00000
Domino Central Square.
The Millenium Gauntlet made rapid clinking noises as Drake tapped his fingers on the metallic table. "I dunno why...but ever since that thunderstorm, I've been feeling more nervous than usual. Which isn't good."
"So, it's either dragon-related, will affect us directly, or both." Lara said, looking over a menu. "Hmm... what's the difference between the 'Classic' and 'Old-fashioned' burgers, again?"
"No clue." Drake replied. He sighed, moving his deck from his pocket and quickly going over the cards. "In any case, we're almost there. I'd better shift back into serious mode with my deck... if I don't look up when the waitor comes, just order one of the two."
Lara sighed, herself, as Drake removed another stack of cards from his coat, and started exchanging between the two at high speed, his eyes locked and unmoving on his task.
"I understand he's enthusiastic... but this is our first time at a resteraunt since we came back from that last adventure... he could at least ask my opinion until it got annoying. Still... these guys that look like him are still worrying me. Heck, after what's happened in the past, I'd be crazy not to think it meant something... and Yugi and the others have someone after them again, too. Maybe-"
"Finished." Lara snapped out of her thoughts and Drake returned his dragon-loaded deck to his disk.
"Already? That took about nine hours less than I expected."
"There wasn't that much to change, really.. just added the two Level series' from the new set. Plus, it can wait, anyway. This might be the last chance we get to just spend time together for a while."
Lara almost blushed, but reminded herself she was trying to cause HIS face to explode, and fought it back. "Th..thanks, Drake! You know what, you're right! Chances are we have five... ten minutes tops before something'll happen, or another weird theme duelist will decide he wants to off us...so why don't we-"
Lara's suggestion was grabbed, shoved into a meat slicer, and chopped into bits before it even began, as just that moment a familiar limousine spiralled into an adjacent building, having somehow leapt and started spinning from the completely level street just around the corner. As screams of civilians mixed with the sounds of clattering lunch tables, the purple haired girl considered grabbing her Locket and beating herself unconscious with it.
"Tate." Drake said, his tone a combination of fear and annoyance. "What's she doing here?"
"Destroying normalcy ten minutes early." Lara said dryly.
From the wreckage, a woman around Drake's height emerged, wearing a standard security-like tux and mirrored shades, apparantly unperturbed by the lack of one of her sleeves, or the steering wheel trapping her other arm to her side. She had long, almost frighteningly bushy, dark green hair, and was currently showing a slightly relieved smile.
"Heya, Drake, Lara. It's about time I found-" She started, her voice in it's usual carefree tone, before tripping over the traffic light she had brought down with her car.
'Industrial Illusion's highest ranking security agent.' Lance commented. 'No wonder they had to lock the Kaibas up.'
X0X0X
"So, how long do we have to wait for the rich kid?" Great Detective Kogoro Mouri asked, glancing out his window. The storm from earlier had dissapated, and as its center seemed to have been Kaiba's destination, he was assuming the CEO was on his way back.
"Until he gets back, Mouri-san. Obviously." Pegasus said, still grinning childishly as he looked out his own window, apparantly viewing a decrepit stop sign with great interest. In the back seat, Conan was more interested in the crime scene, although he could only see a small part of the alleyway from his window, but he also cast a few nervous glances toward the red-clothed millionaire in front of him.
After another nervous half-hour, a white duster came into view, and Kaiba took a seat near Conan, his normal scowl somehow intensified.
"Ah, Kaiba-boy. Took you long enough. I take it whoever had that special card you wanted got away?"
The glare increased again. "No. Yugi got to him first."
"Oh, that explains it! You're bad because your chances of winning it just dropped to zero." Pegasus joked, but changed to a semi-serious mood as the look on his buisiness partner's face turned murderous. "Well, we've wasted enough time sitting around. Shall we investigate?"
"Finally!" Mouri sighed, as three doors opened at once. Conan sidled out behind Kaiba, careful to trail behind the others. As Kaiba had thought earlier, the boy was not as he seemed... and he had reasons to need to look behind him today, without being noticed.
0X0X0
One of the many talents Tate Ryouko displayed in her employment to Industrial Illusions were her unrivaled emergency driving skills. These were a daily neccessity, as she had no normal driving skills whatsoever. Her unprecedented record would show you that, although she failed to last a single drive from point A to point B without an accident, there were no civilian casualties to her name.
Still, the massive amount of property damage she created in every drive needed to be settled with I2's P.R. department, and as they had yet to arrive on the scene (unlike a large crew of medical and police officers) Drake had thought it best for the three of them to bolt.
"Sorry for the trouble, but it's nice to see you two are okay." Tate said, flinching as Lara helped remove the steering wheel. "It's been...what; three weeks?"
"Since you're stationed at our main branch in San Fransisco, I'm surprised it wasn't longer." Drake answered. "Which brings up another question: why are you here in Domino?"
