I'm alive? I'M ALIIIIVE! *arm falls off* …Probably nothing to worry about.

Been a little longer than usual. Hit a writing roadblock, graduated from college, holidays with family, had to focus on getting abetter job and plan on moving out of the parent's house… it took a lot of my time. Hell, this was supposed to be out in December. But life is life. Still, updates shouldn't take so long again, but still might slow down. I also have to finish editing the previous chapters. Especially one moment in chapter 8 I've come to hate. More on that later.

I also advertise a new story I've been working on-

Exiles: Across the Multiverse- based entirely on the Marvel comic of the same name- in which alternate versions of characters are brought together to repair different timelines in the fictional omniverse (as in, any and all fictional properties that have existed, and any parallel timelines that go with them, even fanfic universes), in hopes of repairing their own timelines and preventing their premature deaths. The first chapter has been posted and will be a much more action-oriented story, to shake up my mind and keep it loose while I simultaneously work on this story. Go check it out!

So begins Day 2!

Chapter 11: Morning Routines

Pacifica woke up with not a single taxidermy in sight. No one was shouting at her to get up, no servants were crowding her room. Just a nice quiet bedroom to sleep in. She simply lay there for a while, relishing the quiet morning. Eventually, she did feel it was time to get out of bed and moved towards the bathroom mirror.

As she looked at her reflection, she couldn't help but feel… unsure. Here she was, thrust upon a new chapter in her life with very little warning. With her mother and father in no way qualified to take care of her, she would now have to fall under another's care. Bruce Wayne would likely not be a permanent guardian. And what of her family's money? Yugi's… 'darker side' made her father give her all of the Northwests' money, but what would that mean once he was taken into American custody? Would his trance make him leave a custodian? Would the government freeze the assets even after it belonged to her?

She was thinking of the wrong questions. Did she even want his money? All things considered, it might as well have been all blood money. Could she really do something good with it at this point? The questions she kept asking in her mind were far too daunting. She couldn't dwell on them anymore or she might have a breakdown. So, she tried to focus on anything at the moment other than that. Like… her hair!

Her hair was perfect, as it always was. Dipper theorized that it was her "weirdness quirk"- an oddity that some people had, one that was pulled towards Gravity Falls' natural weirdness magnet. He reasoned that it was why her hair never messed up, whether it was after she got dirty, wet, etc. That, and it was why she felt so at home in Gravity Falls.

She had scoffed at the idea when he first told her, but ever since then, she couldn't get the concept out of her head. She started to notice things she hadn't even humored before. Dipper was right- her hair acted like a solid mass, instead of hundreds of thousands of individual strands. When she took falls, her hair would fall like a curtain over her face. Her hair wouldn't separate under water, and it didn't even frizz up from static electricity or humidity! (Okay, that last part wasn't so bad. One of a girl's worst hair-enemies was humidity) Adding onto that, her hair didn't knot up either. To her, that made it more like a hair superpower.

She undressed and stepped into the shower. Sure enough, her hair didn't separate or clump. While it did separate when she combed through it with shampoo and conditioner, it would return to form when she finished. Though it didn't bother her technically, she did stay up at night and question it sometimes. Maybe her father made a deal with a hair demon or something?

He was right about another thing though- she already felt homesick. As a young girl, she'd never really thought about where she had lived most her life. Gravity Falls was just her smelly dirty hometown. But one night away from it, and she already started to feel a longing to return to Gravity Falls. It was aggravating. She could only imagine how the twins felt. Especially Dipper… Mabel would tell her how he always felt the more bummed of the two when they were away from Gravity Falls. She'd gone on further to say that he'd always seemed like he was missing a piece in his life before that fateful summer.

She'd questioned Ford about this. What he had to say about the situation was intriguing.

"Same thing happened with me. That's not saying that I or Dipper were unhappy in life. I'm sure he was happy with his family, just as I was with mine. But we certainly didn't feel like we belonged in Piedmont or Glass Shard Beach. We just didn't know that at the time. Places like Gravity Falls satisfy that longing for us. It's why so many odd people live in this town. They all end up here eventually. Well, that or other weirdness magnets around the globe. This town isn't the only one after all. If you looked for them, there's small towns all over the planet that act like Gravity Falls. They're all just weaker in comparison."

