A/N: Wow! This fic is now C2'd! Thanks to whoever decided to include it! And thank you to whoever FINALLY gave us hit counters without !
Ahem.
In other news, I nearly didn't get this chapter done in time! In fact, I've only just written it this morning! And it took me almost three hours! Phew… But that's what you get when you re-write every sentence at least 3 times… whatever. Oh, also, it's almost the summer holidays! Whooooooo! IMM will be done by then, so prepare to see the sequel to Amusing for Inspiration very soon! And I can now reveal that the Title will be… (Drumroll) Wherever You Go! Tada!
And no-one cares. Let's move onto the Reviews…
Review Responses:
Dragonlady222: Sometimes we all hafta do things that scare us, I guess... Well anyway, next weekend is this weekend, and this weekend is last weekend so that means another chapter is HERE! Which you know, because you're reading it. Um... yeah.
Lily of the Shadow: Heh. Fluke all the way:DExcept for this chapter, maybe... I mean, I TOTALLY knew what Bling-man had against them before I wrote this chapter this morning... Amazing. Actually, this was the original plan for the entire fic as it wasscribbled down in a notebook: 'Mokuba is fifteen and annoyed, Seto gets kidnapped! Oh no!' along with a shocked face... Can you believe, originally it was going to just be a one-shot...?
Erosgirl: Yay perfectionists! But the thing about Ryou's sister. There seems to be a variety of ideas, but, from what I can gather, Ryou had a sister named Amane who somehow, at some point, died. I have no idea how, so... Poetic lisence? Although I would be really grateful if anyone could tell me ANYTHING about it. And the Kaiba's parents to. I mean, the American dub is probably bad enough, but the English version is just ABYSMAL... (Deterioates into angry mutters)
Disclaimer: I own NOWT! INCLUDING THE SONGS! BUT I OWN (TWO OF) THE PEOPLE SINGING THEM! THAT'S ALMOST THREE! JUST TRY AND STOP ME! MWHAHAHAHAHAHA! (Has survived on Smarties for last 3 hours)
Eighteen: Talk the Talk
They had been going up for hours. Or even minutes. There was no way to tell. They had to be above ground level by now, surely it can't have been that deep! They had to be going up to a top level of the building or something.
But then, there was no way of telling how far below ground they'd been before. The dome had been above ground, yes, but then the whole building had re-arranged. They could tell nothing.
It was a time of very low morale. They were all slumped down on the panel, waiting as they moved endlessly up and up, never stopping, never slowing, never nearing the end. And never saying a word.
Mokuba happened to be sitting oppisite Jenna, and he was noticing a distinct pattern in her behaviour. She'd stare at the floor, glance worriedly at Ryou, and bite her lip before looking at the ground again. And then more worry…
But Mokuba could understand why. Ryou was looking blankly at something that wasn't there, seeing something beyond their current situation. And it didn't look like it was a happy something.
Mokuba moved cautiously over to him, and shook him.
"Yo, Ryou, scaring me here…!" He said, falsely cheerful. Ryou jumped a little, and flashed a smile that lingered for less then a second.
"Sorry." He sighed. "I was just thinking…"
"About your sister?" Yugi asked quietly. Ryou glanced up sharply in surprise.
"You mentioned that you couldn't save her…" Yugi said, averting his gaze.
"Yes." Ryou nodded, turning away to. But Mokuba could still see a sad smile on his face. "Her name was Amane. She was a lovely girl. So cute…" He smiled. "And a lot more social then I could ever be. But then she died. Just died one day. There was no reason for it, it shouldn't have happened, but there was nothing anyone could do… And I couldn't do anything either."
"You loved her." Azreal piped up from the other side, sitting with Seto. "Sometimes that's enough. I mean, everyone hated me when I was growing up. But not my family. They didn't give up on me. They didn't understand me, but they loved me anyway. I was miserable a lot of the time, and they weren't the best family ever, but they loved me… and now I guess I can love to." She fell silent, rubbing the back of her neck, not used to talking so personally to just anyone.
