Okay my good readers . . . the plan is underway and in a big way. After all you didn't think a giant corporation takeover against Kaiba was going to be as simple as entering some codes, did you? It may seem that way but things are never easy, are they? No, not usually. ( I kind of like this chapter . . . that's weird.)
Warning: This chapter I plan to see how 'evil' I can make Mai go. Unfortunately there is some violence, but for a lot of it you must read in between the lines. Honestly I don't think I should have to up the rating . . . I don't feel it's that bad . . . but if anybody does then I will happily up the rating!
Growing Pain - Wow that was a quick review! Don't worry, do ya really think I'd let Kaiba give up without a fight! Nope . . . but things get worse before they get better . . . oh and Joey will have a few things to say . . . but that is also later. I liked the character of Valon and I needed him for this fic to work so I hope that you can still read it even though he's in it . . . but don't worry everything will work out! I'm just glad that I made you feel something for the characters . . . it makes me feel that my fic doesn't totally suck . . . thanks!
5animefan- Let me just say that your review cheered me up on a horrible day, thank you. I'm glad you appreciated this chapter. I do feel that Mai needs some light in her life, but alas . . . it probably will not come until the new few chapters . . . but it will. Valon, like Mai, seemed to me that he could have gone to the 'good' side, but sometimes ones own personal experiences hold them back and that is what I tried to portray . . . you see more of why Valon is doing what he is doing in this chapter actually, but I don't want to give it away:)
Review or Don't . . . it's up to you.
Disclaimer: YGO is not mine.
"I have found that all that shimmers in this world is sure to fade away again." Fuel - Shimmer
"Hoping that she could cry
Now finding out that it all was a lie
What she built up
Was never enough
And she needs someone new
And she cries:
How did I get this far
Why are things falling apart
Someone turn the light on
But I'll be gone before dawn
Watch my walls crashing down
As they fall to the ground
Man I hate this part
Don't know where to start
To build myself up
My blood runs cold and it's getting old how I'm alone" - part of a song I wrote
Even though she filled the glass with champagne, in the next few seconds it would become empty again. It was a never-ending process of filling, drinking and filling. It could only end when the bottle did or when she stopped.
Why would she want to do that?
Alone in her office she had nobody to impress . . . nobody to hurt . . . lead . . . worry about . . . she had herself.
That certainly didn't matter to her.
So she filled the glass again.
Mai let out a loud sigh.
She remembered when this used to give her headaches . . . when it would make her want to puke out her existence.
It didn't even give her a buzzing feeling anymore, only the feeling of contentment . . . and a warmth that she usually didn't have.
After all, she was cold most of the time.
Mai always tried to drink alone . . . ; she learned that lesson after the last time she drank with Valon. It lead to some fuzzy memories and the loss of her motorcycle. It was a good thing that the police officer didn't give her a breath test.
Mai let a smile cross her face. That had been a few years ago, but the memory stayed fresh in her mind.
Valon, truthfully, was the only one who could handle her this way . . .
She laughed as she tried to imagine Kaiba doing this . . . drinking until he was struck dumb and spilling out his darkest secrets . . . it wouldn't be anything she didn't know already . . .
She had a team dedicated to finding out all of Kaiba's secrets . . . but it would be more fun if he admitted them.
Next she tried to Joey drinking with her. No clear picture could come into her head . . . in fact she had no clue on what kind of drinking partner he would be.
Mai had a feeling that he wouldn't be a newbie . . . and pushed the thought of having a good time back in her mind.
The time for fun had passed and now it was time to become serious.
Mai poured the last drop into her glass and stared at it for a while.
She knew the building was empty and that she was the only person who would want to stay this late.
Her head titled to the side in amazement.
After this gulp, there was two-hundred dollars gone within a few days.
She gulped it and let out a smile.
"Funny how I consider that cheap." she mused aloud.
She leaned back into her seat and propped her feet on the table.
"Good thing Kaiba payed for it." she added.
"I want to find out right now who screwed up and why!" Kaiba shouted furiously. He had found himself in his own office, but unlike Mai's it was full of unhappy people.
