-Flashback-Kaiba Mansion

Inside the vast mansion, Seto Kaiba about 21 years of age, walks in the halls of his home. His old friend, Arthur the butler, is walking alongside him, carrying his luggage.

"Will you be heading back to Tokyo University after the hearing, sir? Or can I persuade you to stay on for a day or two, Master Kaiba?"

"I'm not heading back at all, Arthur."

"You don't like it there?"

"I like it fine. They don't feel the same way."

"I prepared the master bedroom."

"No. My room will be fine."

"With all due respect, sir, the Kaiba Mansion is your house."

Kaiba, now alittle irritated, responds abit harshly. "No, Arthur, it's my father's house."

"Your father is dead."

"This place is a mausoleum. If I have my way, I'll pull the damn thing brick by brick."

Suddenly, the two men cease walking.

"This house, Master Kaiba, has sheltered 6 generations of your family."

"Why do you give a damn, Arthur? It's not your family."

"I 'give a damn,' because a good man once made me responsible for what was most precious to him in the whole world."

Arthur then continues the walk upstairs.

"Miss Gardner has offered to drive you to the hearing. She probably hopes to talk you out of going."

"Should I just bury the past out there with my parents, Arthur?"

"Your brother, Mokuba, did it. And besides... I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do with your past, sir. Just know that there are those of us who care about what you do with your future."

"Haven't given up on me yet?"

"Never."

Master Bedroom

Seto starts to look around, stares around his Duel Monsters card collection, and then finds an old picture of his parents. He smiles at it. He starts to open his briefcase, and inside it is a gun. He takes it and starts walking downstairs to where Téa is.

Kitchen

Seto enters the kitchen, seeing Téa there. He also notices Mokuba having some lunch.

"Hey, Mokuba. It's been a while."

Téa turns her head around, as Seto says...

"Arthur still keeps the condensed milk on the top shelf."

"Hasn't he noticed that you're tall enough to reach now?"

"Well, old habits die hard, I guess."

"Never used to stop us anyway."

"No, it didn't. How's your mom?"

"She misses this place. So do I."

"Yeah. But it's nothing without the people who made it what it was. Now, it's only Mokuba and Arthur.

"And you."

"I'm not staying, Téa."

"You're just back for the hearing."

He nods in approval.

"Seto, I don't suppose there's anyway to convince you not to come."

"Someone at this proceeding should stand for my parents."

"We all loved your parents, Seto. What Jables did is unforgivable."

"Then why is your boss, Mr. Taylor, letting him go?"

"In prison, Jables shared a cell with Gozaburo Falcone. He learned things, and he'll testify in exchange for early parole."

"Téa, this man killed my parents. I cannot let that pass. And, I need you to understand that, please."

"Okay."

Domino Courthouse

In the courtroom, Téa's boss, Tristan Taylor is pointing out the reasons why Joey Wheeler should be released for early parole.

"World War II's depression hit working people, like Mr. Jables, hardest of all. His crime was appalling, yes, but it was motivated not by greed, but by of desperation. Given the 14 years already served, as well as his extraordinary level of cooperation with one of this office's most important investigations... we strongly endorse his petition for early release."

Judge Faden, the (dis)honorable judge asks Mr. Jables to stand. "Mr. Jables?"

Kyle Jables, now pushing 40, stands. "Your honor, not a day goes by when I don't wish I could take back what I did. Sure, I was desperate, like a lot of people back then, but that don't change what I did."

Wheeler then sits back down.

Judge Faden states, "I gather there is a member of the Kaiba family here today. Has he got anything to say?"

As this is happening, Téa and Jables both react and start turning in Seto's direction. Wheeler stares at Seto's cold blue eyes and immediately looks away. Seto starts to rise and walks out of the courtroom, while everyone's eyes are all on him. He waits outside the courtroom, and is starting to release his gun. The courtroom door opens while 2 cops come out.

Several reporters swarm the 2 cops who try to shield Jables.

"He's coming out the side! He's coming out the side, guys!"

