of ours…the flames were coming from spouts, so there had to be someone controlling them…and yet there's no place for a human to hide in this room…so you're neither a wizard nor a human…you're only a hologram being placed in here by the means of a super computer."

There was a silence. Then the Wizard sighed.

"You're correct, Seto Kaiba…I am."

And with that, the elder-Seto-Kaiba-version of the Wizard disappeared, to instead reveal a small boy no older than Mokuba, but with looks still similar to Kaiba's although his hair was an aqua green and he wore a white school uniform.

"My name is Noa," the Wizard told them, "No, I'm not a Wizard, I'm just a boy whose mind was downloaded into a super-computer."

"You…!" Jou growled, "Why didn't you ever tell anyone you weren't a wizard?"

"I wanted to," Noa admitted, "Many, many times…but as my family had practically abandoned me, I wanted someone to actually care about what I did…and these people were willing to do anything I asked just to keep me happy…and though I may not be able to help you guys with your requests," here he smiled, "I frankly don't think you've ever needed help to begin with. You've had what you've needed all along."

"WHAT?" Jou, Ryou and Yami yelled together.

"I never had a brain!"

"I've never once heard my heart beat!"

"Courage isn't even in my vocabulary!"

"But you had them all along," Kaiba smiled too, "Yami, you risked everything to get into Wiz's castle, and when you saved me from the Shadow Realm."

Yami opened his mouth a couple times, but it almost seemed like he had forgotten how to speak.

"And Ryou, you fought against the Egyptian Armada to try and help Seto, you're always willing to help anyone," Mokuba pointed out.

Ryou thought about these words for a minute, and didn't have a comeback.

"And Jou," Kaiba put a hand on the scarecrow's shoulder, "You've thought of every good idea and every good plan we've made on our journey. If that isn't brains, I don't know what is."

Jou didn't know what to say.

"That's right," Noa nodded, "The only people here who truly needed help are the Kaiba brothers…and I will get that help best as I can."

"Really?" asked Mokuba.

"Of course," said Noa,"I'll call up a friend of mine…I'm afraid my connection won't last long, but I'll tell him to come to the Emerald City immediately."

"Connection?" repeated Kaiba in shock, "What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid my connection to this computer is interlocked with the Wicked Wiz's of the West," sighed Noa, "We're on the same mainframe…I knew I'd never be able to destroy him myself, but at least you were able to."

"B-but doesn't that mean-"

"I take a permanent vacation?" Noa finished for him, "Yeah. But I'm glad. My conscience is finally clear…"

And with that, the screen went black.