Almost exactly two days later, Chance picked up the phone a bit hesitantly. "Hello?" For her it had been near torture just trying to figure out if she should stay in Domino another day and a half or pack up to leave the next morning. The voice on the other end forestalled any such thoughts for the moment.
"Hello, is this Chance Castner?" The female voice on the other end replied. Chance recognized it as the voice of Seto's secretary and smiled in relief.
"This is she. Can I help you?" She could almost hear the professional smile over the phone as she heard what was coming up next.
"Miss Castner, congratulations. You have been selected to move on to the next stage of the interview process. Do you have a full afternoon and evening available in the next few days?"
Chance nearly danced but realized that would make too much noise and settled for grinning like a mad woman. "Yes I do. Might I enquire as to what the next interview will entail?"
"One moment." A bit put off that she had been put on hold she idly tapped her foot to the rhythm of the pop tune that was being played as part of the hold music.
"Mr. Kaiba, One of the applicants has at least one question in regards to the next step in the interview process. You haven't given me authorization to talk about it. Shall I patch her through to you sir?"
"I take it you are on the line with Miss Castner?" Was the only reply, he hid the smirk at the thought that Mokuba had won their private bet on who would ask questions and who wouldn't.
"Yes sir."
"Then transfer her through."
"One moment."
The phone rang once in the silence of the office before Seto picked it up. "I hear you have some questions about what's going to happen next." Seto came on the line. He had been interrupted from the daily paperwork when his secretary paged him.
Needless to say Chance was surprised that she would be talking with Seto Kaiba again so soon. When she pulled herself together she replied. "Yes. Your secretary mentioned needing an afternoon and evening for this next step and I can only wonder what kind of Q and A session takes that long. Unless you plan on putting me through some tests."
Seto was becoming impressed by this woman's ability to take completely separate facts and string them together to form a logical conclusion. "You are right about the testing. You will be receiving a fax about this in the next couple of minutes down at the front desk, but I'll tell you about it now. On the appointed day, you will be picking Mokuba up from school and then basically keeping an eye on him for the afternoon and evening."
"Communication?"
"Mokuba will have both a direct comlink to my office and a tracking device on him at all times. He will be the one feeding me comments about your performance and based on a scale Mokuba and I have set up, we will then judge your performance against the other applicants that have made it this far." Seto tried to anticipate the next question and failed, much to his surprise.
"Ok, what about communication for me? You are putting me in charge of Mokuba's safety for an afternoon and evening. I will NOT go out there with out some sure contact with you or with someone authorized to make a decision about your little brother should something happen." Chance made certain that Seto knew her stance on the situation that had just been presented to her.
"The information you will need will be found in the fax that I am sending. The number on the coversheet will get you to my secretary should you have any further questions. Does that cover most of your questions now Miss Castner?"
"Yes it does. Thank you for your time Mister Kaiba." Kaiba almost smiled at the nearly hidden tone of facetiousness in her closing but did not reply as he transferred her back out to Tammy to handle.
As Chance got off the phone with Tammy she sighed. She had heard horror stories about the elder Kaiba and how he acted. And right now he seemed to be living up to each and every one of them. Looking over at the phone she decided that she had been cooped up long enough and changed to go and use the swimming facilities. She needed to release some pent up stress, and it would give her an excuse to swing by the front desk to check for the fax that Kaiba had told her was being sent.
The Fax wasn't at the desk by the time she had gotten to the desk, but by the time she came by again almost an hour later she was able to pick up the multi-page fax. She had to admit, if privately, that she was surprised. The Fax wasn't just 2 pages, of general information. It was a 'Cliff's Notes' version of Mokuba's profile. Included were image scans of Yugi and his friends as friends. People on the no contact list were fairly short, but she was surprised to see several notable figures on it. Including all five of the former senior board members of the company.
She didn't feel the need to investigate any of the information as she had seen some of this in her background check into Kaiba Corp. The dismissal of the Board of Directors had been public and embarrassing for the older men.
She would have plenty of time to read this and memorize some of the important faces and names before her turn came up in the interview process. She was scheduled some 3 days from now and until then she had nothing to do with her time except head out and get to know Domino City a little better. Something that would most likely come to be to her advantage when she was tested.
Relaxed, and now informed, she set the alarm for early in the morning before heading for bed.
The next couple of days were spent as planned. Getting around Domino City was fairly easy and when she asked where the hot spots of the city were, she was pointed to Duke Devlin's Game shop, the Turtle Game Shop, and Kaiba Land Dueling Stadium.
Checking each of these places out, she found that there was a lot to this city that she did not know about. One of them being how popular Duel Monsters was with everyone. As she sat down with an ice cream cone to think it over she found that it made sense. Three of the world's top duelists lived in and called Domino City home.
