Chapter 49
"I'm worried about her."
Kaiba and Yugi were in Kaiba's office at Kaiba Corp. It was Thursday afternoon, so a couple of days passed after Alex had her last vision. Yugi replied,
"I assume you're talking about Alex."
Kaiba scoffed and replied, "Obviously, I wasn't referring to Gardner. But yeah, I have this feeling that she's holding something back."
Yugi frowned, wondering whether Kaiba was getting onto what Alex, Mokuba, and Max were doing. However, he quickly dismissed the thought and instead, replied,
"Ok, but I don't understand why you're telling me this. Why not just go to Alex? You two are in a relationship, after all."
Kaiba frowned and replied, "I know that, but I think she won't tell me because of her 'time agency' confidentiality."
Yugi smiled a bit and replied, "You're probably right, but I hope you know that alone wouldn't stop her. It's not that she won't confide in you. Rather, she doesn't want to push you into believing all that she knows and has seen. Alex is considerate."
Kaiba replied, "I guess I can see that. But she could just do what she did before and provide me with evidence."
Yugi replied, "That's true, but maybe she doesn't have evidence to back up what she knows. So you'd have to take it on faith to believe in her. If you really want to know, you'd have to prove to her that you're willing to take things on faith alone at times."
Kaiba considered Yugi's words and replied, "I suppose."
Yugi looked curiously at Kaiba and asked, "What do you think Alex is holding back from you?"
Kaiba replied, "I don't know. I know she hasn't been lying to me, but I think she doesn't tell me everything. But it's probably because of what you said."
Yugi felt relieved after hearing Kaiba's reply, figuring that Kaiba didn't catch onto Mokuba taking dueling lessons from Alex and Max. Yugi nodded and replied,
"I'm not an expert on relationships, but I think you should be patient with her. She'll tell you when she's ready, and it's best to just be there for her, to support her. She'll go to you for help when she needs it."
Kaiba nodded and replied, "I guess that's all I can do."
He looked at Yugi, smirking, and then asked, "Why haven't you made a move on your cheerleader friend?"
Yugi blushed, being caught by surprise, and asked, "Uhh, what do you mean?"
Kaiba replied, "Not that I'm one for gossip, but Gardner will be taken if you don't do something soon. Of course, you don't have to worry about that Max. Alex has made sure of that."
Yugi sweatdropped and replied, "Yeah. Alex can be scary at times. Reminds me of you. No wonder you two are perfect for each other."
"You're progressing really well, Mokuba."
At that same moment, Mokuba was getting his dueling lesson from Alex and Max. Mokuba and Max just finished their duel, and Mokuba just defeated Max.
Mokuba grinned and replied, "Thanks, Alex. But I see what you meant about Max's deck."
Looking annoyed, Max replied, "Hey! You're not catching me at my best moment."
Alex gave a look and replied, "Sure. We believe you. But I do think this is a sign that you should change up your deck."
Max crossed his arms and replied, "I'm not moving away from ritual monsters, and that's final."
Alex rolled her eyes and replied, "Whatever."
Mokuba looked at Alex and said, "I can beat Max, but I can't seem to beat your deck, Alex."
Alex smiled a bit at Mokuba and replied, "Sorry. I know it can be a bit overpowered."
Max commented, "To be fair, Alex's deck is extremely powerful and versatile. She's dueled you without holding back."
Mokuba replied, "What do you mean?"
Alex replied, "I've been dueling you using the deck I use back in my time, so it has all the summoning methods. Also, I designed it specifically to take advantage of the archetypes I like."
Mokuba replied, "I really like your monsters, Alex, but your spells and traps are even better."
Alex replied, "Thanks. I think there's always room for improvement, but I like the deck I have."
Max added, "When Alex has been on other missions, sometimes she'd duel people from that era. Of course, she can't use her usual deck, so she has to use a modified one to fit with that time."
Mokuba nodded and replied, "I see. That makes sense."
Alex replied, "Yeah, so don't worry if it feels really difficult to win against me. At least, you know that I haven't been holding back. I want you to be at your full strength, so we can be ready for anything."
Mokuba replied, "I understand, and I'm glad you and Max have been helping me. After all this is over, I want to show Seto what I can do."
Alex laughed and replied, "I can certainly understand, and I think you might even be better than him. And you know how powerful a duelist he is."
Mokuba rubbed his nose and grinning, he replied, "I do."
Alex remembered something and then said, "Oh, I almost forgot, but the timing is perfect since you've learned all that you can from me and Max."
Mokuba looked curiously at Alex and replied, "What is it?"
Alex reached into her bag and took out a duel disk. She handed it to Mokuba and said,
"Here. I've been working on this while I've been working on the project for Seto, too. Obviously, you know what this is, but I've modified it to fit with your deck since you can use different summoning styles now. The current duel disks at Kaiba Corp wouldn't be able to handle it."
Mokuba looked at the duel disk and replied, "It looks a lot like the ones at Kaiba Corp."
Alex nodded and replied, "Yeah, that was intentional. In case Seto catches you with it, you can always say that I gave it to you as a gift or something. But it's designed for your deck."
Mokuba replied, "So I can synchro summon, xyz summon, and all that?"
Alex replied, "Exactly. We should test it out later to make sure it works well and all even though I tested it lots of times."
Mokuba smiled and replied, "Thanks, Alex."
