Chapter 5: Into Darkness
The alarm blared harshly in Mai's ears, jarring her from her sleep. She yawned, slipping her hand from Joey's. Her muscles tightened in protest as she shifted in the chair, wishing that Kaiba Corp provided much better seats. "Seriously, he's a billionaire." Mai grumbled twisting her back to pop her back. "Surely he could buy nicer chairs." Mai silently sent a prayer of thanks for the coffee machine perched atop the mini refrigerator in the room. She brewed herself a mug, luxuriating in the heat spreading through her fingers and the warm liquid on her tongue. At least Kaiba didn't cut corners on the coffee. This was exquisite. She decided to ask Mokuba where they got their brand.
Mai nearly finished her mug of coffe when she suddenly recalled that she had left her jacket in her room, where Serenity had been staying, as she looked upon herself in the bathroom mirror. "Wish Kaiba put makeup in these bathrooms. At least we got the basic amenities," she told herself, squeezing toothpaste on the toothbrush provided. "But why they all have to say "KC" on them I'll never know."
A few minutes later, she left, knocking on her bedroom. Serenity opened it, looking disheveled and dark eyed. "Morning," she said groggily.
"Morning. Did you sleep better?" Mai asked.
"A bit. Thank you."
"It's what friends do. Wish there wasn't an annoying alarm however," Mai lamented.
"I think that alarm went off everywhere," Serenity admitted.
"Goodie," Mai grumbled. "Guess it must be Kaiba's doing."
"Attention duelists!"
"Or Roland," Mai added, rolling her eyes.
"We will be arriving at our destination in a half hour-" There was a crash and the blimp shook dangerously to one side. Serenity slung to the door frame to regain her balance, Mai nearly spilling her coffee. "Son of a-"
"Roland." Seto's voice was commanding.
"Sorry."
"I did not need this first thing in the morning," Mai slid past Serenity, retrieving her jacket and boots. Serenity heard the slosh of liquid, Mai dumping the rest of her brew down the sink. Mai made her way past, clipping her deck to her thigh, slipping on her left boot as she ran awkwardly down the hall.
Serenity chuckled. "They're prefect for each other." She ran after Mai. "Wait for me!"
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"Did you have to set the alarm that early in the morning?" Mai yawned. The others were already there, all in various states of sleepiness. "And everywhere as well?"
"It was set up simultaneously so that people would wake up on time before we arrived," Mokuba explained. "We're going to arrive at Alcatraz in a half-hour."
"Alcatraz?" Tea asked. "That doesn't sound like a very lovely name for the Battle city tournament."
"Seto named it after the prison. It was kind of an insult to our foster father Gozaburo, who used this island as a base for military factories. When Seto took over KaibaCorp, he destroyed the military facilities and built the Duel Tower in its place." As he finished, the island loomed on the horizon, a single black tower of metal rising up from the earth.
"Kind of an 'up-yours' to your dad," Tristan said.
"Yeah."
"Mokuba!" Seto snapped. "That's enough."
"Sounds like somebody has issues," Mai huffed, studying her nails.
Kaiba muttered something under his breath, pointedly turning away from them. The blimp shuddered and groaned, tilting dangerously to one side, shaking everybody. Alarms began to go off all around the control room. The employees scrambled at their stations, the monitors flashing bright blue and green. On some of them, numbers of random order scrolled down like rain.
"What's going on?" Yugi asked Kaiba. The blimp started to tilt downwards, into the ocean under its own power. Roland was frantically typing away away at the control board.
"Your guess is a good as mine," Kaiba replied tartly. "The blimp is behaving under its own power."
"Was it hacked?" Yugi asked.
"I think so," Roland answered, still typing away, struggling in vain to fight off the security breach. "It's no use! This hacker is too sophisticated!"
The blimp tilted to the left, anybody not strapped, in sliding into the walls and expansive windows.
"Tristan, that was my leg," Mai growled. "Let go or I'll rip said appendage off and beat you with it."
". . .Sorry."