"So, what? We can't like, go on vacation anywhere, or else we'll feel like our soul's been ripped out?"

"Maybe not so harsh as that. It's more like you simply long to get back as soon as you can. You feel a little lost, so to speak. In Dipper's case, he hadn't lived here until a few years ago. Finding that missing piece and then being taken away from it… it's hard to cope with that. So, you can understand why he always wants to come back. Stanley and I even plan to help him acquire property when he decides to move out here."

"Doesn't that sound kinda weird? …Like, in a bad way?"

"I wouldn't say so. I'm content with living here. It feels like where I belong. Dipper feels the same. It's… like when a hermit crab finds the perfect shell. Just feels right."

"But what If I need to do business in other countries? What if I just want a change of scenery? I can't just suffer emotional pain because I want to get away for a while."

"You're probably not going to suffer like Dipper does. You've lived here all your life. You know what it's like to have that piece from the start. You'd probably cope better staying away from Gravity Falls for a long period of time. However, I'd guarantee you still feel homesick for it rather quickly. It just wouldn't get to you as easily."

"But you still feel it no matter what?"

"Well, there is a solution. I've noticed that Dipper doesn't have that lost feeling when I come to town. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but I noticed the same with myself, and it caught my interest. After interviewing some people around town and testing my theory, I came to a startling discovery-"

"Testing?"

"Nothing like what you're thinking, Pacifica. I merely sent several pairs of people with oddities on paid vacations. When they got back, they confirmed my suspicions… none of them felt that lost feeling. Conclusion: When oddities venture away from weirdness magnets with other oddities, it acts as a sort of medication, alleviating the symptoms. Gives that feeling of familiarity without needing to be in town."

"So… just take someone weird from Gravity Falls with me?"

"Essentially. Now, could you pass me that cage with the orange fluff? Please be wary, it's both extremely poisonous and easily combustible."

Now there was an idea. Pacifica needed to figure out what to do with her father's money, if she ended up getting it. She needed help figuring out where to go next in her life in general. And she really didn't want to worry about homesickness on top of all that.

That settled it. She'd call the Pines. Nothing was stopping her from inviting them as her guests. Nothing was stopping her from hanging out with them. Most especially, no one was stopping her from confessing to a certain someone.

Finishing her shower, she fished her phone out from her belongings, intent on a far happier call than last time.

Only to see her phone had no reception.

"Ugh. Seriously? Maybe Mr. Wayne has a better phone."

Getting dressed in her usual public garb, she made her way into the lobby of Wayne's room, hoping to find a phone (or at least breakfast).

The living room area of her temporary residence was spacious, with a far more casual nature. She felt like she could breathe in here. She found the suite's phone waiting for her there, and immediately went for it. Unfortunately, that too had terrible connection. "You have got to be kidding me. If it's not one thing, it's like, another." She sighed. She regressed into saying "like" at random points in her sentences when she was miffed or frustrated. She probably should calm down, but it was hard to do that when the one thing she'd hoped to do was halted in its tracks.

"Phones have been down since this morning."

"Really? How can the phones be down- AGH!" Pacifica jumped, realizing that she wasn't the only one in the room. At the dining room table was a young boy who looked to be eleven years old, giving her a neutral look. "Um… hi."

"If my voice was enough to scare you, then I hate to see what happens when Alfred comes in."

Pacifica gave him a flat look. "Well, can you blame me, considering you weren't here last night?" The boy simply went back down to the paper he had the table. Spring break homework, probably. "Who are you, anyway?"

"I don't know. Why would a young boy be in the suite of Bruce Wayne?"

Pacifica didn't really care for his sarcasm. She figured she'd get hit with another crack no matter what she answered, so she decided to humor him. A young boy in Mr. Wayne's suite that looked a lot like him… that either meant he was a clone, or the more obvious answer- "Damian Wayne, I'm guessing?"

"Brilliant deduction." Damian eyes widened when he realized Pacifica had simultaneously said his exact words. He turned to her with a flat look of his own.

"Yeah. I've played the sarcasm game before."

"Master Damian, please stop antagonizing the girl. She's had a long night, if I've heard correctly." She saw Alfred come from the hallway with his sleeves pulled back. "Or at the very least, get along during breakfast. I'd much rather not see my hard work used as ammunition against one another."