When Kaiba was unhappy, so were his workers.
"Yes Mr. Kaiba." James answered as he scuttled away to his office. Many other various workers also followed that action.
Kaiba was utterly confused how the richest man in Japan had a check that bounced. It didn't make sense to him or to anyone else.
Sighing he threw his briefcase on the floor. It landed with a thud and somehow opened up at the moment it made contact.
Papers flew all over the office and this only infuriated him more.
"Mr. Kaiba!" somebody called as they rushed into his office. The man was followed by James who wore an insecure face.
"You can't just barge in here." Kaiba yelled as he pounded his hands off of the table.
"It's all gone . . . everything. Somebody bought out all of your shares, stocks . . . everything. You don't have a single penny to your name. Your company, it belongs to someone else . . . "the man explained quickly.
"Who?" Kaiba asked as he hurriedly turned on his laptop. He tried to enter into his personal program, but the password had been changed.
"We don't know." the man answered, shaking his head in a confused manner.
"We've dealt with this before and we will do it again." Kaiba said confidently.
"Not this bad . . . whoever planned this. They've been planning it for a while." the man answered.
Kaiba looked down at his desk and shook his head in a disapproving way.
"We will . . . James, go work on this." Kaiba instructed and James shook his head in understanding.
The other man had also left to go and decipher all of the codes that popped out on various computer screens.
"Kaiba, the game rooms are all shut down." somebody reported.
"Mr. Kaiba . . . somehow all of your duel disks have become contaminated with some sort of virus . . . it's spreading through all of your merchandise as we speak . . . through everything you own." came another voice from over the speaker.
Mokuba, who had been sleeping on the couch on the other side of the room came over to his big brother.
"Any ideas Seto?" he asked, his voice full of worry.
"Maybe . . . but I'm not sure." Kaiba replied. Mokuba looked at him confused.
"It could be anyone . . . Maybe who worked for Pegasus . . . or maybe a crazy Dartz follower . . . " Mokuba suggested. Kaiba shrugged.
"I have a lot of enemies." was his short reply.
"Who do you think it is Seto?" Mokuba asked. Kaiba shook his head.
"It doesn't matter, I have to work on deciphering these codes . . . but Mokuba . . . I don't want you to leave this room, do you understand me?" Kaiba explained as he kept typing numbers and words into his laptop.
Mokuba made a whining sound, but pulled a chair up next to his brother.
James leaned up against the wall in the alleyway. He was shrouded in darkness. To a usually observant person, he couldn't be seen.
The man who had reported all of the terrible things to Kaiba had stepped outside for a cigarette . . . because smoking wasn't acceptable for KaibaCorp.
The man went into the dark alley and there was a small amount of screaming.
James came out with a satisfied smile.
The moon became covered by clouds and darkness filled the city, as if there wasn't a moon at all.
Everyone at KaibaCorp was busy trying to find out how and who took over the company, ignoring the lateness of the day.
Nobody else came out of that alley.
The previous day had ended and a new one did begin like usual.
Mai had somehow found herself at her headquarters busily giving orders. James called and mentioned that Kaiba knew that someone had taken his money but was unsure of whom.
"I think we need somebody to run interference." Valon suggested.
He was sitting in the chair next to Mai, overlooking some sort of boring papers that meant nothing to anybody but them and Kaiba.
"James is doing that." Mai mentioned, " Kaiba's not going to stay clueless for long. I'm surprised that he hasn't found out by now."
"Are you worried?" Valon asked, concern showing in his eyes, but not his voice. Mai shook her head.
"No . . . but have we started to ship out the new duel disks?" she asked. Valon smiled.
"The ones that are new and improved . . . and from some out of country company?" he asked.
"Yes those. What did you call them?" she asked him. A part of their plan was to put a virus into Kaiba's main computer frame. It just so happens that his main computer frame held all of the information for every duelist in Japan and a few other countries, because all of their duel disks ran off of that computer.
If the computer became infected, all of the duel disks would be infected also. This way, all of the duelists would have to purchase new duel disks. It was common sense that they wouldn't want to purchase them from KaibaCorp . . . so Mai decided to have somebody steal Kaiba's design but change it by just a little.
