The Search Is On

The next morning, Kaiba showed his friends a map of the city of Paris. "To cover more ground, we'll split up as we search. Then we'll meet back here at sunset. Agreed?"

"Agreed," his friends replied.

"Okay. Yugi, you check the north side of Paris. Briar, you check the south side. Wheeler, you check the west. I'll take the east. And be careful who you talk to while you're out."

With that being settled, the heroes left the inn and went off in their own directions. Kaiba came to the cemetery on the east side of Paris. It didn't seem like an ideal place for his brother to hide, but he said he'd check this part of the city. In all honesty, Kaiba was still baffled. It's hard to believe my brother could come to a world like this. Believe me, I can think of much better vacation spots and places to get away to. He left the cemetery and continued his search.

Yugi carefully walked along the river and inspected the alleys. He often thought about asking some of the townspeople if any of them had seen Mokuba or Rebecca, but decided against it. He also passed through the shops in the marketplace, but because it was crowded, it was hard to make anyone out.

Emily didn't want to take her chances being out in public looking the way she did, so she wore a brown hooded cloak to conceal her features. Gatomon was at her side, walking on all fours. She had to convince the townspeople that she was a common cat. This meant that she couldn't walk on two legs or talk. The two kept carefully looking around as they were walking, but stopped as they realized they were coming to the Palace of Justice.

This was as far as the two of them were willing to go. They turned around, but before heading back to the square, two soldiers stopped in front of them. "Can we help you?" one of them asked.

"Um, no, thanks," Emily replied shyly, pulling down the hood of her cloak.

"Not lost, are you, little girl," the other soldier asked flirtatiously. He grabbed the hood of Emily's cloak and pulled it off, revealing her features. "My, what a beauty."

His comrade agreed. "Come with us. We'll take care of you."

Gatomon jumped and used her tail like a whip to lash the soldiers' hands. Emily caught her in her arms and began running through the streets, hoping to avoid them.

Joey came to the countryside of Paris and stopped at the house of a miller and his wife, asking them if they had seen Mokuba or Rebecca and describing what they looked like. The miller said he and his family had not seen any children based on their description. Joey sighed and thanked them and decided to head back to the city.

He then felt his stomach rumble, signaling that he was hungry. It was a good thing he remembered to stop at the bank and get some cash before meeting his friends the other day. He stopped at a nearby bakery and got himself a croissant. He also saw the cathedral and wondered to himself the same thing he was wondering yesterday. Was it possible? But the more Joey thought about going there to find out, the more he decided against it. Because if he was right about this being the world he thought it was, then going to the bell tower was not a good idea.

Joey wandered around the streets for a while, forgetting about finding Mokuba and Rebecca. That was until he saw a group of children gathered together to watch a puppet show. The blonde lad was curious, but he also felt his stomach tighten. Nonetheless, he approached the audience of children. Unfortunately, neither Mokuba nor Rebecca were in the audience. Then he put his eyes on the puppet show. It was a story about the Children of Millennia. Joey was astonished. This meant that the Great Goddess was telling the truth when she told the heroes that some people in this world knew about the age of the Shadow Games.

Joey laughed as the puppeteer told the story and he also laughed at the puppets. He really captured the detail very well and was telling the story accurately. When the show ended, the children cheered. Joey applauded as well and placed a few gold coins in the box next to the theater.

Hours passed and the heroes returned to the inn to regroup. Neither of them had any luck in finding Mokuba or Rebecca. They only hoped that the two of them were safe.

Kaiba went to the roof of the inn to try to relax. He couldn't stop thinking about his brother. Emily found him and brought him some bread and cheese. "I thought maybe you'd be hungry."

"I appreciate it," he said, not looking at her. "I'll eat it later." Emily was about to turn around and leave, but Kaiba called her back. "Look, about last night, I'm sorry for the way I acted."

Emily forgave him. "Don't worry about it. I know you've been upset-"

"Don't make excuses for me," he snapped. He softened himself and said, "But you're right. I have been upset and that's why I wasn't thinking about your feelings. I've been too focused on my own worries. Now I'm starting to think that maybe I shouldn't have gotten you guys involved."

She gave him a warm smile. "Hey, Moki's our friend too. We want to make sure he's okay just like you do."

The brunette smiled back, then looked at the cathedral. As he did, he saw someone on the balcony. "Hey, Briar, did you bring your binoculars with you?"

"You know I always do," she answered. "Why?"

"I thought I saw something." He faced her and said, "Hurry and get them, quick."

Emily hurried back to the room and reached into her knapsack and got her binoculars and hurried back to Kaiba. Yugi and Joey were curious about what was going on, so they followed her.

When Emily came back, Kaiba immediately took the binoculars from her and used them to get a better view of the cathedral. As he looked through them, to his surprise, he saw his brother and Rebecca. He also saw the bell ringer with them. "I don't believe it," Kaiba muttered, moving the binoculars away from his eyes.