Smiling she pulled her deck out and went over the revised rules that had been put into effect for the Kaiba Land dueling stadium. For the most part she heard that the rules mirrored the rules that Kaiba had put into play for the Battle City Tournament. There were some differences and those differences encouraged some of the better duelers to step up and try their hand against each other.
One of the differences being, that the loser did not have to give up their rarest card. Something she was grateful for, as she wasn't certain that she had a rare card in her deck. Chance only knew that back home while she was in school, she could beat the challengers pretty regularly. Here she was certain that there would be no room for mistake, as the duelists seemed to take their games much more seriously.
"Hey Lady, if you aren't going to sign up for a time slot, move over so the rest can." A somewhat rude voice called from behind her. Straightening up she turned to take in the sight of the person that had addressed her.
The kid towered over her, by at least eight inches. Dark hair, brown eyes, and glasses that seemed to make him look more bookish than a threat. But the way he carried himself spoke of a confidence that she knew wasn't a bluff. Shrugging at him she asked the uniformed worker behind the desk for a copy of the rules so she could review them with out taking up the time of those behind her. Once she had the copy of the book she found a place to sit down at and started reading.
Most of the rules were standard to what she and her friends back home used to play by. Others were different and she studied those differences to get a better grasp of how the game was played here. It decided her. She was not going to duel here if she could at all help it. She could handle fun games that didn't have anything riding on them. But she found that the games here in Domino almost always included a 'prize' for the winner.
Slipping her deck back into her pocket, she smiled to herself and decided to go to some of the other places for the day. Chance had seen enough of Kaiba Land to know what it was like and have a general idea of what kind of mob might be there when school let out.
Headed over to Duke's she found that even though he had been listed as ok, she found herself having reservations about the young man. Asking a few questions eased her uneasiness and she looked at the wall screens where duels of a different variety were taking place.
Having read up on Duke Devlin, she knew that he had been the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters. As she settled in to watch, she noticed that a lot of the monsters and some of the moves were derived from the Duel Monsters Cards. A new twist on an old game and she found herself liking it a bit more than she ever had with Duel monsters because the person not only had to think strategically, but they also had to have a good grasp of the 3D shapes and how they would lay out on the board. She'd have to talk to Devlin about getting a hold of a copy of the game so she could try to puzzle it out.
Nodding her thanks to Duke as she left the shop she moved on to the Turtle Game Shop. She smiled at the name wondering how the store had ever come by that name. Walking in she looked about and didn't see anyone there so she called out, hoping that someone was just in the back and hadn't heard the door. "Hello, anyone here?"
"Hello, is this Chance Castner?" The female voice on the other end replied. Chance recognized it as the voice of Seto's secretary and smiled in relief.
"This is she. Can I help you?" She could almost hear the professional smile over the phone as she heard what was coming up next.
"Miss Castner, congratulations. You have been selected to move on to the next stage of the interview process. Do you have a full afternoon and evening available in the next few days?"
Chance nearly danced but realized that would make too much noise and settled for grinning like a mad woman. "Yes I do. Might I enquire as to what the next interview will entail?"
"One moment." A bit put off that she had been put on hold she idly tapped her foot to the rhythm of the pop tune that was being played as part of the hold music.
"Mr. Kaiba, One of the applicants has at least one question in regards to the next step in the interview process. You haven't given me authorization to talk about it. Shall I patch her through to you sir?"
"I take it you are on the line with Miss Castner?" Was the only reply, he hid the smirk at the thought that Mokuba had won their private bet on who would ask questions and who wouldn't.
"Yes sir."
"Then transfer her through."
"One moment."
The phone rang once in the silence of the office before Seto picked it up. "I hear you have some questions about what's going to happen next." Seto came on the line. He had been interrupted from the daily paperwork when his secretary paged him.
Needless to say Chance was surprised that she would be talking with Seto Kaiba again so soon. When she pulled herself together she replied. "Yes. Your secretary mentioned needing an afternoon and evening for this next step and I can only wonder what kind of Q and A session takes that long. Unless you plan on putting me through some tests."
Seto was becoming impressed by this woman's ability to take completely separate facts and string them together to form a logical conclusion. "You are right about the testing. You will be receiving a fax about this in the next couple of minutes down at the front desk, but I'll tell you about it now. On the appointed day, you will be picking Mokuba up from school and then basically keeping an eye on him for the afternoon and evening."
"Communication?"
"Mokuba will have both a direct comlink to my office and a tracking device on him at all times. He will be the one feeding me comments about your performance and based on a scale Mokuba and I have set up, we will then judge your performance against the other applicants that have made it this far." Seto tried to anticipate the next question and failed, much to his surprise.
"Ok, what about communication for me? You are putting me in charge of Mokuba's safety for an afternoon and evening. I will NOT go out there with out some sure contact with you or with someone authorized to make a decision about your little brother should something happen." Chance made certain that Seto knew her stance on the situation that had just been presented to her.
