As she heard the final bell for the school day, she smiled and hummed to herself. Those that passed her thought nothing of the young woman sitting across from the school. For all they knew she was an older sibling there to pick up a sister or brother. Which was exactly how she wanted it.
The school courtyard cleared and as it did she noticed that Mokuba stood near the gate looking around for her looking confused. Giggling she stood up and made her way to him. "Hello Mokuba, you ready to go?"
Mokuba looked up at her and then smiled as he recognized her. He liked what he saw already. "I'm ready to go."
"What do you have planned for after school?" She asked quietly, smiling to take the sting of formality out of the words.
"Well I'm supposed to meet with a few of my friends over at Duke Devlin's place. He's been teaching Tristen how to play Dungeon Dice Monsters and says that he'll give me some pointers today. After that there's nothing really to do except head home and have dinner with Seto and do homework." Mokuba wrinkled his nose at the thought of homework and Chance laughed.
As Mokuba and Chance headed out towards Devlin's and by the time he got there, Chance had faded away. He couldn't quite pin point where it was that he had forgotten that she was there, but he just shrugged his shoulders and went into the shop.
"Hey Duke, Where are the others?" He asked the young shop owner.
"Arena three, we're just waiting on you. I heard from Yugi that you're pretty good with board games. I'm going to test that out." Duke grinned and Mokuba replied with a grin of his own.
Chance watched from a distance and smiled, as she was reassured with the easygoing way the two spoke that this was indeed a friend of Mokuba's. Looking around she noted that there were several screens about the main store. Turning to one of the customers that seemed engrossed in one of the battles being played out she asked. "Why are there so many screens?"
The kid looked at her and shrugged. "There's one for each battle arena that Devlin has constructed in the lower level of the store. There are five arenas total so if you want to know which arena you are looking at, just look in the upper right corner for the number."
Chance looked and sure enough there was a small number five in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Looking around the store she also found that one of the screens was dark. Simple process of elimination made her conclude that the one she was looking at was the screen for Arena three.
Making a slight face to herself that she would not be allowed to watch from here, she made her way to the stairs that lead down to the lower level of the shop. Once there she noted that each of the arena doors were marked and smiling she noticed that Arena three was also left unlocked.
Quietly as possible, Chance eased the door open just wide enough for her to slip through sideways, then closed the door and moved to a corner of the arena that had a slightly darker shadow cast to it. Leaning against the wall she observed what was going on. There wasn't much to watch, and as far as she knew if anyone observed her entry, she had been quickly forgotten.
As everyone looked on, it was clear that Mokuba was very good with board games, and Duke Devlin was an excellent teacher. When Mokuba's first game ended in a stalemate, Yugi, Tristen, Tea, and Joey all cheered Mokuba. Duke came around to there side of the arena and smiled. "Man, Yugi wasn't kidding when he said you were good. Other than the time he used me to mop the floor I haven't lost or come to a stalemate yet."
Joey gave the youth a playful noogie while grinning. "That's Mokuba for ya, full of surprises eh?"
All was well and Mokuba stepped aside to let Tristen have a shot at Duke again for his daily lesson. While off to the side Mokuba was chatting with his friends. Talking about the school day and rehashing some old stories about Battle City seemed to be the topic of discussion.
As the group took turns playing, Chance watched from her corner, glad that she had thought to wear her comfortable hiking boots today. She had been standing for close to two and a half hours when she finally looked at her watch and stepped away from the wall.
Fortunately Tea had just finished her game so she wasn't interrupting much. "Mokuba, it's time to head home. Your brother will be waiting."
Her quiet entry from the corner almost made her seem like she had come out of the shadows themselves. As it was she gave the entire group a scare. "Who are you and what are you doing in here. This arena is off limits to spectators." Devlin challenged her.
"She's with me Duke. In fact, if she hadn't reminded me, I would have probably stayed late. And you know how Seto gets when he worries about where I am." Mokuba spoke up for her.
"I'm Chance, pleased to meet you all." She smiled easily. Yugi was the first to step up to her and offer her his hand.
"I'm Yugi, the others here are Duke Devlin, Tristen Taylor, Joey Wheeler, and Tea Gardner." As he introduced each of his friends she shook each of their hands. When Duke made a pass at her she smiled.