"What is it, Kaiba?" Yugi asked. "What do you see?"

"Mokuba and Rebecca are at the cathedral," he answered. "And they're with the hunchback."

"What?" Joey asked in shock. He snatched the binoculars and began looking through them as well. When he saw the lovers with Quasimodo, this confirmed his suspicions. "Holy cow, you're right."

Kaiba stood up. "We gotta get up there."

"What, are you crazy?" Joey asked. "We can't go up there. The bell tower is off-limits."

"Apparently that doesn't apply to my brother and his girlfriend," Kaiba replied. He climbed down from the roof and returned to the balcony to their room.

"Ooh, this is so exciting," Emily squealed as she followed him. "Come on, Gatomon."

"Where are we going?" she asked, stretching herself out.

"To the cathedral," she answered.

The cat Digimon's eyes widened. "Do you mean-?" she began, but stopped in mid-sentence. Seeing her partner nod, she smiles and says, "Wow!" and jumps on Emily's shoulders.

Kaiba still couldn't believe that Emily had decided to let Gatomon come along, but he decided to bear with it. Joey was still against the idea of going to the bell tower, but he reluctantly followed his friends.

The heroes passed through the main entrance and climbed up the stairs. They stopped for a minute to catch their breath. Kaiba saw the entrance to the north tower. "Okay, let's go."

Joey stopped him and pulled him back. "No, no, no. This is not a good idea. We shouldn't even be here."

"Are you okay, Joey?" Gatomon asked.

"I'm fine," he lied. "I'm just not – I mean – I, umm…"

"What's wrong? You're not afraid of the hunchback, are you?" Kaiba asked, teasing him.

"Of course I'm not afraid of the hunchback," he snapped, pushing Kaiba's hand away. He gulped and admitted with a scared voice, "I'm afraid of Claude Frollo."

Yugi and Emily faced each other. "That's actually understandable," Yugi said.

"What?" Kaiba asked.

"You don't know because you never saw the movie," Emily was telling the brunette. "Claude Frollo is the minister of justice. More than that, he's a very prejudiced man with a reputation for cruelty."

"He's dark, dangerous, cruel, and intimidating," Joey added. "That makes him one of the meanest, baddest, most feared and hated villains," he stated, gripping the neckpiece of Kaiba's tunic. "And I don't recommend watching the movie." When Joey first watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame when he was young, he was terrified. He only managed to watch the movie all the way through to the end because Serenity was watching it with him and she was just as scared as he was, but he promised her it would turn out all right in the end. Even so, the movie still ended up giving him nightmares for a while. Joey eventually got over his nightmares, but he never watched the movie again after that.

Hearing the sounds of voices, Quasimodo looked outside and saw the heroes on the balcony. Mokuba, Rebecca, and Leon looked and saw them as well. The raven-haired lad's eyes widened. "That's my brother!" he silently cried.

"What, that's your brother?" Quasimodo asked him.

"How'd they find us?" Leon asked.

"I'll tell you how," Mokuba was saying, "Guilmon broke the oath." He got down and grunted in frustration.

"We've got to hide," said Rebecca. "You too, Quasi. I don't want them to see you."

"Are you sure you don't want me to take care of them?" he asked.

Rebecca nodded. It wasn't that she didn't want her friend to scare the heroes off. She just didn't want Yugi and the others to wrongly accuse Quasimodo of kidnapping the children and maybe do something to hurt him.

Mokuba agreed. "I'm not ready to see my brother yet. And I don't think you're ready to meet him either."

Leon disagreed. "I'm sure if we just explain things to Yugi and the others, they'll understand."

There was no time to discuss that right now. Quasimodo agreed that right now, it would be best to hide and avoid possible trouble and when the time was right, he and the others would explain the truth to the heroes. As he helped his friends hide, the heroes continued talking.

Kaiba removed Joey's grip. "Come on, he can't be worse than any other enemy we've faced in the past," he told his friends. "Think about it, guys. We've battled a corrupted Atlantean king, a jealous tomb keeper, my corrupted stepfather, a heinous demon from the Feudal Era, a friend from Max's past, and the heir of the Dark Lord. Why should any of you be afraid now?"

Joey shook his head. "You have no idea who he is or what he's capable of."

"You're right, I don't," Kaiba admitted. "And I don't care. Right now, I just want to see my brother."

Joey was still feeling uneasy about this. "I still don't think this is a good idea."

"Relax, Wheeler, nothing's going to happen," Kaiba assured him.

Emily got an idea. "If it makes you feel better, Gatomon and I can stay here and keep watch while you guys explore the bell tower. And if we see Frollo coming, we'll give you a signal."

"We can make animal noises," Gatomon chimed in.