"Oh, Alfred, you don't have to make anything for me. I was planning to make breakfast for myself this morning."

"Nonsense, Miss Pacifica. As I've said, you've had a long night. You should take the time to relax."

"Alright, I choose to relax by cooking." She joined him in the kitchen. She pulled out the supplies to make her favorite- eggs on toast. "I've been itching to cook again. God knows my dad wouldn't let me do it on account of it being "commoner's work" or whatever." She oiled up her pan before throwing two fairly large mushrooms and some tomatoes on a vine into a pan for sides, before toasting some sourdough.

Damian raised his brow. "Seriously? What, was he an idiot?"

"Ah, now there's a comment I can get behind. So, to answer your question… yeah, pretty much."

Alfred shook his head. "Such arrogance to think that a simple chore of everyday life is beneath you. I take it you had far different opinions on it?" He was currently creating a salsa verde.

"Oh, I love it. Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to make amazing food… or… for some of it anyway." She said while stirring her scramble.

"Some of it, you say?"

"Yeah. Like I said, my parents thought cooking was for the help, so they pushed me to let go of it. And they used such gracious methods to do so…"

Damian noticed she wasn't stirring for a second, but rather shaking.

"So, no one was really around to support your dream?" He prepared some salmon to be smoked.

"Well… there was someone. We had a head chef- Miss Bernadette Hollenday. She used to cook the most amazing things for me when I was feeling down, or worse… she was the only one who really made me feel loved in that house. Treated me more like a daughter than my own mother ever did." She finished making her dish, pouring the eggs on her toast.

"Perhaps you could reconnect with her then. Especially now that your father doesn't have a hold over you."

"I… I don't know about that. I'm the one who got her fired. Made her show me how to cook something even though my parents warned me not to." Her face fell. "Plus, I have a feeling my parents did something terrible to her anyway. I tried to at least look her up at times, but I couldn't find her anywhere. It's as if she vanished."

Alfred placed a hand on her shoulder. "You mustn't blame yourself for your parents' ignorance, Miss Pacifica. As Anne Sullivan once said, "It's a great mistake to put children off with falsehoods and nonsense, when their growing powers of observation and discrimination excite in them a desire to know about things". You wanted to learn of a wondrous thing, but your parents chose to stifle your excitement for petty reasons instead."

Pacifica smiled back at him. "Thank you, Alfred. Here's the eggs, I'm going to dig into my masterpiece." She scooped the other ingredients of her breakfast onto her plate, and headed over to the table.

"Thank you, dear."

Damian watched the interaction unfold, appearing unfazed by Pacifica's emotional ordeal. He simply took his phone out while still writing away at his paper.

Bruce Wayne looked out from his room's window. Phone reception had been offline since midnight. Now, even with the Nanobats, any call made to the outside would arouse suspicion. He was lucky he made the call for Damian to come to the island before the lines went down. But now he had no allies he could contact without blowing their cover.

Whimsely was up to something. Letting known villains onto his island without keeping a constant eye on them was one thing. It could be written off as ignorant. Losing telecommunications right after the Northwest incident was completely different. Whimsley hadn't even let the guests know that one of them had been arrested last night. And unsubtly trying to take custody of Pacifica on top of all that cemented his suspicions.

There was also the trio of villains that still remained. Though their initial plan was stopped, the group would repurpose their plan before long. With the Cosmos Resort currently cut off from the rest of the world, they might have a chance to cover their tracks. He needed to keep an eye on them too.

Vlad was dangerous for sure, but he could often gain tunnel vision, focusing too much on his own personal desires. On the other hand, his powers were tricky. Intangibility like Jonn, possession like Deadman, duplication, invisibility, the list went on.

On the surface, Fisk seemed smalltime, only trying to steal monkey-related artifacts to keep for himself. But these artifacts contained mystic properties that ranged from hazardous to cataclysmic. His own current state was the result of such, giving him enhanced strength and agility, and mystical "monkey power". He capitalized on this with his mastery of Tai Shing Pek Kwar.

However, the most dangerous of them all was Princess Morbucks. She used to be a bratty girl… until Lex Luthor. Now instead of loud, unsubtle, and impulsive, she was patient, intelligent, and manipulative. She was the reason the League wouldn't make a move on the trio just yet. She had taken lessons from Lex personally on how to cover her tracks even in the face of strong evidence.