Max replied, "As Alex said, you've learned everything you can from us, so all we can do from here is to keep practicing. That'll help in case we'll need to duel against some enemy or something."
He then turned to Alex and said, "Since I bring it up, we need to talk about those visions you've been having as well as what I told you before. Since Mokuba knows about it, there's no reason to keep our conversation from him."
As Alex told Mokuba everything that had happened, Mokuba was well aware of how dangerous the situation was. Alex nodded and replied,
"Ok. I guess we should go over things."
Max nodded and then he briefly summarized everything they knew so far, while Alex and Mokuba listened. After Max was finished speaking, Alex said,
"Obviously, there's a pattern here."
Max replied, "Exactly my thoughts. This guy and Kiara are going after the most powerful duelists from their time and stealing their most powerful cards."
Alex replied, "Right, but for what reason? Other than he's a villain, although I feel like calling him that might be simplifying matters too much."
Mokuba replied, "What do you mean?"
Alex replied, "It would be easy to say that this guy is doing all this because he's evil. But from what I've experienced on other missions, the reasons aren't usually that simple. I can't say what his objective is without knowing more about him, but he might be dealing with something bad. However, the only way he knows how to resolve it is through the actions he's taken."
Mokuba nodded and replied, "Yeah, I think I get that. It's kind of like how Seto gets misunderstood, so it's easy to say that he's a bad person. But he has his reasons and sometimes, he doesn't see another way."
Alex replied, "Yup, exactly. I think I was like that, too. It was easy for me to misjudge him when I was first here, but somehow, he found a way to get me to understand him and umm…"
Alex blushed, thinking about how she had fallen for Kaiba. Mokuba grinned and said, "I get it, and I'm happy that it was you he fell for."
Max coughed a bit and replied, "Anyway, getting back on topic, we should try to figure out this guy's next move."
Alex nodded and replied, "True. Since he's been in Jaden's, Yuma's, and Yusei's eras, there are a couple of possibilities. He might either go after Yuya or possibly, Yusaku."
She furrowed her eyebrows, worrying that their enemy might end up going after Yusaku first and destroying the idea she had. Max could see that she was worried and replied,
"I don't think he'll go after Yusaku yet. Remember that the events leading up to his time were on a more peaceful level."
Alex nodded, and Mokuba commented, "I can't wrap my head around another Seto, let alone one who never comes back."
Alex smiled in comfort and replied, "Well, we don't know that for sure. Even though we work at the time agency, there are certain events that get clouded and only the higher ups know what they are. But it is a high possibility. As Max said, that's why it's so quiet leading up to Yusaku's time."
Max added, "That's right. Anyway, I think it's more of a possibility that he and Kiara will go after Yuya and the others. I wonder if they're going to do something drastic."
Alex replied, "You think he might resort to killing them rather than simply capturing them?"
Max nodded and replied, "If what Cas told you is accurate, he might decide to do that."
Alex replied, "But then that would mean his goals would be similar to ours. He'd actually want to save Yugi and the others, but eliminating Yuya and the others from his time won't solve it. It would just make things more chaotic."
Mokuba replied, "What do you mean?"
Alex replied, "It's hard to explain exactly, but if I were to simplify things, getting rid of what one thinks is the root of the problem doesn't mean that the problem is gone. Having studied through all these different eras, it's like a domino effect was set in motion. I mean, you can blame Yuya or rather, Z-ARC, his evil counterpart. Or you can blame Astral for bringing back chaos onto the planet when it was once sealed off. But yeah, it's not so easy to solve a problem just like that."
Mokuba replied, "I'm getting a headache just thinking about it."
Max laughed a bit and replied, "I don't blame you. As agents, Alex and I were taught not to think about these things and simply follow orders. But as you know, Alex is more of a rebel."
Alex replied, "Which, in this case, is a good thing. We need to figure out the root cause of the problem, what this guy wants, and then find a way to fix things."
Max nodded and replied, "True. I think Yuya will be the next target. I'll contact Cas and let her know discreetly. But do you want me to get ready to go to Yusaku's era soon?"
Alex nodded and replied, "Yeah. There's no point in holding it off any longer. You should let Cas know so that she can make the necessary arrangements. But it's best for you to go when it becomes absolutely urgent since those higher ups will be alerted and they'll know Cas hasn't been fully cooperating with them."
Max replied, "Right."
He turned to Mokuba and said, "We'll continue to duel with you until I have to leave. But we've taught you everything we know."
Mokuba smiled and replied, "I'm really grateful for you two, and thanks for helping me."
Max replied, "I'd do anything for Alex, and it's more important to do the right thing in the end."
Alex replied, "I agree."
She smiled at Max and Mokuba, feeling grateful that she had the support of lots of people around her. When she was sent on her missions, Alex thought that she'd have to be alone, but being around Kaiba and Yugi taught her otherwise.
Mokuba looked curiously at Alex and asked, "What are you thinking?"
Alex replied, "Just that I'm the luckiest person ever. I never thought I'd get close to anyone after Andy disappeared. No matter what happens, we'll always have each other."
Max replied, "That sounds cheesy, but you're right. Even though we'll only ever be friends, I'm grateful to be your friend, Alex."
Mokuba grinned and replied, "Me, too, Alex. And I'm sure you already know how grateful Seto is for you."
Alex blushed and replied, "I do, and I'm grateful, too."
Soon afterwards, the three of them wrapped up their conversation and then Alex and Mokuba left Max's apartment, taking the limo back towards the mansion.