"Trust me Devlin, you don't want to get involved with me. I'll only break your heart."
"To have my heart broken by a lady so beautiful would be the stuff dreams and nightmares are made of." His green eyes glittered with amusement as she blushed.
Fortunately for Chance, Tea came to her rescue. "Don't mind "Play-boy Devlin". He doesn't know when to shut his mouth sometimes."
When Devlin made to object Tristen stepped in. "Um, Duke. I don't know if it escaped your notice or not, but Mokuba says that she's with him, and Chance reminded him that it was time for him to head home. To me that screams Kaiba Corp Employee."
Joey grumbled under his breath and the others just laughed, as they were close enough to hear the disparaging remark made about the elder Kaiba.
"Come on kiddo, I don't want your brother coming after me for being late." Waiting for Mokuba to bid the others farewell for the night she followed behind him as he made his way back to the estate.
About two blocks from the gates of the estate house, the pair encountered trouble. Stepping out from the shadows of a nearby alley a couple of rough and somewhat shabby looking men came into view. "I knew this was too good to last." Chance muttered to herself.
"Listen guys, we don't want any trouble, let us pass ok?" Chance addressed the men in front of her as she made playing with her earring look like a natural motion, when in reality she had just taken the mute off so that Seto would be able to hear everything that would transpire.
"Stay behind me kid. I don't want to have to worry about where you are if this gets ugly." She instructed Mokuba in a soft tone.
"Well lady, it seems that we have an issue with you to settle. You see, that kid you got there is invited to a private audience with the boss. Hand the kid over and you might get out of here alive. Otherwise..." The bigger of the two left the threat hanging.
"Sorry, no can do." She stepped back into an informal ready stance and then saw something that might cause her trouble. Both of the men carried switchblades. Long ones at that.
"Why is it that women have to do it the hard way? You'd think they'd learn that just handing over what is wanted would spare them some pain and a lot of trouble, but no." The shorter of the two started to move forward.
Chance waited. She had to keep Mokuba's safety in mind so to that end she put the wall at her back and left enough room for Mokuba to be effectively sandwiched if he followed her directions. "I don't want any trouble guys. Just leave us alone and we'll both be saved a lot of trouble." She asked again.
"Can't do that. The boss wants that kid and he'll get him."
"Over my broken dead body." Chance snarled back at them, her hackles raised at this situation.
Taken back a bit at the clear malice in her tone, they grinned at her and approached. As soon as one came within striking distance Chance stepped out, grabbed the knife hand of the shorter man and breaking his hold on the blade proceeded to knee him in the groin followed up with a round house kick that sent him almost flying to the side as he had dropped to his knees when her knee made contact with his vitals.
One down, one to go, and she realized that Mokuba wasn't up against the wall or with her any more she turned to see him in the grip of the taller assailant. "Let the boy go. Now." She ordered quietly.
"You've lost woman, give it up or are you going to make things that much harder for the kid?" Mokuba's arms were twisted up behind his back in a submission hold.
"Mokuba, I'll get you away from him. Trust me." Her hazel eyes burned with a surety that she could and would follow through.
Mokuba saw this and nodded. "Get me outta here!"
Before either of the guys in front of her could react, Chance had her berretta out and trained on the man's chest. "I'll tell you one last time. Let the boy go."
"What are you going to do about it? I have the kid and if you shoot me you'll hit him too." The sneer was not only on his face, but also in his voice.
Mokuba froze at the words. The guy was right, if she shot, he could be in the way.
"If you shield yourself with him I'll just shoot your kneecaps out. Do NOT test me. You don't want to find out how good of a shot I really am." Her voice level, Chance almost off handedly told him what would happen if he did not do as she told him. "Your friend can't help you, he'll be down for a while. And you know the rule, never bring a knife to a gun fight."
The light of fear started to grow in the man's eyes as he realized that she had not wavered in her aiming or in her speech once to indicate weakness or fear. She really would shoot him. "Forget it. The boss said nothing about this. I'm outta here."