There were a lot of things to be done, targets to be shadowed, restricted areas to be investigated. Which means he didn't have time to watch over Pacifica, unfortunately.

And exactly the reason why he had Damian flown in.

After Whimsley's suspicious behavior, he needed someone to watch over Pacifica, someone he knew could catch suspicious occurrences far better than Ben could. While Ben would be the one to help her feel comfortable, Damian would be on the lookout for threats.

His son hadn't been particularly happy about "babysitting" duty. He eventually agreed, though reluctantly. But that wasn't the only reason he did it. Damian had been spending less time doing things that a kid his age should do, and he blamed himself partially for that. Damian would train and investigate more but would neglect to "hang" with friends on the Titans or do anything recreationally. Having him be a bodyguard while on a resort island of all places seemed like it shouldn't help, but it was so Pacifica and her friends could entice him to loosen up. It was fine, he was sure Damian could still be sharp minded while having fun. A little recreation would be good for him. Still, he couldn't help but doubt. He was supposed to be his father, but it was likely his own influence on his son that pushed him to be so reclusive. It had done similar things to Dick, way back. He'd become more like Bruce than he cared to admit while leading the Titans, and it took a while for him to become as relaxed as he was before they parted ways. Not to mention what happened to… Jason. He'd almost gotten it right with Tim before failing to save his father. Stephanie, he pushed away before taking back in, and with Cass he certainly had many failures with before they reconciled. And the less said about Harper's mother, the better. He had gotten them hurt or affected them psychologically one way or another. It made him… concerned as to how Damian would turn out while under his care.

An angry groaning from outside interrupted his thoughts. Probably for the best. He would have to think more on this later. Right now, there was work to be done.

He entered the kitchen, finding Pacifica fiddling with her phone, and Damian and Alfred eating the butler's latest culinary work. "Pacifica. Good to see you're up. I take it you've been wanting to call someone you know?"

"I should at least be getting LTE, or something. But no matter what I try, I can't patch through."

"Whimsley sent a personal message to all room phones. They'll work on the issue, and it'll supposedly be fixed before the end of the week."

Pacifica huffed in disappointment. "Right. Fine."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You'll see them again in time. But you're not completely without company here. I'm sure your friends on the island might be interested in partaking in the resort's facilities. Perhaps spending time with them will keep you in good spirits."

Pacifica glanced to her side, before donning a smile. "You're right. This day isn't miserable yet."

"If I could ask, could you take Damian with you? He's… been troubled by schoolwork recently. Spending time with your group might help him take his mind off things."

Pacifica gave him an unsure look and mulled it over for a second. "Well, he does seem to have a stick up him. My friends and I might be able to do something, but he may be lost to us."

"You're a comedian," Was all he said.

Pacifica glanced outside. She snapped her fingers and headed for her room. "Get a swimsuit. It's a nice, sunny day… a perfect kind of day for the beach."

Damian listened in to hear her shut her door, at which he immediately scowled at his father. ""Troubled by schoolwork"? Really? I can finish those assignments in my sleep."

Bruce resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Just use the cover and keep an eye on Pacifica. I still don't know what Whimsley wants from her, but it can't be anything good."

"Joey, what are you doing?"

"Building my super champion deck for this week's competition." He said, deciding between two cards. He looked up for a moment. "Time out, did you just call me by the nickname my fans gave me?"

"Well, seemed like you took a liking to it last night."

"Yeah, from my fans. To you and everyone else it's still Jonouchi."

"Ok. Whatever you say, Joey."

"Good. Glad we sorted that- HEY!"

Honda changed the subject. "Have you seen Yugi yet? I've been wondering if he's updated his deck since the last tournament he entered."

Jonouchi scowled at him. "Nah, he must still be asleep. I'm more than happy to let him though, especially after last night."

"I getcha. What about Anzu?"

"Haven't seen her either. Though I know better than to wake her up before she wants to. Why?"

"Well, I figured we could go find our new pals from around the place. We are on a resort, so why sit around in a suite all day?"

"Now you're talking. Let's give Yugi and Anzu about another hour, then we can round 'em up." He went back to his cards but was interrupted by a knock on their door. "What the… didn't we already order room service this morning?"

Honda shrugged, before going to the door. When he opened it, he found Pacifica there. "Well, look who it is!"