Some of the little changes were that the duel disk could come in different colors and sizes. It also now had sound effects to maximize the dueling experience. At least that's what the ad in Mai's magazine claimed.
Mai had put the headquarters in Mexico . . . in fact that was where all of the stolen money was being transferred to.
It was a brilliant plan that Mai and Valon had been working on ever since they met up again.
"Are you listening to me?" Valon asked. Mai shook her head, unaware that she drifted off.
"Sure." she answered as she glanced around the room.
"Only a couple of weeks then we can finally go to Mexico. You'll have all the money you'll ever need. Once we get there, we can finally purchase that island you wanted . . . you know that one with the long beaches and huge palm trees." Valon said happily,"You'll be the winner and everybody else will be broken in your wrath. It's your time Mai."
Mai just glanced at him for a second before letting his words actually work their way up to her brain.
She smiled brightly.
"Everyone whoever hurt you will be punished . . . look at how Kaiba denied your power. He has none now . . . not with the bad press he's receiving and then there's the fact that he has absolutely nothing to his name . . . all because he doubted you." Valon whispered in an excited voice.
Mai stared at him emotionlessly.
"And Wheeler . . . I have special plans for him." he added.
"But don't worry Mai . . . that's not until closing, right now we've got a show to enjoy." Valon whispered again.
Mai laid her head on her hand and gazed at Valon, letting him ramble on about a paradise that seemed too far away for her to reach.
After seemingly long hours of staring at computer screens, Kaiba blinked. His eyes were sore and he was convinced that he would become blind if he kept staring at the computer screen. It might have been possible, but he ignored it and kept trying to crack the code.
A few moments after, he finally cracked the password.
Soon, using special computer equipment, he was lead to the mainframe of the computer. This was right where the virus was and all of a sudden his laptop was infected.
He threw it on the ground just as a small sound came from it.
He ignored it and grabbed Mokuba and they walked away.
The screen on the computer seemed to be transformed to a clock in which the number 120:00:00 read. Each second the time decreased as if it was counting down to something.
Joey walked quickly through the brisk air with Yugi on his tail. They quickly entered the flower shop, a place that Joey said he would never go.
It wasn't that he hated flowers, he just felt that it insulted his masculinity. He then remembered Tea smacking him across the face . . . which is how he found himself there.
He went to go talk to the shopkeeper about the flowers that needed to be ordered for the wedding, but the man shushed him. His attention was drawn to the television.
"Hey Yug, it's Kaiba!" Joey exclaimed. Yugi stepped away from the carnations and focused his eyes on the screen.
"He's in a press conference." Yugi noticed. He also saw the expression on Kaiba's face, which was crueler than usual. The shopkeeper, whose name tag said Greg, nodded toward Yugi's direction.
"Have you been living under a rock? Kaiba's gone completely bankrupt . . . and all of those duel disk thingys have become infected with some virus . . . that will really hurt the economy . . . kids go crazy . . . heck I've seen grown men cry over some of those duel disks . . . pitiful really." he explained.
"This coming from a man who owns a flower shop." Joey whispered in Yugi's ear. Yugi only rolled his eyes and listened to Kaiba confirm that they are fixing the problem.
"We should help." Yugi stated as he glanced around the store. It was now Joey's turn to roll his eyes.
"Why? Chances are you'll just get drug into it anyway . . . mine as well wait it out . . . it's not our problem." Joey said in noncaring manner as he smelled some roses. He pulled out a piece of paper and read the flower order.
"Purple roses . . . do they even have those?" he asked the shopkeeper. Greg then gave Joey a explanation on how to dye a flower in which Joey found somewhat interesting.
Yugi was still speechless. It just didn't seem right for him to not help Kaiba. He always did and nothing should really change now.
"Lets talk it over with everyone . . . then see if we can help?" Yugi asked.
"Fine." Joey muttered as he placed his order.