Dropping Mokuba heavily on the ground the man took off at high speed past her where he helped to pick up his fallen friend and they ran as fast as the smaller one could handle.
Putting the berretta away she moved over to Mokuba quickly and checked him over for any bruises. "You ok Mokuba?"
"Yeah, did you see the look on that guy's face when you pulled your gun out?" Mokuba was rebounding from the experience quickly, much to Chance's relief.
"Situation under control, Mokuba will be home soon." She replied to the demands that fairly made her ears ring with the volume they were being delivered at from the earpiece.
"Come on Mokuba, let's finish getting you home before that brother of yours pops an artery." Mokuba laughed at the fairly accurate comment about how his brother acted when he kept disappearing.
Chance was invited into the mansion when she showed up with the younger Kaiba a few minutes later. Seto very nearly glowered at Chance when he looked his brother over making sure that nothing was missing and no lasting harm had come to his brother. "Thank you for making sure you got him back to me. I heard everything; both you and Mokuba had your comlinks on. Now what's this about me popping an artery?"
Mokuba smothered a chuckle as Chance smiled slightly. "Well you are so uptight all the time, and even more so when your brother is the topic. I figure that your blood pressure has to be astronomical. Its a wonder you haven't had problems by this time."
Realizing that he wasn't going to win this battle, he settled for turning to Mokuba and then back to her. "You'd stress to if you had a little brother that people would kidnap to use as bait against you."
Chance visibly flinched at the comment but offered no come back. "Mokuba said that he has no other plans for the night other than dinner and homework. With that in mind if you feel that I will no longer be needed, I should go back to my hotel room to await your decision. I'll be in town for another six days." She told the Kaibas that knowing as they did that six days would be 3 days longer than the rest of the trials for the applicants.
Mokuba watched the exchange with interest. He found it interesting that there were more people out in the world that didn't see his brother like a god figure other than their friends. And this one was almost as honest as the guys. Noting the flinch he made note to look into it while Seto was busy with the paperwork for the day.
"I think that the house guard and myself should be adequate. Tammy will be in touch with you should anything come up between now and the time we make our decision."
Chance turned to the door but not before nodding to Seto and then to Mokuba. "Until then." And showed herself out the door after leaving the comlink on the hall table where Seto would find it."
The school courtyard cleared and as it did she noticed that Mokuba stood near the gate looking around for her looking confused. Giggling she stood up and made her way to him. "Hello Mokuba, you ready to go?"
Mokuba looked up at her and then smiled as he recognized her. He liked what he saw already. "I'm ready to go."
"What do you have planned for after school?" She asked quietly, smiling to take the sting of formality out of the words.
"Well I'm supposed to meet with a few of my friends over at Duke Devlin's place. He's been teaching Tristen how to play Dungeon Dice Monsters and says that he'll give me some pointers today. After that there's nothing really to do except head home and have dinner with Seto and do homework." Mokuba wrinkled his nose at the thought of homework and Chance laughed.
As Mokuba and Chance headed out towards Devlin's and by the time he got there, Chance had faded away. He couldn't quite pin point where it was that he had forgotten that she was there, but he just shrugged his shoulders and went into the shop.
"Hey Duke, Where are the others?" He asked the young shop owner.
"Arena three, we're just waiting on you. I heard from Yugi that you're pretty good with board games. I'm going to test that out." Duke grinned and Mokuba replied with a grin of his own.
Chance watched from a distance and smiled, as she was reassured with the easygoing way the two spoke that this was indeed a friend of Mokuba's. Looking around she noted that there were several screens about the main store. Turning to one of the customers that seemed engrossed in one of the battles being played out she asked. "Why are there so many screens?"
The kid looked at her and shrugged. "There's one for each battle arena that Devlin has constructed in the lower level of the store. There are five arenas total so if you want to know which arena you are looking at, just look in the upper right corner for the number."
Chance looked and sure enough there was a small number five in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Looking around the store she also found that one of the screens was dark. Simple process of elimination made her conclude that the one she was looking at was the screen for Arena three.
Making a slight face to herself that she would not be allowed to watch from here, she made her way to the stairs that lead down to the lower level of the shop. Once there she noted that each of the arena doors were marked and smiling she noticed that Arena three was also left unlocked.
