"Oh cher, oh mon, oh…comment faire je sais s'il ira avec ceci. (Oh dear, oh my, oh…how do I know if he'll go along with this.) Oh he must, he simply must!"
A rather old balding man paced back and forth in one of those offices of the rich and all mighty, he kept muttering to himself half the time in French the other half in English (technically Japanese, but hey I'm writing in English) in whispers so that very rarely could the secretary catch what he was saying. He had been doing this for sometime now, just waiting for a sign that the man behind those glass doors would see him.
beep
"Sorry to keep you waiting sir. Mr. Kaiba will see you now," the secretary stated in her nasal voice.
"Oh bon, bon (Oh good, good)," the old man mumbled.
The man walked into an enormous office, it followed the same pattern as most every office he had seen. Same blue-gray walls, walnut furniture, and the same color carpeting, he secretly had been hoping for something new and upbeat, especially from someone so young, but it was all the same.
"Can I help you?" the young Kaiba asked in bone chilling voice.
"Yes I sent some things earlier, about a few months…"
"Ah yes about the dueling tournament."
"Yes, we were to meet today…"
"To discuss the plans on how the tournament will be kicked off."
"Uh, yes, I see you've decided to take on my…"
"I'm interested in this prize of yours."
"Oh you mean that the winner will be crowned Knight of the Cards?" asked the old man.
"Exactly…What does this title mean to anyone?"
"Uh…well for those of us who use the old cards it is one of the highest owners that can be placed upon any duelist. Anyone given this title is an official member of the Knights of the Round, and they have great say over any rules dealing in cards, including the ones you're playing with now."
"So then, this Knight will be able to control rulings…" Kaiba thought slowly of this.
"Yes and they also will receive great benefits, in fact the duelist who wins this title will inherit the fortune of the first Knight Lambrela, quite a hefty fortune."
"Great…I'll set up all preparations for the dueling tournament…this is bound to be blast."
"Well uh great, I'll extend invitations to the old card users and make sure I have a list for the many different old rules," the old man said.
"Just leave them here; I'll attend to those matters later. But I have one question old man," Kaiba said haughtily.
"Yes?" he responded rather offended by Kaiba's remark.
"Is there a Blue Eyes amongst your cards?"
"Uh…why yes it's owned…"
"Great, you may leave."
"Hey just leave me alone!" shouted Mokuba.
"J'hear that Thomas, the little midget wants to be left alone," teased a tall spiked haired boy.
"Well, maybe if ya hand over a little dough, then I'll think aboud it," sneered Thomas.
Poor Mokuba was in fix, he was on his way towards his favorite arcade, taking a side trip through a back alley, when he ran into a small gang of thugs. He didn't know what to do; the poor boy was scarred to death.
"Hey you guys, I think you should try leaving the kid alone," came a mysterious voice from seemingly out of nowhere.
"Wha? Where are you! Come out and show yourself," came a startled Thomas.
"Yeah like a man!" shouted the underling.
"Like a man?" questioned the voice.
A young woman appeared out of the shadows of the alleyway. Her blond hair glistened like gold even in the dimness the alleys shadows created. Her emerald eyes stayed transfixed on Mokuba, never even looking at the two thugs. She had roughness about her, Mokuba noticed, a lot like his brother it seemed. Her forest green T-shirt and khaki pants brought out the tan in her skin, giving Mokuba a hint that she wasn't from Domino City.
"Well looky here, we have ourselves a girl, now I suggest if you don't wanna get hurt, you'll leave like a nice little girl," Thomas said with a menacing glare.
"Yeah or we'll cut ya in places only you would know," the underlying stated while playing with a knife he had drawn when he saw the girl.
The girl simply walked past the two thugs placing a hand on Mokuba's shoulder causing Mokuba to jump slightly. He looked up at her and saw a kind smile like the one Seto had when they were little.
"Hello there, I'm Cirquet," the girl said completely ignoring the two thugs' threats.
"Uh…"
"You have a name to?" Cirquet questioned with a slight amusement in her voice and dazzling eyes.
"Mokuba," he said though he did not know how he was able to speak, he felt frozen, not with fear, but with well he didn't know what was wrong with him.
Moki, I like that name, now where are you headed to, I'll take you there myself," Cirquet questioned.
It had been so long since anyone ever said his nickname, not that he would have approved of it being used by anyone other than Seto, but for some reason he felt comfortable letting her use that name. Everything around him seemed to melt, and he felt so comfortable just being by her he was even forgetting what had just happened with the thugs.
"The thugs!" he yelled out.
Cirquet had been trying to ignore them, hoping they would go away if she just ignored them, 'Never works' she thought to herself. She saw them out of the corner of her eye ready to attack her and Mokuba, but with one swift kick both lay spun out on the ground knocked out by a force that didn't seem human.
