Feeling Trapped
In the Kaiba estate in Domino City, Guilmon was looking around for Mokuba. He found Kaiba and asked him, "Kaiba, I can't find Mokuba. Have you seen him?"
"He's probably just hanging out with his buddies," he guessed, annoyed. He was becoming annoyed because this had been going on for the past several days. Mokuba would leave home and spend time with his friends. They would get together to play soccer, card games, go fishing, practice fighting, pretend they were on adventures. Sometimes Guilmon would join in on the fun, but this time, the Digimon was left behind. Guilmon had gone to the other worlds where Mokuba's friends lived and was amazed, but he had to be careful so he wouldn't stand out and cause unwanted attention.
While Kaiba was happy that his little brother had friends of his own to play with, somehow it also gave him uneasy feelings. Mokuba's friends were from other worlds. Granted, those worlds were free and Mokuba and the others could come and go between worlds whenever they wanted to, but that didn't mean the elder brother didn't have to worry. After all, they still had some dangerous monsters and villains. In addition, Mokuba's never been in another world for too long on his own before and he couldn't protect himself. Even Guilmon wouldn't be able to protect him. Noah told Mokuba that he could bring Guilmon with him to the other worlds, but he wasn't allowed to digivolve anywhere else except in Digiworld or his partner's world.
It wasn't a bad thing that Mokuba was becoming more and more independent as he was growing up, but for some reason, it made Kaiba feel like Mokuba was drifting away as he was becoming his own person. Kaiba was happy for his little brother, but at the same time, he wasn't. It wasn't that the elder brother was jealous. Kaiba was able to make time for his own friends and he agreed that his younger brother deserved to do the same. But Kaiba still needed his brother's help. Granted, he had Agumon to help him, but only so much could be done on his part. Somehow, Kaiba had a feeling he wasn't spending as much time with Mokuba as he should be. It had been a long time since the brothers had anything to talk about or did anything fun together. Why did Kaiba have this feeling that Mokuba didn't need him so much anymore?
Far away, Mokuba was hanging out with Leon and Rebecca. Over the past few days, Leon had been teaching his friends how to play his favorite game Kingdom Hearts. Now that Mokuba and Rebecca were getting the hang of it, they had been playing together with Leon.
Mokuba was in the middle of a boss battle. He was up against Maleficent. He listened to his friends as they were encouraging him, struggling to finally beat the wicked fairy. He was doing well for a while, but he started to run out of resources for replenishing his strength. Because of this, he started losing the battle. Maleficent dealt the last attack, defeating him.
"No, no, no, no! No!" Mokuba cried.
"Oh," Leon groaned. "You almost had her."
Mokuba sighed of frustration. "I just can't get past Maleficent."
Leon understood and said, "She's one tough boss."
"Well, she is the leader of the villains," Rebecca observed, "so we can't expect her to be a pushover like the others." Although she had to admit some of the previous bosses were also hard to beat. She approached Mokuba and said, "You were doing great, Moki. And you're getting better, really."
Mokuba gave a small smile. "Thanks, Bec. But now it's your turn." He handed the controller over to her and Leon restarted the game.
Neither of them imagined how fun the game Kingdom Hearts could be. Mokuba also thought that in a sense, it was like the adventures his brother and friends had in the other worlds. Like they all discussed, the Heroes of Millennia were heroes chosen by a higher calling to rescue other worlds from the forces of evil by joining forces with the heroes of those worlds.
Rebecca wasn't doing any worse than her friends were, but she wasn't doing much better either. Her timing was a bit off while executing strategies like taking time between fighting her opponent and healing her allies. Once again, it was game over.
Mokuba checked the time. "Wow, Becca. You lasted four minutes longer than I did."
Rebecca set the controller down. "I think it's fair to say that none of us can win this fight individually."
Leon agreed. "I think we may be a lot better if we play together." The problem was he didn't have enough controllers for his game console. At least his friends had their own game systems back home and could play together via wi-fi.