Quietly as possible, Chance eased the door open just wide enough for her to slip through sideways, then closed the door and moved to a corner of the arena that had a slightly darker shadow cast to it. Leaning against the wall she observed what was going on. There wasn't much to watch, and as far as she knew if anyone observed her entry, she had been quickly forgotten.
As everyone looked on, it was clear that Mokuba was very good with board games, and Duke Devlin was an excellent teacher. When Mokuba's first game ended in a stalemate, Yugi, Tristen, Tea, and Joey all cheered Mokuba. Duke came around to there side of the arena and smiled. "Man, Yugi wasn't kidding when he said you were good. Other than the time he used me to mop the floor I haven't lost or come to a stalemate yet."
Joey gave the youth a playful noogie while grinning. "That's Mokuba for ya, full of surprises eh?"
All was well and Mokuba stepped aside to let Tristen have a shot at Duke again for his daily lesson. While off to the side Mokuba was chatting with his friends. Talking about the school day and rehashing some old stories about Battle City seemed to be the topic of discussion.
As the group took turns playing, Chance watched from her corner, glad that she had thought to wear her comfortable hiking boots today. She had been standing for close to two and a half hours when she finally looked at her watch and stepped away from the wall.
Fortunately Tea had just finished her game so she wasn't interrupting much. "Mokuba, it's time to head home. Your brother will be waiting."
Her quiet entry from the corner almost made her seem like she had come out of the shadows themselves. As it was she gave the entire group a scare. "Who are you and what are you doing in here. This arena is off limits to spectators." Devlin challenged her.
"She's with me Duke. In fact, if she hadn't reminded me, I would have probably stayed late. And you know how Seto gets when he worries about where I am." Mokuba spoke up for her.
"I'm Chance, pleased to meet you all." She smiled easily. Yugi was the first to step up to her and offer her his hand.
"I'm Yugi, the others here are Duke Devlin, Tristen Taylor, Joey Wheeler, and Tea Gardner." As he introduced each of his friends she shook each of their hands. When Duke made a pass at her she smiled.
"Trust me Devlin, you don't want to get involved with me. I'll only break your heart."
"To have my heart broken by a lady so beautiful would be the stuff dreams and nightmares are made of." His green eyes glittered with amusement as she blushed.
Fortunately for Chance, Tea came to her rescue. "Don't mind "Play-boy Devlin". He doesn't know when to shut his mouth sometimes."
When Devlin made to object Tristen stepped in. "Um, Duke. I don't know if it escaped your notice or not, but Mokuba says that she's with him, and Chance reminded him that it was time for him to head home. To me that screams Kaiba Corp Employee."
Joey grumbled under his breath and the others just laughed, as they were close enough to hear the disparaging remark made about the elder Kaiba.
"Come on kiddo, I don't want your brother coming after me for being late." Waiting for Mokuba to bid the others farewell for the night she followed behind him as he made his way back to the estate.
About two blocks from the gates of the estate house, the pair encountered trouble. Stepping out from the shadows of a nearby alley a couple of rough and somewhat shabby looking men came into view. "I knew this was too good to last." Chance muttered to herself.
"Listen guys, we don't want any trouble, let us pass ok?" Chance addressed the men in front of her as she made playing with her earring look like a natural motion, when in reality she had just taken the mute off so that Seto would be able to hear everything that would transpire.
"Stay behind me kid. I don't want to have to worry about where you are if this gets ugly." She instructed Mokuba in a soft tone.
"Well lady, it seems that we have an issue with you to settle. You see, that kid you got there is invited to a private audience with the boss. Hand the kid over and you might get out of here alive. Otherwise..." The bigger of the two left the threat hanging.
"Sorry, no can do." She stepped back into an informal ready stance and then saw something that might cause her trouble. Both of the men carried switchblades. Long ones at that.
"Why is it that women have to do it the hard way? You'd think they'd learn that just handing over what is wanted would spare them some pain and a lot of trouble, but no." The shorter of the two started to move forward.
Chance waited. She had to keep Mokuba's safety in mind so to that end she put the wall at her back and left enough room for Mokuba to be effectively sandwiched if he followed her directions. "I don't want any trouble guys. Just leave us alone and we'll both be saved a lot of trouble." She asked again.
