Rating: K+

#21 Violence; pillage/plunder

Mariko thought the green shooting stars were pretty, but Shizuka knew instinctively they were more bad news. Shooting stars in the middle of the afternoon?

"Look, I think one fell over there, let's go look!" Mariko cried, pointing down the street to where a couple was locked in a passionate kiss. She then took off before Shizuka could stop her.

"Mariko, wait!" she shouted, running after her friend.

They skidded to a stop when a glowing green circle appeared out of nowhere in the street about a yard away from the oblivious couple. The circle expanded and began glowing brightly enough that even the lovers noticed and broke off their embrace, startled.

That was when the monster crawled out of the pavement in the middle of the circle.

The girl screamed and her boyfriend pushed her away, turning to fight. Mariko screamed as well when the monster—something in scaly gray armor and a horned hat that made Shizuka think of Vikings—grabbed the young man who struggled in vain and then went limp. Shizuka swallowed her own scream, grabbed Mariko's arm and started running.

Like the giant Duel Monsters before them, the strange armored things in Viking hats crawling out of glowing green circles appeared all over the world while people collapsed around them. There were wild rumors about alien invaders, terrorist plots, and the usual assortment of religious doomsayers predicting the apocalypse. There was rioting and looting in many places, which sort of completed the Viking imagery. The worst of it seemed to be in San Francisco.

"Mom, is San Francisco in California?" Shizuka asked as she sat gripping her knees in front of the television.

"Yes, it is. Why?"

Shizuka couldn't answer. Her mother didn't know Katsuya was in California. San Francisco, if Shizuka had to guess.

"Shizuka, turn off the television. I think you're letting this upset you too much. I'm sure everything will be fine."

By the time her mother started preparing dinner, Shizuka was too sick to eat. What time is it in San Francisco? The middle of the night?

Her mother assumed it was a stomach bug of some kind and sent her to bed and although she wanted to check the news online as soon as her mother left the room, she felt too sick. She drifted into an uneasy sleep, plagued by dreams of her brother dueling those Viking-hat things. Over and over he dueled and lost, collapsing senseless in the middle of the green glowing circle like that guy who'd pushed his girlfriend out of the way in the street.

Just before dawn, the dreams abruptly stopped and she woke up. She still felt exhausted, but no longer felt nauseous, so she got out of bed and went online to find natural disasters were now the big news. A hurricane had sprung up out of nowhere off the American east coast, while another massive storm raged in the Pacific off the coast of Northern California. There had also been an earthquake in San Francisco about eleven o'clock last night Tokyo time; small by California standards at only 5.9 on the Richter scale and there were no casualties reported. Meanwhile, the Viking-hat things seem to have disappeared and were now being chalked up to some sort of world-wide hoax, although none of the people who had mysteriously collapsed had regained consciousness.

"Shizuka, what are you doing up?" her mother asked, poking her head into Shizuka's room. "Are you feeling better?"

"A little," Shizuka nodded. "I'm actually feeling sorta hungry."

"Okay, I'll go make you some breakfast. Do you need me to stay home from work?"

"No, I'll be okay." Just call me, Big Brother. Call and tell me everything's fine.

By lunchtime it was all over. The storms in both the Atlantic and Pacific had abruptly ceased. Order had been restored in the cities where there had been rioting. Everyone who had been left unconscious by the Viking-hat things were all awake and doing well.

But still, no word from her brother.

"Shizuka, wake up, your brother's on the phone."

Shizuka bolted upright, wide awake. "What? Is he okay? What time is it?"

"It's five in the morning. He wouldn't tell me why he was calling so early, just that he needed to talk to you."

She practically flew to the phone, shooing her mother from the room before picking it up. "Big Brother, is that really you? Are you okay?"

"Hey Sis, it's really me. I'm good, we're all good. I'm sorry to call so early. I got the times mixed up, but I wanted to tell you to look for me on TV. I'm gonna be in a big tournament here in America that Kaiba's hosting, the Kaiba Corp Grand Prix—"

"Tournament?" she said, her jaw dropping. "Tournament? Are you kidding me? I have been worried sick ever since you left for America, especially the last few days with all the weird stuff going on with those creepy monsters and people collapsing and the storms and the earthquake, and even when it's all over I don't hear from you for like a whole day and all you have to say is you're going to be in a tournament? Have you completely lost your mind?"

"I, uh… you knew about all that?"

"What, I live in a freaking cave? It's all over the news, and I know it all had something to do with those Duel Monsters appearing all over and the reason you went to America. What the hell happened?"

There was a long pause. "It's no big deal, Shizuka. Same old thing, you know? Freaky guy with a take-over-the-world complex and we kicked his butt. I even got one of those pull-the-sword-out-of-the-ice-dragon card thingies. The Claw of Hermos. Although I didn't get to keep it, but still, it was pretty cool. And now it's all over. End of story."

"End of story? I don't think so! What happened? Are you okay? Are your friends all okay?"

"We're good, Sis, we're… we're all good, okay?" he said, and the sudden weariness in his voice drained away some of her anger.

"I was so worried, Katsuya, you have no idea. I thought something terrible had happened to you or to your friends."

There was another long pause. "No, all my friends… we're all fine now, okay? Listen, I can't talk real long. I'm calling on the professor's phone and we're getting ready to go back to the city for the tournament—"

"So it isn't over? Is that why you're doing a tournament?"

"What? Wait, no. This isn't like Duelist Kingdom or Battle City, okay? This time it's just a tournament. For fun. And 'cause we need a ride back to Japan and Kaiba will fly us back if we do it, so we kinda have to. But it's just for fun, I swear."

"Oh come on, when is it ever just for fun with you and Yugi?"

He sighed. "I know. But the bad stuff is all over, okay? We're gonna do this tournament and then we'll be back in Japan before summer break is over. I'll come visit you in Tokyo when I get back, okay? Now I've gotta go."

"No, Katsuya, wait, I… are you really okay? Everything's fine?"

"I'm really okay," he said. "Look for me on TV, okay? I love you and I'll see you soon." And before she could say another word, he was gone.

She put the phone back in its cradle, and then everything spilled out, all the fear and anxiety she'd been feeling the last few days just broke through and she started sobbing. She still had no idea what had happened to him or to his friends over the last few days, but she'd heard his voice. He was fine.

And yet… no matter what he said, she knew she had somehow just barely missed losing him forever. Again.