The clock in Leon's room let out a few tolls. Leon looked at the time. It was now 5:00. "It's starting to get late," he said. "I think we'd better get you guys home to your folks. After that, I got to start getting ready for dinner." He remembered his manners. "Unless, of course, you guys would like to stay for dinner."
Mokuba and Rebecca kindly refused. "Thanks, Leon, but you're right. Rebecca and I better be getting home."
"Okay," Leon replied. He led his guests out the front door. "Thanks again for coming over. Want to come back next weekend and we can play together as a team?"
Mokuba and Rebecca liked the sound of that. "You bet." Of course, they would still need permission from their families as well as check their availability. After all, Rebecca still had her college courses to attend and Mokuba was still needed to help out at the company. Still, they were looking forward to hanging out with Leon again.
The two young lovers left the residence and headed to the Secret Garden to take their usual shortcuts home. "Well, that was fun," Mokuba said, coming to the door that led to their world.
Rebecca agreed. "I didn't think the Kingdom Hearts games would be this fun. And did you see Leon's collection of Disney films?"
He did. Mokuba had already seen most of the films himself and so did Rebecca. "We should watch them together sometime. We could spend the night at Leon's and watch the films." Mokuba gave a small laugh.
"What?" Rebecca asked.
"I was just thinking, what if my brother and the others got sent to those worlds and had to fight those villains?"
The blonde girl thought about it and laughed. They had discussed it before with Leon and couldn't seem to shrug the idea off. Well, like they said, it could happen. "Then again, why should they get to have all the fun?" Rebecca asked. "We could have an adventure like that." Then she stopped smiling. "Although there are some villains I wouldn't be looking forward to having to face."
Mokuba understood. He picked up his supplies. "I'll call you tonight. We can discuss it then."
"Great," Rebecca replied, and she and Mokuba kissed each other. "I'll see you later, Moki."
"Bye, Becky," Mokuba said, watching her pass through the door. He waited for a few seconds, then went through the same door and found himself in front of his estate.
Inside, Kaiba saw his brother coming. "There he is," he said. "I wonder where he's been." He turned away and looked at his computer. "What an independent kid he's turning into."
Agumon agreed. "They sure grow up fast, don't they?"
"I'm home," Mokuba said, coming in and taking off his shoes.
"You're late," Kaiba told him, keeping his eyes on the screen.
"I know, I'm sorry," Mokuba replied. "I was at Leon's playing Kingdom Hearts with him and Rebecca and I lost track of time. It's actually a fun game." He was about to head to his room, but his brother stopped him.
"Mokuba, come here," he ordered, trying to be firm. Mokuba turned around and approached his brother. The brunette turned away from the screen to have a direct conversation with Mokuba. "You know, you're spending a lot of time with your friends than you are here."
The younger brother wasn't sure what this was about. "And that's a bad thing?"
In a sense, it was to the brunette. "You waste your time playing games when you should be here helping out with the company. Your friends have their own responsibilities too. Leon's trying to help his own brother with the same task and Rebecca needs to focus on her studies and help her grandfather with his work."
"I know, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to have time for each other," Mokuba replied. "You try to make time for me and your own friends while trying to keep to your own responsibilities."
"My situation is different," Kaiba explained. "I make time for my friends because we have our duties as heroes and they can be helpless without me. Mokuba, the point is I think you're drifting away."
The younger brother was confused. "What do you mean?"
Kaiba gestured for Mokuba to sit down. The raven-haired boy positioned himself in the chair at Kaiba's desk. "You've been acting very independent lately; taking off on your own, hardly being around here, talking about having your own adventures. I know I say life is a game, but sometimes it's not always true."
Mokuba didn't like the way his brother was degrading him. As he was listening, he was starting to get upset. He turned away, not wanting his brother to see him get emotional.
"And don't forget I'm the one who feeds you," continued Kaiba. "I'm the one who takes care of you. Without me, you'd be nothing." Kaiba finally stopped as he saw his brother looking away. "Look at me when I'm talking to you," he demanded.