One of the reporters ask Jables, "Jables, any words for the Kaiba family?" Meanwhile Seto starts walking towards his parents' killer with a gun clasped to his hand. One of the reporters spots him and shouts, "Seto Kaiba!"

All of a sudden, a blonde female reporter starts towards Wheeler as well.

"Jables! Hey, Jables! Falcone says hi."

She fires her gun at Wheeler, killing him. BLAM!

In reaction to this, the 2 cops start pinning down the blonde female. Everyone near the scene screams and confusion and fear starts arousing. Seto, now shocked, loses his chance to 'avenge' his parents' death.

"Come on, Seto. We don't need to see this.

"I do."

Téa's car

"The DA couldn't understand why Judge Faden insisted on making the hearing public. Falcone paid him off to get Jables out into the open."

"Maybe I should be thanking them."

"You don't mean that."

"What if I do, Téa? My parents deserved justice."

"You're not talking about justice. You're talking about revenge."

"Sometimes they're the same."

"No, they're never the same, Seto. Justice is about harmony. Revenge is about you making yourself feel better. Which is why we have an impartial system."

"Your system is broken."

Téa immediately turns and drives to the bad streets.

"You care about justice? Look beyond your own pain, Seto."

He stares onto the filthy streets, dark alleys, and others. He's acting cold.

"This city is rotting. They talk about WWII's depression as if it's history, and it's not. Things are worse than ever down here. Falcone floods this city with crime and drugs... preying on the desperate, creating new Kyle Jables plural, every day. Falcone may not have killed your parents, Seto... but he's destroying everything that they stood for."

Téa stops her car nearby a basement club.

"You wanna thank him for that? Here you go. We all know where to find him. But, as long as he keeps the bad people rich and the good people scared, no one'll touch him. Good people like your parents, who'll stand against injustice, they're gone. What chance does Domino have if the good people do nothing?"

"I'm not one of your good people, Téa."

"What do you mean?"

"All these years, I wanted to kill him. Now I can't."

He pulls up his sleeve and turns his hand around revealing a handgun. Téa is shocked at this situation.

SLAP! Téa slapped Seto in the cheek. SLAP! She does so again.

"Your father would be ashamed of you."

Staring at Téa, Seto then starts getting out of the car. He watches Téa's car disappear. He then takes his gun out. Walking near the waterfront, he remembers the terrible night years ago. "No! I can't be like Jables" Ashamed of his gun-held hand, he throws the weapon into the water. He then enters the club.

Basement Club

One of Gozaburo's guards frisks Seto and checks for any weapons and such.

"You're taller than you look in the tabloids, Mr. Kaiba. No gun? I'm insulted! You could've just sent a thank-you note."

"I didn't come here to thank you. I've come here to show you that not everyone's afraid of you in Domino."

"Only those who know me, kid. Look around you. You'll see 2 councilmen, a union official, a couple of off-duty cops, and a judge. Now, I wouldn't have a second's hesitation of blowing your head off right in front of them. Now, that's power you can't buy. That's the power of fear."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Because you think you've got nothing to lose. But, you haven't thought it through. You haven't thought about your lady friend down at the DA's office. You haven't thought about your old butler or your little brother too. Bang! (His gun's empty) People from your world... have so much to lose. Now you think, because your mommy and your daddy got shot you think that you know about the ugly side of life, but you don't. You never tasted desperate, you're... you're Seto Kaiba, the prince of Domino. You'd have to go 1000 miles to find someone who didn't know your name. So don't come down here with your anger, trying to prove something to yourself. This is a world you never understand. And you always fear what you don't understand. All right."

Some of Falcone's men walk nearby. One of them shove Seto's head, then grabs him. Seto tries resisting, but he's being picked up. Next, the second thug hits Seto in the face. Pop! Bam!

"Yeah, you got spirit, kid. I'll give you that. More than your old man anyway. In the joint, Jables told me about the night he killed your parents. He said your father begged for mercy. Begged. Like a dog."

He notions the guards to take him out.

Street

Falcone's men kick Kaiba out into the wet pavements of the street.

"Should've tipped better," says a homeless man nearby.