"Hey, Honda."

Jonouchi recognized the voice and nearly trampled over Honda getting to the doorway. "Yo, Paz! What brings you here?"

"Hey, Joey." Jonouchi faltered but allowed Pacifica to call him that. "We would have called, but phone lines and service are down all over the island."

"Say wha!?" Honda exclaimed, throwing Jonouchi off of himself. (NYEEEHH! *crash*) He took out his phone to confirm. "The hell? How does a billion-dollar resort lose its utilities like that?"

"Beats me. But it meant we had to come around and see you guys ourselves. We already went to Sam and Danny."

"We? Who's we?" Jonouchi asked from his 'comfy' new position. Darting their eyes around, the knuckleheads noticed the young man standing next to Paz.

"Who's this? Your brother or something?" Honda asked.

"Are you sure we have to invite these two?" He asked, already earning him angry looks from the two.

"These four. And yes, I'm sure." She turned back Honda. "This is Damian. He's Bruce's son."

Jonouchi got up. "Oh, the guy that sells tech or whatever. Like Kaiba."

"My father's company has a hand in any business you can think of. Seto Kaiba wishes he had the enterprise of Bruce Wayne."

"Geez. Sensitive, much?" Thought Jonouchi and Honda.

"Anyway," Pacifica interjected. "We came by to invite you guys to come with us to the beach."

Jonouchi smiled. "The beach? Now there's a way to spend the day! Of course we will!"

"Oh, by the way… how's Yugi doing?" Pacifica asked, curious to how he was.

Honda shrugged. "We haven't seen him this morning. Both of us assumed he was still in bed."

"Well, if he's feeling up to it, tell him he's more than welcome to join us. Anzu too."

Jonouchi pulled out a thumbs up. "You bet. Where are we gonna meet?"

"The northern beach area, around 2 o'clock. Now, the two of us have to get going to get everyone else on board."

"Good luck with that. Hope to see everyone there!"

Pacifica nodded and headed out, with Damian simply following her without a reaction.

"So, guess now's a good time to wake Yugi and Anzu up, eh?" Jonouchi said, closing the door.

"Yeah… let's wake up Yugi first. I think she'll respond better to him than us."

"Agreed."

Jonouchi was soon knocking on Yugi's door with reckless abandon. "Rise and shine, Yug. Pacifica came by with a proposition." No answer.

"Man, he must really be conked out." Honda scratched his head.

"No kidding." Jonouchi reached for the handle of the door.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Honda questioned.

"Well, if he's that knocked out, I think we're gonna need to get a bit physical."

"Are you serious? Just wait a little bit longer, won't ya?"

"Can't waste too much time, Honda. I'm sure Yugi's itching to meet with Paz again anyway." He argued, pushing the door open.

"You're just the king of winging it, huh?" Honda snipped. However, Jonouchi didn't answer him. His face had paled into a deep blue. "Uh… Earth to Joey. You in there? The hell are you looking a-" Honda got his answer pretty quickly when he peeked into the room. His face soon reflected Jonouchi's. Yugi was indeed still sound asleep, as they thought. Anzu, on the other hand, was now wide awake. She seemed to be lacking some vital pieces of clothing, though she was shielding herself with the sheets to make up for it. She too had turned a bright pink, though it quickly changed to a shade of bull-enraging red.

The two realized they had to try and mend this situation as fast as they could. Both looked up into the ceiling. "I don't… see anything. Do you?" Jonouchi asked Honda.

"Not a thing. It looks like Yugi's still asleep, so we'll tell him about Paz asking us to meet her at the beach at 2… later."

"Right. Sounds good." Jonouchi closed the door hurriedly.

"You two aren't getting out of this that easily." Anzu thought. "When I get properly dressed, you two are dead."

Meanwhile, Jonouchi and Honda were sitting in their suite's lobby, blank stares on their faces.

"Hey, Honda?"

"Yeah?"

"You think there was a lot more that happened at that little New York meetup of theirs than we thought?"

"I think so."

"Yeah. Me too. Not sure if I want to find out any more of them."

"Me neither."

"How much do you want to bet Billy will be there before all of us?" Julie asked Rook, having just received Pacifica's offer.