The whole ordeal seemed too unreal to Yugi. How and why did Kaiba go bankrupt? Why were all of the duel disks acting up? Somebody somewhere was seriously out to get Kaiba, and Yugi wasn't going to let it happen without a fight.
Mai couldn't exactly remember how she ended up in a bed . . . or where she was.
Sitting up she looked around the room . . . it looked like bunch of people lived here.
She was still at headquarters . . . "Suppose they need to sleep too." she murmured as she stepped around the miscellaneous objects on the floor.
She walked into the main room and was greeted by a bunch of people celebrating their almost successful takeover.
"Valon." Mai called, she couldn't see him in the mass of computers and people.
"Valon?" she called, unsure of where he was.
She found him after searching for a little bit. He was sitting in the corner, discussing something.
When she reached them, James hid something behind his back and gave her a big smile.
"What's up?" she asked, twirling her hair around her finger in a valley-girl manner.
"Working on the backup plan." James quickly answered. Mai raised an eyebrow.
"Backup is always good . . . I'm impressed . . . I knew we could pull it off." she exclaimed. Her eyes were filled with something, joy perhaps . . . but to most, all they saw was power.
She was on top and nobody could take her down.
Valon stared at her, his eyes were full of respect and something else.
"Best thing is that we didn't have to resort to dueling or kidnaping Mokuba . . . I noticed that a lot of people lose when they kidnap that kid." she noted.
"Mai . . . we uh need to talk." Valon said darkly. Mai looked stunned for a moment.
"Excuse me? Well nothing good ever comes after that sentence." she said with a small laugh, as if she was trying to hide her insecurity.
"Read this." Valon said as he handed her the paper.
The main headline was about Kaiba.
"Yeah . . . so that was our plan . . . to take everything that Kaiba had." she said confused. Valon then pointed toward the bottom of the paper.
That headline, which was much smaller, said that a local man had been beaten in an alley.
"So . . . it happens all the time.'' she stated confused.
"Mai . . . listen . . . the reason we picked you to lead was because you've earned it. You've got power . . . and intelligence . . . and you're full of hidden potential. Look what we accomplished because of you! But the reason I jumped in was because of this stuff . . . a corporate takeover does involve some dirty work." Valon explained. Mai stared at him confused.
"I didn't want that." she blurted out, but it was in a small whisper.
"No . . . that's why we did it." Valon said as he pointed toward James.
"What are you saying . . . that I wasn't strong enough to handle this . . . did you think I couldn't do that? Less you forget Valon . . . I stole Pegasus's soul . . . his essence without a blink or a tear . . . I took Jo . . . forget it." she spat out madly as she threw the paper on the ground and walked out of the building, ignoring Valon as he called her name.
"Mai . . . I wasn't saying you weren't strong but. . ." he started to say but she pushed him into the wall of the building.
"I told you that if you doubted me I wouldn't be nice about . . . I can handle this Valon . . . and I don't need you to protect me from my feelings . . . I have no feelings . . . none . . . except for one, and that's rage . . . trust me, you don't want to get on my bad side, which is funny because it's the only side I seem to have anymore." she said as she let him drop to the ground. Each word she spoke sounded harsh and bitter, as if she was talking to her worst enemy.
It sounded as if she hated Valon.
He sat on the ground motionless as he watched Mai drive away in a hurry.
He didn't know where she was going . . . and he didn't want to find out
The room in the hospital was colored blue, literally. The bed sheets were of a light blue color and it matched the curtains precisely.
The floor, made of tiles, was also blue with white squares between the blue ones . . . and the actual wall color was blue. It was all a lighter shade of blue. The hospital tried desperately to get the color to match the sky, but the color turned out to be more of a blue-green than anything.
At least it wasn't dark, but if one stared at it for a while, they might easily become sick of it . . .
That was the first thing Mai Valentine noticed as she stepped into said room.
The fact that there was a man lying in the bed didn't even catch her attention.
"Horrible coordination, don't you think?" she asked the man.
He opened his eyes and gave a small smile. Mai just tilted her head to the side and walked to the side of the bed, near all of the breathing equipment.
Careful not to bump anything, she stood and stared down at the man. His hair hung damply over his head and he was quite pale.