"Well, sometimes it isn't enough." Jenna said blandly. "My family claimed to love me, but that doesn't change the fact that when I was sixteen they got put in prison for neglect and the 'vegetables' they grew in the back garden. And they're still there. I just thank goodness I'd already moved out when I went to college. I would never have survived being put in care…"
Azreal felt a ripple of tension run through Seto, who was sitting next to her. But he said nothing.
Azreal gave a grim smile. "I guess we've all had a pretty messed up childhood." She said sadly. And not just the stuff they'd talked about. Seto, Yugi and Ryou had all had traumas that they didn't care to bring up. Most likely Jenna's past wasn't as simple as she'd put it. And neither was Azreal's.
"Well, I haven't!" Mokuba cried, standing up. "I may not remember our parents, but what I do remember is that no matter what, we've got through the bad times and we're all still here! So what does it matter what happened in the past? I'm happy now! And so I'll enjoy it while I can!" He smiled. "I've had a great time recently! I still remember the first time I saw you, Ann, on the stairs. You sure turned everything upside down! But maybe it's better that way… I don't care what anyone else says, I've had a awesome childhood!"
For a moment, there was silence. Then Azreal burst out laughing.
"He's right, you know!" She giggled. "Geez, these bouts of self-pity are becoming scarily frequent…"
"Too true." Ryou agreed. "He's messing with our heads. Hoping we'll get depressed on this ride. And I guess I did… Sorry everyone…"
"There you go again!" Mokuba reprimanded. "Will you guys just cheer up? You're alive, aren't you!"
"Ah. So, you live to the 'Pope gets high', lifestyle, Mokuba?" Az grinned.
"Huh?"
"You know…" Azreal prompted. He didn't. Sighing, she continued. "Fine." She sang a little. "I hope I'm old before I die! I hope I live to see the day the Pope gets high…"
"I haven't heard that song in a while…" Ryou grinned wickedly. "Not as good as that other one of course…"
"I'll sing it if you will." Azreal smirked.
"Alright." Ryou agreed, surprising them all. "But Jenna has to join in to. She knows this song…"
"Okie dokie." Azreal shrugged, and the two began, Jenna joining in when she recognised the song.
"Oh, it seems forever starts today, all the lonely hearts in London caught a plane and flew away, and all the best women are married, all the handsome men are gay, you fell deprived... Yeah, are you questioning your size? Is there a tumour in your humour, are there bags under your eyes? And do you leave dents where you sit? Are you getting on a bit…?"
Yugi laughed at the strange lyrics, and Seto shook his head at the slightly-less-then tuneful singing on the parts of three certain people. But Mokuba smiled. Thanks to him, (No need to be modest in his thoughts) the mood had been salvaged. From depressed to singing slightly bizarre songs learnt long ago in G&T class in one paragraph. Not bad.
He'd been in some strange situations before, but it had to be said that this one took the biscuit. He was sitting on a metal platform that was moving upwards, possibly towards his doom, with five other people- four of whom seemed to have teamed up to sing a song that seemed to be about a hobbit…
"…They just like to eat and be left alone! But one day Bilbo was asked to go on a big adventure to the caves below, to help some dwarves get back their gold that was stolen by a Dragon in the days of old! Bilbo, Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins…!"
Yeah.
He may be happy with his life, but there was no way it could be called normal…
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"I guess this our stop." Azreal shrugged as the platform finally juddered to a stop. It wasn't much of a view. Just a circular wall to fit around the metal floor and a Star Wars-esq. door on one side.
"Then let's go." Mokuba swallowed, closest to the door. He lead the way over to it, wondering how it would open, but before he could even lay finger to it, the strange door had whooshed open, various interlocking shapes swirling into the frame work of the round door.
"Well, don't just stand in the doorway!" Bling-man's voice echoed into the small room. "Come in, come in… I've been expecting you…"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"At last!" Tristan sighed as they finally, after two hours, got back into moving traffic again. "I think we're about half way to Domino…"
Joey gave a growl of frustration. "Hmmph. The heroes in comic books never get caught in traffic…"
"No," Téa agreed. "But then, this isn't exactly the Batmobile…"
"What are you saying?" Tristan asked. "If my car isn't good enough, you can walk!"