He turned as Lara offered Tate her own borrowed jacket, the security agent removing her ruined tux to don it, re-covering what appeared to be a short sword sheath. She replied, "Mr. Pegasus sent a message that something dangerous was likely going to happen in this new tournament. I took a plane- yes, a commercial one, stop looking horrified- here, and he told me to find you two."
"It's not like it isn't nice to see you, but couldn't you have taken a cab? It would've at least saved us a resteraunt to go to." Lara sighed. "And as for dangerous things, there hasn't been anything worse than a few direct damage attacks... although, as usual, weird things abound."
"There seems to be a group of people copying the way I look...except substituting red for other colors, and using different decks, all thematically arranged." Drake explained. "I dunno if they've been giving trouble to others...Roan lost to a dragon-user a while ago, and we haven't seen him since."
"I see... I think I remember something like that mentioned in my PDA...but it was in the car. "She said apologetically. "Well, then... I guess I have to follow you two around for awhile. Have anything planned?"
"We both need two more Locator Cards to get into the finals, but I'm worried about Yugi and the others." There was a pause, and after a small growling sound, he added, "and we still need lunch."
"Me, too. Burgerworld okay? I haven't had fries in a few days."
"I guess." Lara agreed, finally getting over the ruined moment. "Tea's not working today, so we don't need to worry about over-ketchuping."
"We're taking a cab, though." Drake said, slightly louder than normal, and Tate nodded meekly, pulling a piece of debris from her hair.
X0X0X
Though it was a small enough crime scene, a small section of a long, narrow alley, there didn't seem to be anything left behind to indicate a crime had even happened. Kaiba's patience, small to begin with and already tested with the fact that Yugi was running into an obvious trap, with what needed to be HIS God Card, finally ended. "Well, Mr. 'Great Detective?' Have anything? Because if I needed someone to just look around dumbly and not understand anything, I'd have called a person I know."
As Joey sneezed several miles away, Kogoro Mouri glared, and turned to make a remark of his own. Before that, however, his body seemed to freeze, twitch a few seconds, and suddenly slump backwards, landing in a sitting position against a wall. Startled, Kaiba looked around again...Pegasus wasn't surprised...and Conan wasn't in sight. He started his Duel Disk, preparing for a surprise attack-
"As sad as it is to say, with my skills, Mr. Kaiba, no." The detective's voice replied. Kaiba couldn't see if his mouth was moving or not. "However, I do have one small shred of information that might play a factor in this. Mr. Pegasus?"
"Yes, Mouri-boy?" Pegasus replied, still not surprised to suddenly need to speak.
"If I'm not mistaken, you hired me to come several days ago, in order to investigate what caused our victim to fall into a coma, and whether or not Bandit Keith was involved, correct?"
"Yes..."
"Mr. Kaiba..." He seemed to speak. Kaiba frowned; Kogoro's head had tilted slightly, and he could just barely see the corner of a mouth. Which was stationary. "Do you recall when the boy was found here?"
"Yes, obviously! I even have it recorded! He was attacked last nigh-"
Eyes similar to those of his favorite monster's widened, his angry expression becoming enlightened, before going back to normal as he rounded his gaze towards Pegasus. "Well...that's interesting."
"I agree. So then, Pegasus, can you explain how you went back in time to ask me to come over here? Or would you like to spare me the trouble, and just cut to an explanation... or confession?"
His usual chuckle under his breath, Pegasus turned to face a trash can a short distance away from the sitting investigator. "Well, I must say you were quite clever to figure it out...I saw your expression earlier, in the hospital. You're quite perceptive, Great Detective...but you're not Shin'ichi Kudo."
An unexpected movement came from behind the trashcan, coinciding with Kogoro's reply. "Wha-ack! Wha-what do you mean by that!"
Confused as he was, Kaiba was sure, by the tone just spoken, that detective Mouri couldn't POSSIBLY have opened his mouth. Pegasus continued, "By which I mean, your stature, of course. Your skills are equal, if not greater than his were when he vanished, according to the papers I've ordered from your neighbourhood. But I'm afraid it's just not as impressive as seing the TALL boy genius in person."
"But...b-but, we're the same height!" A desperate tone shot back. However, this time, Kaiba heard it from somewhere else, as well...and much higher-pitched...
Oh, that's right...'Detective Mouri'... sorry about that. It's just that Kaiba doesn't now about 'Nichi-boy, and if I'm going to become a suspect, I'd like my last moments without a criminal record to be educational."
"What are you talking about?" Kaiba said, annoyance building up again.
Pegasus grinned. "Shin'ichi Kudo. Some called him the Great Detective of the East, before he dissapeared. He's about your age, or might be, and like you he's an absolute genius at his trade. He's solved cases with barely any aid, aside from permission to see the crime scenes, and if he'd have stayed on his soccer team in highschool, he'd be a household name here in Japan. All pretenses aside, if he'd chosen Duel Monsters as a hobby over Sherlock Holmes books, he could've been greater than even Yugi! And...consequently...you, I suppose."
Instead of verbally exploding, as would have been expected, Kaiba ignored that last part, his mind recognizing something. "I see...what did he look like?"
