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Fanfic Chapter 135: The Kaiba Mystery
Episode Basis: Merger of the Big-5 Pts 1 & 2, Brothers in Arms Pt 1
Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! Lector succeeded in summoning the Five-God Dragon, an incredible beast with over 5000 attack and defense points but was immune to all monster attributes except light monsters. That meant there was only one Duelist able to defeat it: Harold. And defeat it he did, with some help from the ritual monster Serapheem and two of Amara's cards, Mistress of the Trap Circle and Rising Energy. But no sooner had that dragon been defeated than a new dragon appeared, Berserk Dragon. While not as powerful, Berserk Dragon retained the same immunity to all except light monsters as its predecessor had plus it had the ability to attack all monsters on the field including those that were hidden. Joey and Amara came to the rescue and prevented their comrades from becoming dragon chow. And Yugi combined his and Joey's Deck Masters to form the Dark Flare Knight. But it still wasn't enough to destroy Berserk Dragon. But Mirage Knight, the monster that appeared when Dark Flare Knight was destroyed was, taking the attack points of the opponent's monster and delivering the finishing attack. Yugi's team won but the Council of 6 wasn't ready to accept defeat. They launched a head-on attack against the kids. Harold was ready to go postal with his Armlet but once again, Noah intervened taking them away and then deleting them from his virtual database. That was the end of the Council of 6. But what do you suppose Kaiba's been doing while all this was happening?
As Kaiba climbed a flight of stairs, he wiped the sweat from his brow. That runt Noah is making me do this just to taunt me. He reached an apex and looked out over the desolate valley. "Mokuba! Mokuba, can you hear me?" He called out. "Mokuba, answer me!"
Noah and Mokuba watched this from Noah's lair. Noah turned to Mokuba and asked, "Don't you want to answer him?"
"No," Mokuba simply replied.
"But he's your brother."
"I have only one brother and that's you, Noah."
"Just as it should be."
Kaiba came around a bend at the top of the mountain to find an old ruin. He ignored it, thinking, Whatever grudge this runt has with me, he better take it up with me face-to-face. Capturing my defenseless brother only proves what a coward he is. Kaiba continued walking and came to a tunnel. He entered it. The tunnel was long and dark. The light from the outside faded fast. Kaiba slid his hand along the smooth wall to guide him. He knew this world was virtual, if Noah wanted to he could probably appear to Kaiba right now like he did during Wheeler's duel with Johnson. But of course, Noah was being a stubborn brat. Actually, perhaps Noah was smart in not appearing. If he appeared before Kaiba right now, Kaiba would truly teach him the meaning of loss.
A small speck of light appeared in front of Kaiba. Was Noah trying to trap him again? But Kaiba saw that the light was sunlight, coming from the mouth of a tunnel. He exited the tunnel into a misty field. The mist suddenly swirled and took form in front of Kaiba, forming a Duel Monster called Emissary of the Afterlife (1).
"If Noah's trying to test my patience, he's doing a good job of it," Kaiba muttered as he activated his Duel Disk. "I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode! Vorse Raider, attack that thing now." The Vorse Raider threw its weapon and sliced the Emissary of the Afterlife. "Now where is it?" On cue, a Sonic Duck (2) appeared. "Emissary of the Afterlife's special ability is that once it's destroyed, both players can summon a monster from their deck. Fortunately I won't need to. Vorse Raider, attack that monster!" Vorse Raider attacked Sonic Duck and destroyed it. "If that's the best Noah can do in a duel, beating him will be a breeze." Kaiba recalled his monster and deactivated his Duel Disk. The mist suddenly cleared up.
Kaiba found himself back in Domino, staring at his very own Kaiba Land theme park. "How does Noah know about this?" Kaiba wondered. He walked around to the back of the building. A large metal door blocked the back entrance. A chess set laid on a pedestal near it. Could Noah possibly know…? Kaiba picked up a chess piece and moved it to a different square.
Checkmate.
The metal door was raised. There's no way Noah could know about the back door security pass code, Kaiba thought. I don't tell anybody it, not even Mokuba. It's based on one of my step-father's old chess moves. Kaiba looked at the entrance. It's probably a trap but maybe I can find some answers here. He walked inside.
The interior was, in all respects, empty leading Kaiba to believe that this was Kaiba Land before it was built. The real Kaiba Land had desks, waiting rooms, monitors that contained latest Duel Monster Info. This interior had almost nothing in it.
Except for one of Noah's virtual doorways.
"It probably leads to more images from the past," Kaiba grumbled as he opened the door. But when he stepped through, he was in a room with a movie projector and a screen set up. Oh brother, get with the times, Noah. He flicked on the projector. After a brief count-down, the projector played images of a younger-looking Noah playing with Gozaburo. Various images of birthday parties, fishing trips, and playing games flashed on the screen. How pathetic, Noah's still trying to convince me that he's Gozaburo's son. Well it will take a lot more than some made-up home movies to convince me.