Seto walks up to a homeless man near a fire. He throws away his tie, and takes some money out of his wallet, but throws the wallet away. He offers his money to the old homeless man.

"For what?"

"Your jacket."

"Okay. Hey, hey, hey. Let me have it. It's a nice coat."

They trade jackets and coats.

"Be careful who sees you with that. They're gonna come looking for me."

"Who?"

"Everyone."

"It's a nice coat..."

Kaiba notices a ship starting to leave. He runs for it and catches onboard.

"When you lived among the criminals, did you start to pity them?"

Africa-some time after Seto left Domino

"The first time I stole so that I wouldn't starve, yes."

As he looks over a fruit market stand, he secretly takes a mango, while looking at a different type. Later, he sees a poor, hungry African boy nearby him, while he's eating.

"I lost many assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong."

In pity, he hands the fruit over to the boy.

China-some time after Africa

"And when I traveled... I learned the fear before a crime... and the thrill of success."

Seto follows some Chinese criminals who try to steal some shipments from abroad the land. Immediately, several cops surround and arrest them.

"But I never became one of them."

Later-after the arrest

A Chinese cop is angered that Kaiba's not saying his name. Another cop walks towards him.

"Fool. What the hell do I care what your name is? You're a criminal."

"I'm not a criminal (In fluent mandarin)."

"Tell that to the guys who owned these."

The cop kicks a box nearby... Kaiba Corporation.

Later, 2 armed soldiers lead Kaiba into the Bhutanese prison.

Present-Himilayen Monastary

"You traveled the world to understand the criminal mind and to conquer your fears."

Pegasus readies Seto's old blue poppy and grinds it into dust and mixes it to form a liquid.

"But, a criminal is not complicated. And what you really fear is inside yourself. You fear your own power. You fear your anger...the drive to great or terrible things. Now you must journey inwards."

He hands Seto a cup of the steaming liquid.

"You are ready. Breathe."

Seto does so.

"Breathe."

Seto breathes in the liquid's steam, deeper this time.

"Breathe in your fears."

All the while, Seto is experiencing the dizzying effects of the potion. He sees images of bats flying around him.

"Face them."

More images flash; bats, parents' death.

"To conquer fear, you must become fear. You must bask in the fear of other men."

Pegasus walks away from Kaiba, with glowing eyes due to the effects of the drug.

"And men fear most what they cannot see."

Pegasus then pulls out his mask and wears it. Immediately, dozens of ninjas form a wall between the two men. Kaiba follows suit, by putting on his own mask. He looks, sees the ninjas all with glowing eyes. He slowly walks towards them.

"You have to become a terrible thought."

Instantly, the wall of ninjas pull out their swords and form two walls, creating an opening for Kaiba.

"A wraith..."

Seto then pulls his sword out, readies for any attack.

"You have to become an idea!"

Suddenly, Pegasus leaps out and strikes his student. He blocks and tries to counter-attack, but the ninjas form the wall again, seemingly in a pattern.

"Feel terror cloud your senses. Feel its power to distort. To control."

The ninjas then perform another wall formation, turning about.

"And know that this power can be yours."

Pegasus attacks Seto again. This time, a little more prepared, he blocks, but his mentor disappears into the ninja group. The ninjas form an opening, showing the 'box' in front of the testee.

"Embrace your worst fear. Become one with the darkness."

Seto opens the box and inside it reveals a swarm of bats all surprising Kaiba.

"Focus. Concentrate. Master your senses."

Instantly, Pegasus strikes at Seto with his sword, but Seto dodges. He spins and gets slashed by Pegasus's sword. Once again, the ninjas form the giant wall. After the formation, he sees that his sleeve's been cut, now a dead give-a-way, unless...

Kaiba slashes a ninja closest to him and does the same to a few others nearby. Meanwhile Pegasus is pacing lightly towards Kaiba. He knocks down Kaiba and places his sword against his throat.

"You cannot leave any sign." He pulls off his own mask and seems disappointed.