"I didn't say that!" Téa shot back, temper flaring unusually quickly.
"Then what did you say?" Tristan yelled. "'Cause that's sure what it sounded like!"
"She didn't mean it like that!" Joey defended Téa. "She was just saying that-"
"That my car is rubbish! I heard!"
"That wasn't what I meant!"
"Then what did you mean?"
Serenity slapped hands over her ears. She was going insane…
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"There you are!" The man twittered as they walked into a very strange room. It was just like a traditional, old fashioned room. Flowery wall paper, a brown carpet, red rug, a small table with tea on it, bookcases and even a fire burning merrily in the hearth. There was a different item in every available spot, like an old junk shop. None of this stuff could have any sentimental value, but it was there anyway, like a very old room belonging to an old gentleman who couldn't let go of the past.
But it was different. All these features were pushed to the very edges of the large room- the largest one yet- and so a large open space was left in the middle of the room while all the thousands of old tat crammed and squashed into edges and corners. The carpet had paled in this spot from the extra light forcing it's way through the dusty windows, and the colour was fading.
"What is this…?" Jenna asked. The room was large enough to allow her voice to echo, but the variety and amount of clutter made the sound disjointed, as though there were a dozen Jenna-ghosts, arguing it out.
"This?" Bling-man asked, appearing from the tall armchair. "This is my room. And your grave."
"No way!" Yugi yelled. "You won't get away with this! What do you want from us anyway!"
"From you?" Bling-man blinked. "Nothing. You were a little… unexpected. So you'll have to die, I'm afraid. It's your own fault, you know, pocking into other's business…"
"Then what do you want from me and my brother!" Mokuba demanded.
"My, my… How rude are teens today?" He sighed. "But to answer your question, young man, it's actually quite a story. Perhaps your brother will tell you sometime…"
They all looked expectantly at Seto.
"Who are you?" Seto demanded. "And what do you have against me?"
The falsely cheerful, polite smile gave way to a scowl. "Perhaps you'd remember me better if I told you my name was Jack Selbek…"
"I'm afraid not." Seto smirked. "Though, if you will sign your name on the bottom of threatening E-mails…"
"Then you should know who I am!" Selbek insisted, voice showing he was nearly giving into rage.
"I know some things." Seto shrugged indifferently. "I do my research."
"Then tell us what you know." Selbek ground out.
"You love films." Seto recited quietly, steepling his fingers. "Ever since you were a kid. You knew every film worth seeing, and every film that wasn't. You soon got a job with Empire filmmagazine, reviewing the new DVD releases for them. You were quickly noticed, and got put up to new films. Then, eventually you became editor."
"And then…?" Selbek asked in a hushed, excited tone as though he had never heard the story before.
"And then you up and left." Seto concluded. "Just announced you were going to leave, no explanation, just promising you'd return with something spectacular. Four years ago, you had the 'grand' opening of your theme park, which would apparently embody in holograms all of the most loved movie scenes, offering people the chance to be in their favourite films. "
"And…" Selbek prompted again, sounding suddenly angry. "And then what! What does this all have to do with you, Seto Kaiba!"
"I really have no idea." Seto replied easily. The others couldn't believe it…
"Then let me tell you!" Selbek screamed. "Everything was ready… I'd spent more then ten years in solitude, working on the place, perfecting it… It was going to be a place of dreams. Of course, more erotic film scenes would have been available only on the Black Market, but I would have been rich! And famous! My holograms, my technology, was the best the world would've ever seen! I would've gone down in history! But then, what did you do, the day before I opened! What did you do!"
"I really couldn't tell you." Seto replied lazily, as though he was bored of the entire affair. Which, given his brain power, he probably was.
"You announced your tournament!" Selbek screamed. "Your bloody tournament! And suddenly, ten years of work was ignored because of your spur of the moment competition! And what was worse was those disks of yours…" He nodded at the one Mokuba and Ryou were wearing for no real reason. "All that technology… Holograms better then mine, smaller machines then mine, more energy efficient then mine…!"
"Oops." Seto shrugged.
