Chapter Seven
The Third One
That night, the Kaiba Corporation lab was dim. It was raining lightly; the puddles sloshed against the squealing tires as Torao's limo pulled up.
"Good, you decided to come," said Kaiba.
"I didn't have much of a choice now, did I?"
"No, not really."
Kaiba led him deep into the lab, where deformed pieces of metal mingled with shadows. He paused, and flicked a switch at the wall.
Bright lights flooded the area, glinting against the glass box. His uncle flinched. He wiped sweaty palms against the edges of his coat.
"Here's where we play," said Kaiba, opening the door.
"Why there?" asked his uncle asked nervously.
"It creates holograms, the latest in dueling technology." Kaiba drew a random card, a Saggi, from his deck, and placed it over the table. Cackling, the dark clown rose from the cardboard. "It makes the game more exciting."
His uncle looked pale; beads of sweat sprang from his forehead.
"Now…now, I don't know about that. You never mentioned holograms before. These things could be dangerous."
"Don't be such a baby," Kaiba sneered. "I've already sold the technology to Pegasus J. Crawford. Within a month, this will be standard throughout the country. Consider yourself lucky. You'll be dueling with the cutting edge of technology."
Torao's mouth was grim. He sat down inside the box. Kaiba shut the door.
"Do you have your deck?" Kaiba asked Torao.
Slowly, his hand shaking, Torao drew out a deck of cards. Seeing them seemed to give his uncle strength. His fist steadied and his lips hardened to a smirk.
"Well, my nephew," Torao said, with ice in his voice. "Shall we begin?"
0 0 0
His uncle wasn't stupid, no; he had a strategy, which Kaiba soon figured out. His uncle's monsters were average to low strength, but he had stacked his deck with as much equip cards as it could hold, raising his monsters' strength rapidly. Kaiba's monsters were naturally strong, resulting in a stalemate—he chipped away at his uncle's life points and his uncle chipped away at his. Lesser monsters fell by the handful into the graveyard.
Kaiba didn't care. There was only one card that mattered.
He drew the Blue-Eyed White Dragon.
Torao cursed. "Trap hole," he said.
Kaiba flipped a magic card. "Remove trap."
"Trap hole," said Torao again, flipping a second card.
Again, Kaiba countered it.
"Dark hole."
Kaiba had no more counters.
Monsters on both sides of the fields collapsed. Kaiba watched his beautiful dragon, with wings spread and teeth sharp, crumple in the midst of the powerful magic. Without ever getting to show its true strength.
Like the dragon in Gozaburo's safe.
"You'll pay for that," Kaiba hissed. "One card face down. I end my turn."
0 0 0
His uncle's face broke into a wide, gleaming smile.
"And now," he said, "I play my ace in the hole: the Blue-Eyed White Dragon!"
It was beautiful.
Kaiba watched it rise from the table like a butterfly breaking from its cocoon. The wings stretched. The dragon's white skin was luminescent, rippling silver sleek over muscle and bone. Sapphire eyes stared at Kaiba, not with the dull gaze of other duel monsters, but with intensity and passion and life.
Somewhere in the distance, his uncle was speaking. "Did you see that coming, nephew? I knew Pegasus gave Gozaburo a Blue Eyes. But you didn't expect me to have one, did you? I searched it out, bought the last one. You're Blue Eyes is dead, but mine's is free to destroy your remaining life points."
And the dragon waited patiently, claws poised, teeth shining. It held itself proudly, nobly. You deserve better, Kaiba thought. So much better than him. He smiled. Shall I be your new master?
"Blue Eyes attack!" his uncle finally yelled.
The dragon surged forward, wings flaring, long neck straining. It came directly at Kaiba, inches from him. Kaiba could see the white fire forming in its mouth, the heat grazing his face….
Roaring, the dragon fell back. Black chains, like many grasping hands, crept over its claws, its wings, its neck, pulled it back, restrained it. It flailed, it fought, it glared, but it was tied and helpless.
"What the—?" his uncle gasped.
"Shadow spell," said Kaiba. "Your monster loses 800 attack points, and it can't attack."
His uncle cursed.
Kaiba drew.
0 0 0
Kaiba knew what his card was before he even looked at it. It was almost as if, just by touching the card, he could feel its breath, its pulse.
Kaiba slammed the card onto the table. "I summon the Blue-Eyed White Dragon."
"What?" cried Torao. Hs mouth hung and twisted; his forehead shined in terror. "No! It can't be! Gozaburo only had one! You only have one!"
"I have two," said Kaiba quietly, a small smile on his lips. The white body was rising, the head craning up. "One from Gozaburo. And one I got on my own."
Wings splashed open. Claws jutted. The Blue Eyes opened its mouth to reveal polished, white teeth, sharp as glass.
His uncle's face trembled, pale to the lip.
"I took down Kaiba Gozaburo," said Kaiba calmly. "Did you really think a worm like you could do anything to me?
"Blue Eyes, attack!"
0 0 0
His uncle's crumpled form fell forward onto the table, atop of his scattered, pathetic cards. He moaned. Kaiba stepped around him, out of the box. The hologram's force had been low; his uncle wasn't harmed. Yet. Kaiba shut the door.
"Do you know what the last words my father said to me were?" Kaiba asked, as he went over to the computer panel. His uncle blinked and looked up. He must have noticed the locked door. He walked up to it.
"'Each gamble has a risk and a gambler has to be ready to lose. The person who loses has to quietly comply and accept their fate!'"
His uncle, perhaps realizing the door wouldn't open, began pounding frantically on the glass. Kaiba punched in the final code, and swiveled back to the box to watch.
"In other words," Kaiba said, "the loser has to die!"
Steam hissed. White fog filled the box. His uncle's eyes, blue eyes, widened, shocked, terrified.
"Do you know why I asked you to play this game?" asked Kaiba. "Because I knew I wouldn't lose!"