Rook was currently seeing what he could do about their communications, which had been completely cut with the rest of the island's phone receptions. "Enough Taydenite to bankrupt all of the people on this island. Though I suppose it is good that he is not at our throats for the time being. Were it not for his infatuation, he would likely be pulling petty pranks on us."

"Certainly sounds like Billy." She noticed that the room belonging to her and Ben was open. "Rook…"

The Revonnahgander didn't look up from his work but let her know he was listening. "Hmm?"

"Is it… my fault? My fault that Ben still hasn't bounced back emotionally? Am I doing something wrong?"

That interrupted Rook's focus. "No, Julie. I am going to say that right now. The attack was neither yours nor Ben's fault. It is just… very hard to move on from an incident like that."

"I've know. But I've been trying so hard to help him, and it seems like I've barely made progress."

"It will take more time. Just like it will take more time for you to properly adjust to your new biology. Which I believe is what he is still distressed about."

"It's… daunting to embrace it."

"I would be surprised if it was not."

"So what?" Julie said, snapping, but still whispering. "It's easy for you to be so calm about this, but what do you expect me to do? Just throw my mask off and take on this new identity like it's nothing? Because leaving behind who I used to be… it's so much to handle."

Julie glared at Rook, who again answered her calmly. "He will be there to help you through it. Just as you can continue to be there for him. And you are not leaving all of what you were behind. You are still Julie, and he knows that especially. He loves you too much to let you lose yourself."

Julie's face saddened and turned towards the bathroom door. She slowly moved towards it, hoping she could take this next step.

Ben looked into the mirror, after vigorously washing his face. He stared into the reflection for some time.

He wasn't surprised when it talked to him. "So, you managed to not entirely screw up looking after Pacifica. Good job, I guess. It's just too bad that you couldn't stop her from taken in the first place."

"We got her out of there. That's enough, isn't it?"

"But you could've done better. Instead of keeping her completely safe, you let her get hit with PTSD. You forced her to deal with a rogue Yugi on her own."

"You're… wrong. We couldn't have known."

"Oh, Mister Savior-of-the-Universe didn't see an uptight idiot with a bell coming? Really? Face it, you can't handle the responsibility of helping people. Not Pacifica, and certainly not Julie. So why don't you hang up the watch already and leave it to the professionals." Ben's face scrunched up, wanting the voice to stop.

A knock on the door interrupted both of them. "Uh… Ben? Can I come in for a moment?" Julie asked, causing Mirror Ben to "fade".

"Uh, sure." Julie slowly came in, closing the door behind her. They stared at each other for a second, before awkwardly glancing away. "So… I've been thinking about something."

"O-oh yeah?"

"Yeah. About this mask…" She raised her hands up to the sides of her temples. Ben tensed up. "I was thinking… I've been wearing it for so long. Maybe I could go without it today." With that, she removed the ID mask. A flash of light enveloped the bathroom, forcing Ben to shield his eyes. When his sight returned, he saw Julie's true form in front of him. Still humanoid in shape, but instead with pitch black skin, accentuated with green technological lines. Her torso down to her legs inverted the pattern, most of it hidden by the tank top and pajama shorts she still wore. Her eyes were replaced by one green circular outline, and her mouth shined green when she opened it. To Ben, he knew the traits belonged to the species of Galvanic Mechamorph, or as he called the sample in his Omnitrix, Upgrade. He had seen this form once before, after the incident. But that was when both of them were in great emotional distress. She stayed silent, somewhat scared by his expression. "How… do I look?"

Ben said nothing for a moment, scaring her more. But before she could rush to put the mask back on, he moved forward and cupped her head into his hands. "You look beautiful."

Julie looked into his eyes, seeing the utmost sincerity within them. She shed tears, and smiled joyfully, before pulling him into a kiss. They stood there for some time, lost in each other.

It hadn't fixed everything. But it was the first big step.

"Now, I know you prefer to stay out of the sun anyways, but I've packed up your bag with some sunscreen. Just in case." Sam's parents were doting on her again. She'd hoped they wouldn't do this, but apparently last night had riled the two of them up. So when they heard Pacifica at the door, inviting her and Danny on a beach day, they immediately went overboard.

"Yeah, Mom, I get it. We'll be fine. We need to get a move on now, or we'll be late."

"Alright, Sweetie, we'll let you go. Just… consider what we said last night, okay?"