Mokuba finally had it. He stood up and raised his voice. "So that's it? You think I'm being ungrateful to you? Choosing my friends over you? I thought you were happy that I finally had friends of my own to hang out with." Before Kaiba can say anything, Mokuba adds, "I'm not a little kid anymore, Seto. Believe it or not, I've held my own in many situations. You saw that in the Digital World and you've even seen it here in our world." He softens himself and adds, "I'll always need you, Seto, but I can't live my life depending on you all the time. You've heard me talk about going on my own adventures, and I think it's fair that I should."
"And how are you going to take care of yourself when I'm not there for you?" Kaiba snapped. "The worlds we've been to are still as dangerous as ours is."
"I know, but isn't that part of having an adventure," Mokuba asked, still letting his tears flow.
Kaiba finally softened his voice, "I just don't want to lose you." Both brothers finally face each other. "Yeah, I get that you're growing up and want to have your own adventures, and I'm glad that you have friends, but that doesn't mean I don't have to worry about you or care about you anymore. I also want you to remember that your place is here."
Mokuba didn't like the way his brother said that. "I know where I belong, Seto, and I'll always be here. But my place can't be here forever."
"What are you saying?" Kaiba asked. "You don't want to be here anymore?"
"That's not what I mean, Seto. I just…" Mokuba stops and sighs in frustration. "You just don't understand." He turned around and headed to his room. He didn't stop as his brother told him to come back.
Guilmon went into Mokuba's room and saw him lying on his bed. "Moki?" Mokuba turned over on his side. Guilmon approached the bed. "Moki, don't judge your brother too harshly. I'm sure he means well and he loves you very much. I'm sure that's why he said the things he did."
Mokuba knew his brother loved him, yet somehow, he found himself feeling trapped, thinking Kaiba didn't want him to be happy. Finally, he said, "I know, Guilmon," and reached over to pet him. "I know he doesn't want me to lose sight of what's important or forget what everyone's done for me. But it's like I said, I can't live the rest of my life with my brother holding my hand. And he knows I can take care of myself; I can hold my own if I have to."
He turned over on his back. "Since Seto's been having adventures in the other worlds, I've dreamed about having the same kinds of adventures. Then I made friends with people from most of those worlds and even spent time in their worlds. But I felt like my first real adventure was when we went to the Digital World. Now after helping save that world, I want to have more of my own adventures."
Guilmon nodded and smiled in understanding. "I like all your friends, Moki. And I want to be with you wherever you go. After all, I'm your Digimon and I'm supposed to protect you."
Mokuba gave a small smile. "Thanks, pal." He sat up and reached for his phone to call Rebecca. The dial tone rang a few times until she finally answered.
"Hello," she announced.
"Hey, Becky," he said quietly.
"Moki," she cheered. "I figured you would call me at this time. But are you okay? Based on the monotone of your voice, you sound a little gloomy."
"Yeah, I kind of had a bad discussion with my brother when I came home," he told her. "But listen, do you think you can meet me at the Secret Garden tomorrow? I just kind of need to get away for a while and I don't want to be alone. But if you're busy-,"
"Oh, no," she answered. "No, no, no. I'm never too busy for my adorable boyfriend. And besides, you called the right person for help. I know how you enjoy my company and it makes you feel up when you're down."
That was true. Mokuba did enjoy his girlfriend's company and always seemed to need it to help make him feel better. "Thanks, cutie. I owe you."
"No problem, schmoopie," Rebecca told her. "10:00 at the vineyards?"
"Sure," Mokuba told her. "I'll meet you there."
The two lovers were about to continue their discussion, but they had to hold off on it for a while because it was time for dinner. After dinner, they would email each other. Mokuba was glad to have Rebecca to be someone he could confide in. He also thought about his other friends and wondered if they ever felt the same way. Rini always said she and Serena often got on each other's nerves. Mokuba thought about Leon and wondered if his brother sometimes gave him a hard time too. He also wondered if Kohaku had problems like this with his sister Sango. As Mokuba looked out the window and saw the sky, he thought to himself how he wished he had a friend who understood his situation and felt the same way. Little does Mokuba realize, however, that somewhere in another world, someone is making the same wish.