She frowned at him.
"Well . . . you don't know me. I'm Mai Valentine, but I know you . . . Max, right? Of course, I uh read your medical chart . . . unfortunately I couldn't see what was wrong with you. Gotta hate how doctors scribble." she rambled in a delightful voice.
She almost pulled the chair over, but stayed standing instead. The smile on her face was starting to fade with each passing second, but that's what she wanted.
"Max. . . Max. . . Max. . . Mr. I work for Kaiba and report everything that goes wrong Max. . . " she addressed him. His eyes looked toward the other side of the room at the walls as if trying to ignore her presence. He would talk, but after being beaten up. . . he was too weak to mutter a word.
"Can't talk can you? It's fine, I will. I'm usually good at this part. So you're the guy who found out what was going on. Huh, good for you, you must be a very intelligent man. Go on . . . don't be modest. Oh, right . . . no talking . . . But see the thing is, is well you almost destroyed my entire plan . . . I can't have that . . . see all of those scratches, bruises . . . and is that a cut? Anyway they're just scar tissue . . . you know what happens to scar tissue . . . it fades. It fades away, sometimes leaving no traces of their being a bruise . . . sometimes leaving a horrible scar for you to look at." Mai said as she ran her finger against the silver bar. It was cold to the touch, but she kept doing it. Perhaps for effect, or to feel something . . . nobody will ever know.
"But the funny thing is is that it will never fade away. Nope, life is more than physical pain. It's mental too . . . and you'll never forget it. Sure maybe you'll forget how the temperature suddenly dropped as you stepped out the door to light that one last cigarette . . . but you won't forget that first punch or the next kick . . . the unanswered cries for help as you drown into your own darkness . . . you'll never forget that." she continued . . . yet her speech sounded more like her with every word. Surprisingly the usual quiver wasn't present.
"You won't forget the sound of his voice as he attacked you and you surely won't forget mine. You won't forget how cold you are right now or how you've never been so alone. We are more alike than you think . . . because I've lived all of that . . . the difference is that I have a few more years than you." It was her final statement, and an exceptionally harsh one at that.
With that she walked out of the room as if she was never there. Suddenly a high-pitched noise came from the room and all of the nurses rushed to the room.
Mai smiled.
There wasn't going to be a way to bring her down.
She didn'tsee the man watching her from a few feet away. He had been doing some 'charity' (publicity) work at the hospital.
He didn't mean to eavesdrop . . . but it was hard for him not to. He ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh . . .
He knew that she seemed more uptight lately . . . but what she said in that room, that was crazy . . .
Now Duke had a reason to confront her.
Rushing into the night, he ran faster than he thought he could . . .
After some time chasing her, Duke finally found Mai walking. It confused him because women shouldn't be alone in Domino by themselves at night. Domino wasn't safe . . . but it was mostly because of people like her.
"Mai . . . we uh . . . we need to talk." he said as bravely as he could. She turned around and cocked her head to one side.
"Huh . . . what about?" she asked, acting rather coy as if she never did anything hurtful to anyone.
"I, well I heard what you said back there . . . and I know what you've been up too." he admitted, but with each second his new found courage failed a little bit more.
"Oh . . . well . . . yeah . . . hey, so you have been following me!" she exclaimed, convinced that she was no longer crazy. She knew that somebody was following her and that she wasn't making it up.
"Yeah when I heard that Valon left a message on your voice mail I was a little concerned, for the safety of my friends." he explained quickly. Mai stood stunned for a while.
"So you know, what?'' she asked, her voice becoming hard and mean.
"That you were using psychology on that man back there . . . because he found out about your little plan . . . and, all this . . . it was you . . . wasn't it . . . Kaiba . . . and the duel disks, that was all you.'' Duke stated, in disbelief.
Mai stood there unimpressed.
"Wow Sherlock . . . you caught on . . . so now what?" she asked, laughing the whole time. Her laugh wasn't ordinary though, it was haunting and so cold that it chilled Duke to the bone.
"I tell everybody . . . and they will do something about it." was his determined answer.
