Chapter 13
She opened her eyes and all that Emma could see was the blue eyes of a stranger looking down at her. She jumped from the surprise and pushed herself backwards away from the boy who was stood over her. Her surroundings where different from the forest that she had been in, and was now a big wide open space that seemed to have the patterns of computer chipboards glowing above them.
"Are you alright?" asked the younger boy who seemed concerned.
"I think so." Emma replied as she rubbed her head convinced that she was dreaming.
"I can't believe that you managed to escape the programme." the boy laughed. "It was supposed to be designed so that nobody could escape it." The boy still continued to laugh as though there had been some joke that Emma had missed.
"Who are you?" Emma asked as she rose to her feet hoping that her height over the boy would intimidate him.
"My name is Noah." he told her with confidence in his voice, "Like you I am also trapped here, although not in the same way."
Emma stared at the boy in amazement. "Noah Kaiba?" she asked as she remembered that Mokuba and the gang had spoken about a step brother of Kaiba's who had tried to trap them all in a virtual world that he himself was trapped in. Kaiba, like he did with many things, had refused to comment on the subject.
"You've heard of me then." Noah smirked.
"Yes. I know all about the virtual world incident, but you're …." She wasn't sure what would be the right word to use; dead, erased, deleted? "… well whatever you are you don't exist anymore, so you can't be here." Her head was spinning from confusion. "What is going on here?"
"When the previous virtual world was destroyed I too should have been, as I had stayed behind to keep my father trapped there." Noah began to explain everything that Emma wanted to know. "But he managed to overpower me and escaped on to the internet, dragging me along with him. Since then he's been trying to brake in to Kaiba Corp's systems but so far hadn't seceded as Seto's security was too high. So instead he decided to gain control of a smaller company to gain his trust so that he could worm his way in and strike when the time was right."
"And he chose Checkmate." Emma said as she thought out aloud. She knew that there had been something dodgy about the whole thing, and realised just how bad a pun it was.
"He helped them to create the 3DTV technology that he knew Seto would love to get hold of." Noah continued to explain. "He then created this disturbed programme and found a way to link the two. The images projected caused you all to have a seizure similar to that caused by epilepsy, but in fact your minds became trapped within the programme."
"So we're just thinking that all of this is just happening but its not?" Emma asked to make sure that she had understood what Noah had said so far, and she saw him nod his head. It was like a huge weight had been lifted from her as most of the guilt and hatred that she had been feeling disappeared and was replaced with the hope of seeing all of her friends again. "Then that means that nobody has died and that things really are going to be okay."
"Not quite." Noah shook his head, and Emma's hopes faltered. "When the person is eliminated during the game simulation their mind returns to their body only to remain in a coma-like state. The only way that they'll be awoken is if someone wins the game and destroys the programme."
"But they all think that the game is real so how are they going to know about the programme?" Emma felt herself beginning to panic. She grabbed hold of Noah by his shoulders. "You have to help me destroy it."
"I've tried to destroy it myself!" Noah cried as he broke free from Emma's hold and turned away from her. He looked back over his shoulder and spoke with sadness in his voice. "It's the least that I could do after everything that I've done to my brothers, but my father is far stronger then me."
"That's right, and don't you forget it you worthless excuse for a son!" The voice of Gozaburo Kaiba boomed from above them.
Noah looked up terrified just before he was hit by a bolt of electricity which blasted him across the ground where he landed on his front. Emma ran to check that he was okay and turned him over so that he now lay on his back. He groaned from the pain that he felt, and Emma's anger began to rise up inside her.
"So you think that you can stop my fun do you?" Gozaburo asked as he materialized before Emma's angry eyes. "Well guess again." Electricity erupted from Gozaburo and was heading straight for Emma and Noah.
The anger that Emma was now feeling had caused the millennium key to activate and it surrounded Noah and herself in a force-field that reflected the bolts right back towards where they had come from.
"What's this!" Gozaburo exclaimed in surprise as he watched the bolt fade before it struck him.
"It's a power that's far greater and older than your own." Emma said as she carefully placed Noah on the ground, rose to her feet and began to approach Gozaburo as her anger took control of her. She waved her hand and the two of them became encased in another force-field, leaving Noah out of harms way as she summoned the power to place the two of them in to a shadow game. "Whoever loses the game we are about to play will be sucked in to the shadows for eternity." she told the old man. "And luckily for you, you get to decide what game we will be playing."
"What kind of game." Gozaburo smirked at the idea that he was being challenged by a girl.
"Anything that sets us against one and other." Emma told him as an evil smile forced up the corners of her lips. "I personally hope that you choose one to one combat, as I would take great pleasure in tearing you apart for everything that you've ever done to Seto." She stared at Gozaburo to let him know that she knew about the abuse that she had seen from the video pop-ups which Kaiba had shown her almost a couple of months ago.
"I'm surprised that you know about that." Gozaburo smirked. "I though Seto would have kept that shameful little secret to himself."
"He has nothing to be ashamed for." Emma yelled as she lost control of her temper for a split second. "Just hurry up and pick your game."
Gozaburo laughed to himself as he saw that he had touched a sensitive spot, and was surprised that Kaiba had ever found somebody that seemed willing to do anything for him. "Its too bad that we don't have a chess board." he said only to see one appear as soon as he had spoken. The girl didn't have a chance of seceding against him at his specialized game. "Well then, I guess its ladies first."
Emma started the game as she moved one of her pawns forward two spaces. They continued to play and Gozaburo started to take Emma's main pieces one by one.
At the moment he had her in check with one of his knights. She had to move her king but in doing so she lost her queen. "You should have taken better care of your queen since it is one of the most important pieces of the game." he taunted her as he removed it from the board.
Emma ignored him and continued as she knew that it was possible to win without most of the pieces that she had lost. She had noticed that Gozaburo was focused on removing the main pieces and had over looked some of the moves that she had made with her pawns. She had managed to line up three of them diagonally at the edge of the board ready to make her move and claim victory. She just hoped that Gozaburo would fall for the trap she had set.
She moved her bishop so that his king became in check. She watched as Gozaburo made his move instantly without thinking as he castled the king with the rook at the side of the board where Emma's pawns were waiting. She had been right as he had made his move based on the chance to take Emma's bishop with his next go. He looked up at her as she sweated from keeping her face claim so as not to give away her plan.
Slowly Emma reached out for the pawn that was at the edge of the board and moved it forward one space. "Checkmate." she said in a smug voice as she saw Gozaburo's jaw drop from not noticing the trap she had set, which had left him unable to move on his next turn, making Emma the winner. "You should have paid more attention to my pawns."
"No I don't believe it!" Gozaburo said in disbelief as the shadows began to wind themselves around him to drag him in to the darkness.
The force-field had disappeared and Emma stepped back to join Noah who had returned to his feet and witnessed most of the chess game.
"If I'm going then I'm taking you both with me." Gozaburo snapped as he sent a lasso of electricity towards Emma and Noah.
Emma didn't have the emotions needed to activate the millennium key so she knew that a force-field was out of the question this time as she was prepared for it to snag the pair of them. But it never got the chance as it was repelled by a force that Noah had managed to conjure up as they watched the last of Gozaburo disappear forever.