A new scene was played, a scene that changed Kaiba's entire perspective.
The scene was of outside a church. Gozaburo waited by a limousine as a woman in black, Gozaburo's wife (he saw a picture of her in his step-father's study), exited the church.
She was holding a picture of Noah the way he looks now.
What is this? Did something happen to Noah? If these images are to be believed, then something must've happened to Noah right before Mokuba and I were adopted. Wait a second… if something did happen to Noah, how would he have memories of this? I don't see him in the scene so how could he know what took place unless… unless it wasn't really Noah showing me this! Someone else is orchestrating all this besides Noah and the Big-5! But who?
Kaiba left the room and proceeded down a hallway. How does Noah know all this stuff? He's able to show me and Mokuba images of our past, images that only us and our step-father would know. He's able to appear and disappear at will while neither I nor Mokuba nor Yugi nor any of his pep squad has that ability. I know one thing for certain, Noah couldn't have planned all this on his own. He's had help. Well after I rescue Mokuba and undo whatever brain washing Noah did to him, I'll knock the information out of him.
Kaiba emerged into a subway station. The sound of a running train could be heard in the distance. "Now what," he grumbled. A bullet train shaped like a Blue-Eyes White Dragon pulled up next to him. Kaiba entered. "This better bring me to Mokuba," Kaiba said.
"Ow, ow, ow, OW!" Tristan cried as Joey shook him up and down by his legs. "Do I look like a piñata?"
"Sorry, man, but it's the only way we're going to get out of here."
"How, by turning me inside out?"
"Since Tristan's robot body was designed by Noah, it might hold some clue as to how we can get out of here."
"Yeah, so open up, Coco," Duke said fiddling with Tristan's back.
"Hey, bad touch, bad touch!
A panel opened up in Tristan's back revealing a keypad and a red button.
"Now we're getting somewhere," Joey said. "Let's try… this." He pressed the 8 key.
Tristan sudden sprouted wheels and started zooming around them. "Somebody stop this crazy thing!" Harold held out his foot and Tristan bumped into it and fell over. "Thanks, Harold."
"No problem."
"Here, let me try," Duke said. "Six is my lucky number." He pressed the six key.
A helicopter propeller popped out of Tristan's head and Tristan went flying uncontrollably.
"Something tells me it isn't mine!" He cried before slamming into a rock face.
"Stand back, boys," Amara said. "This calls for a woman's touch." She moved her finger over the keypad before pressing the 1 key.
Tristan's head popped out and dangled around on a coil.
"That's not even funny," he said giving Amara a (upside down) sour look.
"Sorry," Amara apologized. As Tristan literally screwed his head back on, she said, "Yugi, you give it a shot."
"All right," Yugi said studying the keypad. He decided on pressing the red button.
The color on Tristan's face icon changed from blue to red as a computerized voice called out, "Initiating escape sequence." Noah's virtual doorway appeared.
"Come on, guys, this way," Harold said as Tristan led them through the doorway.
Kaiba had been wondering how long he's been traveling when Noah's voice came through a PA system. "All passengers who have stolen family empires from their rightful owners should prepare to exit to the right at the next stop."
Wise guy, Kaiba thought.
In another car, Noah and Mokuba watched Kaiba on a view screen.
"Remember, Mokuba, don't listen to anything he says."
"Yes, Noah, you are my only brother."
"That's right." Noah stroked Mokuba's hair before getting up. "I must go and entertain our guest. You stay here and be a good boy."
"Yes, Brother," Noah replied.
Noah chuckled and teleported away.
The Acrobat Monkey led them to the Kaiba Land theme park.
"Kaiba Land? What the heck are we doing here?" Joey asked.
"This is where the doorway took us," Amara noted.
"Yeah, but why?" Yugi wondered. The Acrobat Monkey rolled into the park and the gang followed.
Suddenly the monkey turned and the computerized voice said, "Danger, intruders detected on premises, preparing defense maneuvers." Two guns popped out from the monkey's shoulders and fired. Harold quickly used his shield to block the attack.
"What's with Tristan?" Tea asked.
"That red button that Yugi hit must've been some sort of default setting," Duke figured. "That's not Tristan that's doing it!"
"Well no matter who's doing it, we have to stop it," Joey said. "Let's do it, Yugi!"
"Right." The two charged forward and knocked the robot monkey down. The face icon color changed back to blue.
"All right, who's the wise guy who knocked me down?" Tristan demanded to know.
"Tristan's back to his old self," Tea said with a grin.
"Yeah, but is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Amara questioned.
"Are you okay, Tristan?" Serenity asked.
"Yeah, but how did we get back to Domino?"
"We're still in Noah's virtual world," Serenity reminded him. "Somehow, you opened one of Noah's doorways and we all ended up here."