The trashcan fell onto Mouri, who screamed in surprise/pain as Conan rolled out of it.
"...well, if you want to know-"
Kaiba's coat started bleeping at a frantic rate, and apon recognizing the pattern, his mind went blank off everything around him. He charged out of the alleyway, leaving a pained detective, a boy looking like he was about to be assasinated, and a one-eyed millionaire behind.
That particular alarm only went off when KaibaCorp's computers failed to identify Mokuba.
00000
Although it was, in a way, peaceful, Drake knew from experience that the words 'Tate' and 'fast food place' did not mix well. For one, his bodyguard had an obsession with french fries that went beyond healthy standards, as was evident here as she was chewing out an underpaid register worker, angrily indicating the low number and short length of the fries that came with her meal. For another, there were a few such establishments with TVs. While green hair would be considered par for course in Domino's strangly-headed population, escaped car crashers weren't. Tate had wisely pulled her hair into a ponytail (though more out of her 'fry-eating safety' concerns than identity), but the image of her walking from the crash site was more than enough to make several other customers dash out.
A new person walked in, dodging to pass someone who was leaving, and Drake glanced at her briefly. Seeing the duel disk, and remembering his need for two more, he looked again. She was slightly taller than Drake, with neck-length black hair (slightly spikey,) with brown eyes. She wore a simple black tanktop and blue jeans.
"Hey, Lara? Since we have to wait for Tate...which will take awhile... wanna ask her to duel? I could find someone else, but-" He noticed his girlfriend's face. She seemed nearly shocked, but then she grinned widely, and left her seat.
"SHAI!"
The girl blinked, turning to see Lara, and the same look came on her face, before, as Lara's, forming a grin. "LARA!"
Lara dashed to her, and confusion, for the umpteenth time that day, was all Drake had. He blushed and turned away as they suddenly hugged, and gave the Gauntlet a small punch. 'ACK! HEY! What did I do?'
'Just making sure you didn't make some perverted comment.'
'Did I say something?'
'You would have.'
'You don't know that!'
"Drake?" Lara's voice said, and he looked up to see her, still half-amazed, and she pointed to the newcomer beside her. "Meet my former foster sister, Shai Thane! Her family helped me out a few times in New York."
THAT cleared up confusion...and added a lot of respect. Forgetting Locator Card troubles entirely, Drake immediately stood up, offering his hand. "In that case, I really have to thank you, Shai. For helping Lara make it back to me."
She shook his hand with her own, a somewhat familiar grin on her face. Noticing she was looking at Lara, Drake saw his girlfriend suddenly look away.
"Looks like somebody's blushing... and you're very welcome...Drake, right?" Her accent was similar to Joey's, but more controlled. "Lara's described ya' often enough... take it from the girl in the top bunk. But I kinda' have to apologize, I guess..."
"Why's that?"
Lara turned around, the pink on her face fading, grinning again, identical to Shai. "She taught me everything I know."
On cue, Drake turned, hiding his own red face. Lance seemed oddly calm.
'I think I'm gonna like this... there's a lot of potential one-liners now that there's two girls to comment on...'
'What! Hey, before you get settled into that gutter, 1. I don't see her that way, 2. I'll KILL you if you in any way assume I'm noticing someone other than Lara like that, and 3. ...why didn't you think that about Tate?'
"What do you MEAN you stopped ordering kethcup because some maniacs tried to shoot you with mustard?" Tate's horrified tone echoed across the building.
'Drake... I'm a bodyless pervert. Not a highly-trained ninja. Somehow, I think she'd STILL be able to hear me, and without such l33t n1nj4 skillz, I'd be a DEAD bodyless pervert.'
'Point taken.'
XXXXX
Umiryu decided, after ten minutes of staring at trains zooming by, to re-check his watch. "And that's an hour late, on the dot." He released a long, suffering sigh. "So, he'll be here in another half-hour, least. One of these days the boss'll take my side, and order him to stop making this a habit. Until then..."
"Looking for a way to pass the time?" A gruff voice asked. He looked up to see three people wearing cloaks, each of them bearing a duel disk. The middle one spoke again. "We've noticed you watching several of our targets. And unless you're criminally insane, the way you move over buildings and across traffic means you've been trained to spy on others. Our master has ordered us to stop your prying."
"Rare Hunters..." The blue-haired agent murmered, looking at his watch again. "29 minutes to go...I guess I could you three-on-one. But all three of you have to bet 3 Locator cards, or it's no deal."
"Impudent-!" The trio activated their disks at once. "Fine! It's not as if it matters!"
"...and one of these days, people will stop saying that." Umiryu sighed again. His disk activated, and he drew his hand. "Until then..."
00000
Next time: Whilst Shai is filled in to the past, the present comes crashing back down. Pegasus reveals his knowledge of Shin'ichi to 'Conan,' and Kaiba confronts a stalling Rare Hunter. Agent -0001 is introduced, and, after his Pegasus fills him in, Drake rushes to find Yugi, who rushes to find the others.
Chapter Finished: June 23rd, 2005.