"Can't do that. The boss wants that kid and he'll get him."
"Over my broken dead body." Chance snarled back at them, her hackles raised at this situation.
Taken back a bit at the clear malice in her tone, they grinned at her and approached. As soon as one came within striking distance Chance stepped out, grabbed the knife hand of the shorter man and breaking his hold on the blade proceeded to knee him in the groin followed up with a round house kick that sent him almost flying to the side as he had dropped to his knees when her knee made contact with his vitals.
One down, one to go, and she realized that Mokuba wasn't up against the wall or with her any more she turned to see him in the grip of the taller assailant. "Let the boy go. Now." She ordered quietly.
"You've lost woman, give it up or are you going to make things that much harder for the kid?" Mokuba's arms were twisted up behind his back in a submission hold.
"Mokuba, I'll get you away from him. Trust me." Her hazel eyes burned with a surety that she could and would follow through.
Mokuba saw this and nodded. "Get me outta here!"
Before either of the guys in front of her could react, Chance had her berretta out and trained on the man's chest. "I'll tell you one last time. Let the boy go."
"What are you going to do about it? I have the kid and if you shoot me you'll hit him too." The sneer was not only on his face, but also in his voice.
Mokuba froze at the words. The guy was right, if she shot, he could be in the way.
"If you shield yourself with him I'll just shoot your kneecaps out. Do NOT test me. You don't want to find out how good of a shot I really am." Her voice level, Chance almost off handedly told him what would happen if he did not do as she told him. "Your friend can't help you, he'll be down for a while. And you know the rule, never bring a knife to a gun fight."
The light of fear started to grow in the man's eyes as he realized that she had not wavered in her aiming or in her speech once to indicate weakness or fear. She really would shoot him. "Forget it. The boss said nothing about this. I'm outta here."
Dropping Mokuba heavily on the ground the man took off at high speed past her where he helped to pick up his fallen friend and they ran as fast as the smaller one could handle.
Putting the berretta away she moved over to Mokuba quickly and checked him over for any bruises. "You ok Mokuba?"
"Yeah, did you see the look on that guy's face when you pulled your gun out?" Mokuba was rebounding from the experience quickly, much to Chance's relief.
"Situation under control, Mokuba will be home soon." She replied to the demands that fairly made her ears ring with the volume they were being delivered at from the earpiece.
"Come on Mokuba, let's finish getting you home before that brother of yours pops an artery." Mokuba laughed at the fairly accurate comment about how his brother acted when he kept disappearing.
Chance was invited into the mansion when she showed up with the younger Kaiba a few minutes later. Seto very nearly glowered at Chance when he looked his brother over making sure that nothing was missing and no lasting harm had come to his brother. "Thank you for making sure you got him back to me. I heard everything; both you and Mokuba had your comlinks on. Now what's this about me popping an artery?"
Mokuba smothered a chuckle as Chance smiled slightly. "Well you are so uptight all the time, and even more so when your brother is the topic. I figure that your blood pressure has to be astronomical. Its a wonder you haven't had problems by this time."
Realizing that he wasn't going to win this battle, he settled for turning to Mokuba and then back to her. "You'd stress to if you had a little brother that people would kidnap to use as bait against you."
Chance visibly flinched at the comment but offered no come back. "Mokuba said that he has no other plans for the night other than dinner and homework. With that in mind if you feel that I will no longer be needed, I should go back to my hotel room to await your decision. I'll be in town for another six days." She told the Kaibas that knowing as they did that six days would be 3 days longer than the rest of the trials for the applicants.
Mokuba watched the exchange with interest. He found it interesting that there were more people out in the world that didn't see his brother like a god figure other than their friends. And this one was almost as honest as the guys. Noting the flinch he made note to look into it while Seto was busy with the paperwork for the day.
"I think that the house guard and myself should be adequate. Tammy will be in touch with you should anything come up between now and the time we make our decision."
Chance turned to the door but not before nodding to Seto and then to Mokuba. "Until then." And showed herself out the door after leaving the comlink on the hall table where Seto would find it."