"Well I tried to let them go with out any harm, but no one around here can take a hint, that's already the third time I've been almost attacked by these guys, well not these guys, but guys like them ya know what I mean?" Cirquet asked with a giggle sticking her tongue out in a playful gesture. Mokuba simply stared in amazement at the sheer strength of the girl.
"Uh…."
"Hmmm, what?" Cirquet asked looking around in an inquisitive nature. "Its all right Moki, I don't think they'll bother you or me anymore or anyone for that matter for a very long time. So where are you headed?"
"I was going to the arcade on 5th it's my favorite one," Mokuba said almost mechanically.
"Uh…great I'll take you there, by the way you don't mind me calling you Moki do you?"
"Uh…no," Mokuba said with a small smile inching across his face, for some reason he could tell he could trust her. "Uh they'll be all right, right?"
"I don't know," a playful smirk coming across her face, "boys have such hard times recovering from such attacks on their pride. Being ko' by a girl, yeah they'll recover physically, but mentally they may think about the next time they pick on a girl."
Mokuba laughed slightly, he wasn't over what just happened and for some reason he felt as though Cirquet knew this as well and was trying to comfort him.
"So what your favorite game?" she asked seemingly out of nowhere.
"Uh…I like Fighting Fighters, and Galatic Starship and…." Mokuba continued listing what seemed like every game at the arcade but he was loosening up.
Cirquet listened with intent, she wasn't a big video game player but she did play a lot of board and card games and was quite a good player, especially with tabletop RPGs usually leaving even the best of players in the dust. It was a reputation that followed her almost everywhere she went, except here. This place had its gaming champions, Seto Kaiba the owner of Kaiba Corp. who was known to be a notorious Duel Monster champion, Ootogi creator of Dudgeon Dice, a game Cirquet found quite intriguing, and of course Yugi Moto King of Games. This place is simply crawling with a challenge as Cirquet was told. She knew already knew about the challenge that was ahead for her and everyone else her, ancient powers combined with modern technology only meant trouble. Seto Kaiba was hosting a new tournament, something quite different from the Battle City of a year ago, though it would still be called Battle City. 'Real original' Cirquet thought to herself as Mokuba still continued to name of the thousand or so games he knew of. This years tournament would be quite different indeed, the Rose and Wolf duelists and the countless other dueling organizations who would have a hand in this year's tournament along with the newer card users that Pegasus had spawned. She wasn't sure how the old man Malachi had talked Seto into this, but she wasn't at all shocked when she received her invitation and duel disk just three days ago.
"So what's your favorite game Cirquet?" Mokuba asked, startling Cirquet a little as she snapped out her dazed mode. She could see the arcade ahead and the millions of little kids going in and out in an endless daze.
"Uh well I'm not all that familiar with arcade games, but I'm a big fan of almost any tabletop RPG."
"Really, wow which is your favorite?"
"Dungeons and Dragons, a lot of people will say it's their fav, but it's definitely mine.
"Really wow, I like to play chess games a lot, like Capsule Monsters. Uh we're here, thank you, for helping me out and making me feel better Cirquet," Mokuba said his face lighting up with a light shade of red.
"No sweat, happy to help."
"Uh do you wanna play some games with me, I mean if you have time to…." Mokuba asked shyly his face still red.
"Sure!" she exclaimed much to her own surprise and Mokuba's as well. It wasn't as though she had anything important to do really. So why not have some fun she thought.
The two spent the whole afternoon together, Mokuba had never had this much fun except when he and his brother were younger. To him Cirquet seemed to be like the younger version of Seto, happy and not worried about who he could and couldn't trust. He missed that Seto very much, the brother he had today did care for him just as he used to, but Seto trusted no one now, not even his brother. Mokuba had learned this the hard way, from Seto's harsh words and actions, he didn't want to believe that his brother no longer and could no longer be the brother he had before, but he had given up almost any hope of that happening. He was having fun now, much more then he had ever had in a while and he didn't want to spoil it by thinking about the past. Time seemed to pass quickly and before Mokuba knew it the arcade was getting ready to close.
"Uh oh, I'm going to be late!" Mokuba shouted to no one in particular.
"For what?" Cirquet asked dropping down the fake gun she had been shooting with for the past half hour.
"I was supposed to be back to my brother by 6 and it's already 5:45, I only have fifteen minutes, and he gets upset when I'm late."
"Well let's leave right now I'm sure we'll get there in time."
"But it's a thirty minute walk…I'll be late for sure," Mokuba groaned.
"We'll take my bike and get there in no time flat," Cirquet said with a confident grin widespread on her face.
"Uh…great…uh where is it?"
"At my house," Cirquet grinned.
"Your house…but uh where is that?"
"Don't worry, just follow me Moki!" she exclaimed running out of the building with Mokuba in hand.