"The information you will need will be found in the fax that I am sending. The number on the coversheet will get you to my secretary should you have any further questions. Does that cover most of your questions now Miss Castner?"
"Yes it does. Thank you for your time Mister Kaiba." Kaiba almost smiled at the nearly hidden tone of facetiousness in her closing but did not reply as he transferred her back out to Tammy to handle.
As Chance got off the phone with Tammy she sighed. She had heard horror stories about the elder Kaiba and how he acted. And right now he seemed to be living up to each and every one of them. Looking over at the phone she decided that she had been cooped up long enough and changed to go and use the swimming facilities. She needed to release some pent up stress, and it would give her an excuse to swing by the front desk to check for the fax that Kaiba had told her was being sent.
The Fax wasn't at the desk by the time she had gotten to the desk, but by the time she came by again almost an hour later she was able to pick up the multi-page fax. She had to admit, if privately, that she was surprised. The Fax wasn't just 2 pages, of general information. It was a 'Cliff's Notes' version of Mokuba's profile. Included were image scans of Yugi and his friends as friends. People on the no contact list were fairly short, but she was surprised to see several notable figures on it. Including all five of the former senior board members of the company.
She didn't feel the need to investigate any of the information as she had seen some of this in her background check into Kaiba Corp. The dismissal of the Board of Directors had been public and embarrassing for the older men.
She would have plenty of time to read this and memorize some of the important faces and names before her turn came up in the interview process. She was scheduled some 3 days from now and until then she had nothing to do with her time except head out and get to know Domino City a little better. Something that would most likely come to be to her advantage when she was tested.
Relaxed, and now informed, she set the alarm for early in the morning before heading for bed.
The next couple of days were spent as planned. Getting around Domino City was fairly easy and when she asked where the hot spots of the city were, she was pointed to Duke Devlin's Game shop, the Turtle Game Shop, and Kaiba Land Dueling Stadium.
Checking each of these places out, she found that there was a lot to this city that she did not know about. One of them being how popular Duel Monsters was with everyone. As she sat down with an ice cream cone to think it over she found that it made sense. Three of the world's top duelists lived in and called Domino City home.
Smiling she pulled her deck out and went over the revised rules that had been put into effect for the Kaiba Land dueling stadium. For the most part she heard that the rules mirrored the rules that Kaiba had put into play for the Battle City Tournament. There were some differences and those differences encouraged some of the better duelers to step up and try their hand against each other.
One of the differences being, that the loser did not have to give up their rarest card. Something she was grateful for, as she wasn't certain that she had a rare card in her deck. Chance only knew that back home while she was in school, she could beat the challengers pretty regularly. Here she was certain that there would be no room for mistake, as the duelists seemed to take their games much more seriously.
"Hey Lady, if you aren't going to sign up for a time slot, move over so the rest can." A somewhat rude voice called from behind her. Straightening up she turned to take in the sight of the person that had addressed her.
The kid towered over her, by at least eight inches. Dark hair, brown eyes, and glasses that seemed to make him look more bookish than a threat. But the way he carried himself spoke of a confidence that she knew wasn't a bluff. Shrugging at him she asked the uniformed worker behind the desk for a copy of the rules so she could review them with out taking up the time of those behind her. Once she had the copy of the book she found a place to sit down at and started reading.
Most of the rules were standard to what she and her friends back home used to play by. Others were different and she studied those differences to get a better grasp of how the game was played here. It decided her. She was not going to duel here if she could at all help it. She could handle fun games that didn't have anything riding on them. But she found that the games here in Domino almost always included a 'prize' for the winner.
Slipping her deck back into her pocket, she smiled to herself and decided to go to some of the other places for the day. Chance had seen enough of Kaiba Land to know what it was like and have a general idea of what kind of mob might be there when school let out.
Headed over to Duke's she found that even though he had been listed as ok, she found herself having reservations about the young man. Asking a few questions eased her uneasiness and she looked at the wall screens where duels of a different variety were taking place.
Having read up on Duke Devlin, she knew that he had been the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters. As she settled in to watch, she noticed that a lot of the monsters and some of the moves were derived from the Duel Monsters Cards. A new twist on an old game and she found herself liking it a bit more than she ever had with Duel monsters because the person not only had to think strategically, but they also had to have a good grasp of the 3D shapes and how they would lay out on the board. She'd have to talk to Devlin about getting a hold of a copy of the game so she could try to puzzle it out.
Nodding her thanks to Duke as she left the shop she moved on to the Turtle Game Shop. She smiled at the name wondering how the store had ever come by that name. Walking in she looked about and didn't see anyone there so she called out, hoping that someone was just in the back and hadn't heard the door. "Hello, anyone here?"