"I haven't." A ninja nearby puts his sword against Pegasus's neck. He takes off his mask. It is Kaiba. Pegasus smiles and notices that several others have slashed sleeves.

Suddenly, throughout the room, from the balcony above, Ra's Al Ghul claps his hands in his display of acknowledging the trainee.

"Impressive."

He leaves the balcony.

Later

Ra's Al Ghul stirs something in a giant bowl. He says a line of Urdu. Pegasus translates:

"We have purged your fear. You are ready to lead these men. You are ready to become a member of the League of Shadows. But, first you must demonstrate your commitment to justice. Lei-voy!"

A ninja walks by, holding the bhutanese farmer. Pegasus hands Seto his sword. Realizing what he's being told to do.

"No. I'm no executioner."

"Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share, Seto."

"That's why it's so important. It seperates us from them."

"You want to fight criminals. This man is a murderer."

"This man should be tried."

"By whom? Corrupt bureaucrats? Criminals mock society's laws. You know this better than most."

Immediately Ra's responds, "You cannot lead these men... unless you are prepared to do what is necessary to defeat evil."

"And where would I be leading these men?"

"Domino. As Domino's favored son you will be ideally placed at the heart of criminality."

"How?"

"Domino's time has come. Like Constantinople or Rome before it... the city has become a breeding ground for suffering and injustice. It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die. This is the most important function of the League of Shadows. It is one we've performed for centuries. Domino... must be destroyed."

Seto says to Pegasus: "You can't believe in this."

"Ra's Al Ghul rescued us from the darkest corners of our own hearts. What he asks in return is the courage to do what is necessary."

"I'll go back to Domino and I will fight men like this... but I will not become an executioner."

"Seto, please. For your own sake, there is no turning back."

Seto grabs the sword from Pegasus's hands. He swings his sword above the prisoner. Instead he catches a candle and flings it to spread fire on the wooden floor.

"What are you doing?"

"What's necessary, my friend."

Pegasus looks up, while Seto knocks him out with his sword's handle. The ninjas immediately pull up their swords to battle Kaiba. While Ra's takes his sword and orders them to stop. He immediately does battle with Kaiba. Ra's strikes against Kaiba, but he parries and leaps sideways onto the floor. Meanwhile fire is spreading everywhere inside.

Seeing Kaiba fallen, Ra's attacks his with his sword. But, Seto blocks it. CLANG!

Ra's counters by kicking and and continuing his relentless assault. As Kaiba manages to block his opponent's sword attacks, Ra's quickly strikes Seto in the face with his fist. "Oooommphhh!"

As the two skilled men continue their vain battle, Kaiba falls under Ra's powerful and supernatural moves. As Al Ghul's about to kill his 'traitor' of a student, an explosion nearby pushes the both of them onto the ground. Seto manages to fall far from the burning ceiling, as Ra's screams to his doom. Seto watches helplessly as Ra's bleeds from his mouth, dead.

Kaiba, who sees Pegasus still unconscious on the floor, picks him up and starts to make an escape. During his escape, several ninjas fall and perhaps die in the fiery inferno that is destroying the support structures within the monastary. Suddenly, a forceful explosion knocks Kaiba and Pegasus out of the building.

The 2 men are sliding against the icy slopes, Pegasus, still unconscious is still sliding downwards. Seto dives downwards headfirst to save Pegasus. Mere feet from the cliff ege, he grabs Pegasus and strains while pulling him back up.

Sherpa's Hut

Seto places Pegasus onto a bed in the sherpa's hut.

"I will tell him you saved his life."

"Tell him that I have an ailing ancestor who needs me."

Bar-Motel?

Kaiba walks in while everyone stares at him. He uses a phone at the bar to call home.

Arthur answers, "Kaiba residence."

"Arthur."

"Master Kaiba, it's been some time."

"Yes it has."

"I need a ride."

"And where are we, sir?"

"Bhutan I think."

"Very good sir. I believe that there's an airstrip at Khatmandu long enough for a G5. Make your way down there. I'll have the jet down in less than 24 hours."

"Thanks, Arthur." They hang up and prepare to meet the following day.