"Really! You know what . . . if Kaiba didn't find out by now than shame on him . . . besides the money is out of his reach anyway." she explained.
Duke took a deep breath and stood up straighter.
"You need to stop . . . you really do. I don't know what happened to you or why you're doing this . . . but you need to stop. Remember what happened last time?" Duke asked, his voice full of concern.
"Or did you forget?" he whispered as he walked past her into the night. Her brain told her to go after him, to make him pay for saying those things to her . . .
But she couldn't move.
Her feet were stuck in the middle of the street and she was out of her mind.
She took a gulp of air . . . at one time it would have been fresh . . . but now it was polluted and dirty . . . like what she had become.
She turned her head to the side and focused her eyes into the darkness . . . and she started walking toward a building.
It was older and well hidden from the huge buildings in which she lived at anymore.
To get there, one must travel through dangerous back alleys and long lonely sidewalks.
Mai walked in, and sat down at the booth . . . ignoring the stares and cat calls. She didn't want to deal with anyone tonight . . . not Valon or Duke . . . absolutely nobody.
The bartender had approached her and she ordered . . . straight vodka, something that she didn't drink since she worked with Dartz . . .
Dartz . . . the name made chills run up her spine and yet at the same time it sadden her . . .
When she worked for him, there was no pain . . . no weaknesses . . . just power and rage . . . perfection.
She was stripped down of her heart and all that was left was her passion to rule.
She missed that, and it was lost somewhere along the way.
She glanced around the bar and saw that everything was dimly lite and that everything was made out of dark wood with a blood-red carpet.
It seemed almost cozy to someone like her.
"World of problems Miss?" the bartender asked. He was obviously older than most and the look in his hazel eyes should that he saw more than most. Mai shrugged.
"Sure you don't want to share them . . . after all, it's not that often we get a person like you in here." he added. Mai cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. She didn't want to answer anything . . . she came here to be alone, because she always drank alone.
"What kind of person am I?" she laughed as she drank another shot. The bartender gazed at her, slightly amused.
"Defiantly not from around here . . . but I've got to tell you that I"ve never seen a beautiful woman in a business suit drink like that without flinching.'' he explained . . . his voice melting into Mai's ears.
"It's a front." she answered quietly with a smile on her face. The barkeeper laughed at this, his eyes twinkling . . . almost reminding Mai of somebody's grandpa.
"Huh." he said after the laughing was done. There wasn't any other customers as most of them left from the time Mai approached.
"So what is a girl like you doing in a dump like this?" he asked again, perhaps trying to pry a good story out of her.
"Needed a break from everyone . . . just needed something." was her response.
"Boyfriend troubles?" he asked softly. Mai laughed and rolled her eyes.
She then lifted her glass and watched how the light reflected into the liquid. After moving the glass a few more times she spoke.
"It's funny how in one moment the whole world can be yours. You're on the top and nothing can bring you down, then all of a sudden . . . your whole world goes black and you find yourself hopelessly drowning in a sea of darkness . . . and you can't swim . . . so you keep trying to rise above when you know that it's a lost cause, so you drown." Her eyes never left the glass.
"It can't be that bad." the bartender said as he cocked his head sideways and placed the vodka bottle underneath the cabinet, secretly cutting her off.
"It is . . . lost my friends . . . myself . . . lost my plan and . . . my courage." she said bitterly as she placed the glass on the table, empty.
"Oh." was his confused response. He was almost desperate to hear her story.
"Tomorrow . . . when this warm feeling wears off . . . the guilt and the pain will set in . . . and they're gonna except me to keep doing what I'm doing. I want to do this . . . to prove that the power is mine and that nobody can take it away from me . . . but I can't . . . so I'll keep deluding myself . . . drinking until I'm warm and perhaps lose another friend. Won't need them in the end anyway." Mai whispered as she laid the money on the table and walked out.
The bartender looked at it curiously, she left one-hundred dollars . . . and he didn't know why and yet he did.
He figured that she needed somebody to listen to her.
"Good luck." he whispered as he finally closed the bar for the day. He knew she'd need it.