"Seto!" Azreal hissed, elbowing him. "Need I remind you that you and Mokuba are the only ones here who aren't going to be killed! Behave, for heaven's sake…!"
"Okay, I apologise." Seto sighed. "But I sold my disks off ages ago. What do you want me to do about it now?"
"Exactly!" Selbek howled. "I spent a year trying to figure out how you did it, determined to beat you, to better you- I was obsessed! I barely slept! And then you just casually sold the technology off to a company that completely massacred it!" He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "I've been trying to make my park bigger and better since. But I could never out do you… There comes a time in every man's life when he realises he has to give up. You have the technology! And if I have you…" He paused, seemingly for effect, before continuing in a wistful, dreamy voice. "And now robots to! My park can be better then I ever dreamed!" Then his voice clouded. "They ignored me. All over the world, I was ignored! But they were fools… And they won't ignore me when my army of robots- robots you are going to build for me, Kaiba- help me overlord their countries!"
Jenna blinked, then cheered. "Ha! I told you, Kaiba! I totally told you! Robot Army!"
"Not now…" Seto ground out. This was ridiculous. "And just what, exactly, makes you think that I'm going to help you, Selbek?"
"Why, because I have your beloved brother, of course!" Selbek, aka. Bling man laughed.
"You don't have anything!" Mokuba insisted. "Not yet, anyway. Because you've been playing with us the whole time, so you'll end it with a game now!"
"Right you are, young Mokuba." Selbek commended, sounding pleased that someone had twigged. "I wanted to check you were who I thought you were, and worth my time. Well, it would seem you are. All together, at least. So, it would seem that the only way to settle this would be one-on-one…"
They regarded him in horror.
"Yes, I can see you are not really ready for combat." Selbek laughed. "And to be perfectly honest, neither am I. But I did my research to, and the most logical option seemed to be to pick up this… 'Duel Monsters'… game of yours." He pulled out a deck out of a pocket. "Incredibly hard to hold of any of the original cards… these are mainly the new, fan ones. But new cards means a whole new way to play, no? So, as they said all that time ago, let's Duel!"
"And what makes you think we won't just walk out of here right now?" Seto growled.
"Because your pride would not allow it." Selbek said. "I know how you work… That's how all arguments were settled in those days. And the loser will always honour their loss. So if I win, you help me, and the others die. And if you win," He added hastily. "I will, of course, let you all go."
"Fine." Seto scowled, locating his almost forgotten deck, still in his pocket from force of habit. "Then let's get on with it."
"Wait." Mokuba said quietly. "Errm… Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Seto looked at him questioningly. "I was… and Yugi was… The champion players, you know."
"I know, I know!" Mokuba agreed hastily. "It's just that… well…"
"Well what?" Seto said warningly.
"I mean, no offence…" Mokuba said cautiously, uncomfortably. "It's just that you and Yugi… well, 'kick it old school'. Let me handle this, yeah?"
"…Is he calling us old fashioned?" Yugi asked Kaiba indcredously.
Seto shook his head, not knowing. He was still trying to discern the phrase 'Kick it old school'…
Selbek laughed. "You know, I like you kid!" He cried. "Well, then, come on if you're coming!"
Mokuba calmly clipped his own deck into the Disk, getting a happy buzz of anticipation as the life point counter whirled up to 8000. He had only used a disk once or twice before, and it always made the game much more fun…
'Bing-Man' went over to one of the many cluttered shelves, pulling from it a Disk that Mokuba hadn't noticed before, knocking many other items off as he did so.
He and Mokuba squared off at oppisite ends of the clear patch of carpet, regarding each other.
"Well then…" Selbek said slowly. "I already know you talk the talk… Let's see if you can walk the walk, shall we? Let the Game begin!"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A/N: Huzzah! Nearly time for some Duelling Action… But don't get your hopes up… I'm not one of these people who can actually write Duels… But I'll try my best. The two songs, by the way, were Supreme, by Robbie Williams and The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins by Lehard Nimoy (Sp?), aka. Spock. Okay? Everything fine and Dandy? Good. Now I'm going to go and get lunch… Till next week!