Now we backtrack a little. This starts in 2018, then moves up again through the next couple chapters to 2024. When you see Bakura again, just keep going from where chapter one ended. It's not that hard. I'm probably worrying about it too much.

Also, just so you know, this is PG-13 for a reason. There's drug use in this chapter, and later there is some graphic violence. No sex, though, nothing like that. I'm not very good at writing love stories.

Oh, and this uses the anime storyline, other than what I've already told you. There's one major difference between the anime and manga tales, but if I told you, I would give away much of the plot. But I didn't want the manga fans to attack me when I used part of the anime in my tale... oi vey.

Chapter Two
Who Above All Else Desire Power

Three very seperate things came together quickly, one after another, to change Mokuba's life drastically.

First, the drug ring broke up. That was hard, because after Seto's death some eight years before he had thrown himself into heroin. It was an easy way out. He needed escape. But suddenly his skag was gone, and Mokuba had to come out and face the real world. The sudden and complete withdrawl was torture. For a few days he lay in alleys, covered in goosebumps or kicking spastically, sure that he was going to die. Yet after a few weeks, he found the cravings nearly gone. Within a month he was restored. Quitting was easy. It was like switching the lever, "needs heroin" to "doesn't need heroin." Simple.

Second, he saw a news clip on KaibaCorp. Wandering around town, he passed by Circuit City. The rows upon rows of TVs were playing some economic segment, and his brother's skyscraper shimmered in the backround.

He went inside and listened. "...an excellent example of how not to manage money," the show concluded. "The three chairmen's business bungling has completely mutilated KaibaCorp.'s once untouchable monopoly on gaming. After the president's untimely death, everything seemed to fall apart." They continued to other news, blithely unaware of the seed of outrage they had just planted in one viewer.

Mokuba seethed with rage. How dare they? These were the same swine who had sworn Seto's death was either an "accident" (the twelth-story window he had fallen from was six feet off the floor) or a suicide (from Seto? Never). And now they ran his company, his legacy, into the ground? They would pay, he judged grimly. For Seto's death, for the company's death, even for his own near-death in the Domino underworld, he would exact vengance.

He had been living in the shadows since his brother's death so many years before. He was ready to step up and recieve his birthright. In the name of Seto, he would pull the mangled KaibaCorp. back up to the heights of success it once enjoyed. And he would do so now.

The third thing was that he met Marcus.

Marcus was a bit of an odd bird. He was old -- or, at least, he looked old -- but he was full of maniac energy. A wild, wiry sort, Marcus was the one who told Mokuba about the Sennen Items.

He would never have believed the tales of power beyond measure embedded in seven golden trinkets, but for vague memories of times long past. Battles atop a blimp. Yugi swearing he was an ancient Pharaoh. Pegasus, madman with the Sennen Eye. The Shadow Realm. Pegasus, madman who wanted his wife... the return of the dead...

This train of thought led to others, obvious ones. A gift watched through the keyhole of a huge oak door. Yugi parting with the words "It's yours by right." There was a connection. A thorough search of the house was in order. Six weeks later, Mokuba emerged victorious, clutching both Eye and Rod.

And Marcus was right. They were powerful. Amazingly so.

But what exactly was that power? How could he harness it? What could it to for him? It would take practice to determine their abilities and limits. Lots of practice.

"Yugi, have you heard about this?" Mai asked from behind the newspaper. "The top three executives of KaibaCorp. all died. Some kind of triple suicide, apparently -- they leapt off a cliff, arm in arm."

"That's horrible," her husband replied, leaning over her shoulder. "That place has a history of tragedy."

"And Kaiba's little brother is taking over," she read on.

"The kid with the spiky black hair? I haven't seen him in years." He gave his beautiful blonde a peck on the cheeck and turned to the door. "Well, I'll be off now. See you in a couple hours."

"That's right, you've got a board meeting. Well, bye, sweetie." She smiled as he left, then suddenly became more somber. He had a board meeting every morning. Every single day. She couldn't remember once in their life when he had been there to help her wake the children and take them to school. Work, work, always work. Well, she rationalized, he was the president -- co-president, with Duke Devlin -- of Cards 'n' Dice Gaming Co. He was supposed to have board meetings. But she, head of advertising, could always manage to schedule her meetings in the afternoon.

She stood up to get the kids. The paper lay where she tossed it, face-up with the screaming headline, "Strange Deaths of Multimillionaires." Below was a large picture of three crumpled bodies and three agonized faces.

"Old man of the desert, I am coming for you," Mokuba hissed through clenched teeth. He and Marcus sat uncomfortably on the plane that would take them to Egypt.

Mokuba loathed airplanes with every fibre of his being. He forced himself to ignore the sickening lurches as the plane span about him by opening his laptop. Work was an excellent way to distract oneself, and Teso was an excellent bit of work. It was still in the early design phases, but Mokuba could tell that this was going to amaze gamers the world over. His fingers tapped lightly, and the lines of code across the screen quivered.

"Are you certain you know where to find him?" he asked his companion without shifting his eyes.

"I know the general area," Marcus replied wheezily. "Once there, the Rod can lead us to him."

"It had better."

Marcus chuckled. "Of course, of course!"

"If it does not, your head will lose its connection to your shoulders."

Marcus quit chuckling and looked at the younger man out of the corner of his eye, unable to tell if that remark held traces of sarcasm.

Mokuba continued with his work.

Ch 2 end.

By the way, those are the real heroin withdrawl sypmtoms for someone who's been a heavy taker. The first couple days are pretty much hell, and death is common; after that the cravings virtually disappear. Or so says the internet. I wouldn't bet money on the info.

Next chapter coming soon.

Replies to reviews--

darknessversuslight: Well, gee, that didn't take too long. Hope you'll stick around anyways.

Inuko Metallium: Thanks for the info!

GEWD: Thanks dearie!

Namaarie, Raz