Sam simply grunted. Danny followed her out, and once outside and away from the suite door, he felt compelled to ask. "What exactly did they talk to you about?"

"Me picking a fight with Kaiba. They saw me glaring at him last night and tried to put a kibosh on that. Tried saying that it wouldn't end well."

"I kind of agree. The guy barely gave you a second thought. Maybe it's best to let this one go and enjoy the vacation."

"You're kidding, right? Of course he was going to ignore me. It's not about the war crimes at the moment, it's about his influence on Pacifica."

"I think you might be overreacting a bit."

"You're kidding, right? Kaiba is the worst possible person to become an influence on Pacifica. The guy is most certainly a nutjob, on top of being a corrupt mogul."

"What makes you say that?"

"Firstly, there's the fact that the guy is obsessed with Duel Monsters. He holds Duel Monsters tournaments left and right, and always enters them himself. Most of his company thrives off the game, and he seeks out the rarest cards of any new line almost instantly."

"So he likes a card game. Even jerks have hobbies, right?"

"Not like this. See, Seto Kaiba has these three cards with him known as the "Blue Eyes White Dragon". He doesn't use them now that the game's meta has changed, but they're still his prized possessions."

"O…kay?"

"But they used to belong to three other people around the world. All of them met with tragedy, one way or another. One of them mysteriously went bankrupt. Another was assaulted by gang members, and one even committed suicide."

"…You're not saying…?"

"Kaiba was the cause of it."

Danny blinked, his eyes wide in horror. "And… how exactly do you know this?"

"Because he said it. Right in front of a live audience."

Danny looked at her funny. "How did he get away with that?!"

"Getting to that. But that's not even the end of it. In that same live card game, claims said by whistleblowers say he used realistic holographic images to attack the loser, an older man. That man just so happens to be Yugi's grandfather."

"What?!"

"That still isn't all. He apparently took Yugi into a deeper part of his theme park, a section literally called Death-T, boasting that it was the only way to save his grandfather. Old associates of his father have made claims that Seto drove him to suicide by systematically taking over the company. His adoptive father was a piece of garbage too, but Kaiba's not much better. Especially if what they say is true. And most recently, he desecrated an Egyptian tomb and pillaged an Egyptian artifact like some 20th century English prick; where he then hosted another tournament to gain the last two pieces for it. The whole time he ranted about "bringing back the pharaoh" and rejecting anything Yugi said about him."

"Wait, but there is a pharaoh. Yugi told us about him."

"Exactly. He went through all that effort because he had unresolved issues with a dead guy."

"So again, why hasn't he been arrested?"

Sam growled. "The public thinks it's all an act. A play put on by him. If only because Yugi still participated in his tournaments afterward, and even went into business with him. Also the fact that his grandfather, alive and well, glosses over the incident and keeps saying it was no big deal. Paraphrasing, of course."

"Well to be fair, if Yugi and his friends tolerate him, that would suggest that he's… changed?" Danny suggested, unsure.

Sam balked. "Yeah, or it could be that he's rich and crazy, and they don't want to get on his bad side without their wrathful best friend ghost."

"Okay, so Kaiba is obviously… unhinged. Why haven't you said anything to Paz?"

"I didn't tell Pacifica because she's enamored with his "coolness". You saw how she was around him last night. I need to really get close to her to show her what kind of man Kaiba really is. Otherwise, she'll write off all the evidence as an act, just like the public. I'm spending all week with her and keeping her away from Kaiba as much as possible." She leaned against the wall of the elevator, retreating somewhat into her head.

"I refuse to let that psychopath sink his claws into her."

Welp, here we go, folks. It's a beach party!

Review Responses- go!

Slenderbrine- That's a good question. Not sure if they'd count as Zeta beams, but I would assume they do search for space time tears.

Facesitting Jill- It's more how Voltron stumbled into diversity for brownie points instead of planning it out carefully resulting in massive backlash, not that it's a bad show.

We've got a little more breather, but also character interactions and development.

Mabel has at least 50 marriage plans for each person she knows depending on who they get together with. Hell, she's ready in case Grunkle Stan marries Shmebulock for whatever reason.

Ruby-Red- No idea.

Goblin-Harley—You seem to have learned how to think in all caps like Bill Cipher. If you've suddenly learned how to see through different eyes drawn on surfaces, call a doctor. Or a Pines. Either will work.