"Okay, good idea," Yugi replied, and followed Kaiba inside the bell tower. Joey hesitated at first, but finally decided to go in after his friends.

They slowly walked inside, their eyes scanning the tower as though worried the hunchback would jump out and surprise them. "Such a drafty place," Kaiba said, looking around. "I can't imagine how anyone could live here."

Quasimodo watched from the rafters, trying to keep quiet. They were just like his friends described.

When they came to the main area, Joey began to relax a little. "Not bad," he commented. "I like what he's done with the place."

Yugi agreed. It looked exactly like it did in the movie. The table was where it usually sat and the model of Paris looked exactly like it did with the colorful shards of glass hanging above. He also looked up and saw the bells above. "It's way too quiet," he finally said.

"They have to be in here somewhere," Kaiba said. Joey's sinuses began to get irritated and he began groaning. "Wheeler, what's the matter?" Kaiba asked him. In response, the blonde lad sneezed into his sleeve. "Terrific," the brunette grumbled.

"I'm sorry, guys," Joey apologized, realizing how loud he was. "I got dust in my nose." He started groaning again, feeling another sneeze coming.

"You going to do it again?" Kaiba asked expectantly.

Joey groaned, trying to hold it in, but it was proving to be futile. "Oh, stand back," he breathed, "I… feel… another… eeh, eeeh, ahh-choo!" And he sneezed into his sleeve again.

"Can you at least try to be quiet?" Kaiba complained.

"I can't help it," the blonde said innocently. He sniffled and said to himself, "I gotta remind myself to carry a handkerchief like Em does."

Yugi decided to get back to the topic at hand. "Kaiba, are you sure you saw Mokuba and Rebecca come in here?"

"They were here," he answered. He came to the table and saw the figurines of his brother and Rebecca. "It's not just them either. Look," he said, pointing to the other figurines.

Yugi and Joey looked at them in amazement. "No way. Leon? Guilmon?"

"And there's Rin, Kohaku, Shippo, and Rini," Joey added, picking up the figurine of Shippo and looking at it. "They've all been here?"

"I guess so," Yugi said. He noticed the figurine of Quasimodo in the model of Notre Dame and picked it up to get a better look. "Wow, the detail is incredible." He then looked at the figurine of Rebecca, smiling at how it was carved so perfectly.

"Someone sure spent a lot of time on their hands," Kaiba commented, taking in the details of his brother's figurine.

Outside, Emily leaned against the railing keeping her eye out for Frollo. Gatomon was doing the same thing. Soon the cat Digimon was starting to become bored. "What's taking them so long up there?"

"I don't know," the blonde girl replied. "I would've thought they'd found Moki and Becky by now. I guess they're still looking."

Gatomon looked at the tower again. "Maybe they've met the bell ringer."

"I don't know about that, Gatomon," Emily replied. "I don't think Quasimodo would want them to see him."

"I guess you're right," the cat Digimon told her. She had just watched the movie with Emily, Téa, and Lopmon a few days ago and she remembered the hunchback's timid nature. But even she was eager to want to meet him.

Emily looked down at the square again. Then she saw a carriage pulling over to the cathedral. She recognized it and gasped. "Oh, gosh, the signal," she said frantically. She took a deep breath and began making the same howling cries as a dragon Pokémon does.

Inside the bell tower, Kaiba heard the sound and asked, "What's that noise?"

"That's the signal," Joey answered. "Time to go, guys." And he hurried towards the exit with his friends following him. Kaiba looked back for a few seconds, reminding himself to come back and hopefully see his brother.

They met up with Emily, who continued to lead the way. "Hurry, the side entrance," she whispered, and her friends followed her.

"Why are we running?" Kaiba asked.

"Trust me, we're better off avoiding Frollo," Joey told him.

"He's right," Yugi said. "Let's just hurry back to the inn." And they all stepped outside the cathedral and began running back to the inn.

When they got back, the heroes sighed of relief. Kaiba began demanding answers. "All right, guys, what's going on here?"

"I would think you would know since you mentioned having read the book," Emily snapped. "Or did you forget that Frollo is Quasimodo's master?"

"No, I remember that," the brunette answered. "But what's your point?"

"The point is the minister has forbidden the hunchback from having any human contact," Emily reminded him. "Absolutely no one is allowed in the bell tower. If that villain were to find us, he'd be in a rage."

"And like I said earlier, we're better off avoiding the guy," Joey said again. "Not just in the cathedral, but out in public."

Kaiba looked out the window and saw the cathedral, "But Mokuba and Rebecca… if Frollo is as dangerous as you say he is, then those kids could be in danger."

Emily knew as much and said, "I hope they know to avoid him as well."

The brunette kept looking at the cathedral, hoping his brother was safe. He decided to go back to the tower tomorrow.