"Oh, well… just glad I could help."
Kaiba's train came out of a tunnel over a sea of molten lava with small rock islands sprinkled in the middle. The train stopped next to one of the rocks and Kaiba exited it. The train and tracks then dissolved. Kaiba looked around wondering what to do next.
A beam of light descended on a rock about a hundred yards away. Noah's body formed. "Greetings, Brother," he said in a snide voice.
"Noah, I finally found you, now give me back my brother!"
"Mokuba's my brother now, and he'll be much better off when the remnants of your memory are scattered throughout cyberspace!" Kaiba let out a growl. "But don't worry, Seto, I have no desire to involve your Brother in as a factor. This is about what should've been mine, Kaiba Corp.!"
"What?"
"It's time to prove to myself and my father that I am superior to you in every way!"
"If you're so superior, why am I the head of Kaiba Corp.?"
"An unfortunate circumstance, one I intend to correct."
"Enough pussy-footing around, Noah, I want to know who you really are? I saw your home movies and there's no way you should be here, at least not alive."
At that moment, Yugi and the others had discovered upon the projector and were now watching Noah's home movies.
"What is this?" Tea asked horrified. "Could Noah really be…?"
"And if Noah is," Joey interrupted. "Who's the runt who kidnapped us?"
"This just keeps getting freakier and freakier," Amara commented.
"I might as well tell you the truth," Noah told Kaiba. "Since you won't be around long enough to care. It's true; I haven't aged in six years. In fact, I can't age at all, this isn't my real body." Noah held up his hand and the sky produced a giant metal sphere. "Behold your true step-brother!"
"What is that thing?" Kaiba asked.
"My brain is hardwired into that computer which in turn projects an image of how I looked six years ago. But it wasn't always this way…"
While you and Mokuba were still living day-to-day at that orphanage, I was living the good life as the son of Gozaburo Kaiba! I had everything a kid could ever want including the best teachers money could buy. My Father hired them all to groom me to become the next head of Kaiba Corporation.
But then all that changed.
I was walking across the street when a speeding blue sports car came zooming around the corner. Without stopping, it plowed into me.
My Father rushed me to our own hospital where he brought in doctors and scientists in hopes of reviving me. But in the end, it all came down to waiting to see if I could pull through. But you know Doctors, even when they try to be optimistic, they're really saying expect the worst.
You can understand that Father didn't like waiting, so he turned to his technicians and engineers. He hooked my body up to a pod, an early version of your virtual pod, and downloaded every thought and memory into a mainframe. I was no longer human, I had become a being with limitless power!
And then you came along.
My father adopted you in hopes that you would influence me to work harder on my studies. But after my accident, that plan was rendered impossible. My mind was sharp as ever but I had no body with which to run Kaiba Corp. until now!
"I am no longer human," Noah said. "I exist only as a digital file inside my father's battle computer. But once I beat you in a duel, I'll upload my mind into your body and return to the real world to run Kaiba Corp. the way my father originally intended to!"
Kaiba laughed, "The only thing more ridiculous than that story is the chance of you out-dueling me. I re-built Kaiba Corp. from the ground up with no help at all! No one else could run it, especially not some kid. You think you can win a duel with me using a lame version of MY virtual technology? I think that accident must've damaged your sense of reasoning. Of course I accept your challenge; I never turn down a duel. But I should warn you, I'll beat you so hard you'll never want to duel again! That'll be your punishment for trying to take away my brother and company!"
"Then let the test to see who is truly worthy of calling himself a Kaiba begin!"
Yugi and the others had arrived at the subway station. "So what do we do now?" Amara asked.
"What do you think?" Tristan asked back. "We follow these tracks, find Kaiba and Mokuba, get my body back and get all of us out of this dump!"
"Easier said than done," Harold said. "I don't see any train!"
"Maybe we could just wait for one," Tea suggested.
"Why wait for a train when you can ride one of these babies?" Tristan stood on a handcart.
"Sweet ride, Tristan," Joey complimented.
"I didn't think these things existed outside of cartoons," Amara commented.
"Don't question good fortune," Duke said.
With Duke and Harold manning the pump, the handcart started off and quickly picked up speed.
A little too much speed.
"Joey, what are you doing?" Tea asked. "Put on the breaks."
"Right." Joey pulled the break lever but it snapped off.
Unaware of what happened, Tea said, "Joey, where are those breaks?"
"Here," Joey said handing her the broken break lever.
Tea took one look at the lever, screamed and dropped it as the Handcart continued down the track out of control.
The End
Duel Monster Database
(1)
Name: Emissary of the Afterlife
Level: 4
Type: Fiend/Effect
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 1600
DEF: 600
(2)
Name: Sonic Duck
Level: 3
Type: Winged-Beast
Attribute: Wind
ATK: 1700
DEF: 700