The blimp righted itself much to everybody's relief as they tumbled over into a large pile of tangled limbs and duel disks. Yugi pulled himself out from the bottom of the pile and looked out of the window in horror as a massive high tech aircraft equipped with rail guns surfaced from the ocean, a metallic leviathan, the sliding doors built into the roof opening like a cavernous maw of a sea beast. It was a wonder that such a ship of impressive size could stay undetected for so long. The blimp sank closer and closer to the abyss, many of the KaibaCorp employees giving up in seizing back control. The dark dwarfed the blimp, like a gnat to an alligator.
A large screen at the helm flickered and buzzed to life, a young man wearing white looking down upon them condescendingly. His hair was teal, eyes a light gray blue.
"Nice job Kaiba," Mai snorted. "We're being hacked by a twelve-year-old."
"Hello there Seto Kaiba," the boy began. "It is nice to see you again. I do hope you enjoy your stay."
"I demand that you release this blimp immediately!" Seto commanded.
"Kaiba, he's twelve. I doubt he'll listen to you." Mai drawled. Kaiba shot her a dirty look.
The boy in the screen shrugged. "I would listen to her if I were you. I don't feel like it."
"Who exactly are you?" Mokuba asked.
"You may call me 'Noa'. But either way," Noa continued. "You and I have some unfinished business to take care of, Seto."
The KaibaCorp blimp sank into the abyss of the aircraft carrier. The bunker where the blimp landed was plunged into darkness as the doors above closed. Spotlights highlighted the blimp, casting everything in stark light and shadows. The warehouse was built of sheets of metals, the rivets plainly visible. Along the edge of the wall there were turrets, machine guns mounted on the inside.
"I don't like asking more than once Kaiba," the child drawled. "Please exit the ship, and that includes the other duelists as well. No stragglers left behind."
"And if we refuse?" Kaiba sneered.
"Then you'll be trapped here, duh." The guns pivoted, their barrels facing the helm, clearly aimed towards them.
Reluctantly, Kaiba pressed button and a set of stairs swung out, allowing for a quick exit. The guns remained trained on them as Kaiba led the entourage. Mai stopped Serenity before she exited.
"I think it would be best that you stay here," Mai insisted. "It's going to be dangerous."
"I'll be fine," Serenity argued. "What's the worse that can happen?"
"That's the thing-"
"I said all the Duelists," their captor growled. A couple of the guns fired on them, the bullets striking near their feet. Serenity squeaked in alarm, shrinking against the older woman. The acrid scent of gun powder filled the air. "Should I do that again?"
"There people are not your problem!" Kaiba shouted. "I'm who you want to deal with."
"Sadly, I don't think that it's just your problem any more." Yugi said.
"Precisely," Noa's disembodied voice echoed in the cavernous space. "If you would go down this hallway please, with as minimal bloodshed as possible." A floodlight illuminated a hall on the far side of the cavern. "If you would, please."
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The room that the cavern opened to was large, like a stadium, filled to the l ceiling with motherboards and circuits. Wires and cords draped haphazardly over and tangled with each other on the floor. "What is the meaning of this?" Kaiba demanded.
"Quite simple." Across the room were five older men, Caucasian in features, wearing suits from the expensive designers. "We want our jobs back, and the company as well."
"That's impossible," Kaiba hissed, recognition dawning on him. "But you're supposed to be trapped in the virtual world forever."
"Ah, but Noa gave us a little deal." one of them tsked.
"I don't understand," Tea said. "Who are these people?"
"The Big Five," Mokuba answered. " Gansley, Crump, Johnson, Nesbitt, and Leichter. They tried to take over KaibaCorp after Duelist Kingdom. Seto here taught them a lesson, trapping them."
"The Big Five?" Mai paled a little, one too many memories bubbling to the surface, most of them surrounding him. "Not these goons again. They nearly killed us the last time."
"So then you remember, Ms. Valentine."
"Sadly yes," Mari crossed her arms. "Least you were easy to beat."
"Is that how it went?" Johnson asked. "Because last time we met, you lost the game because you stupidly attacked us after one of your fellow duelists lost." He smirked. In response, she casually flipped him the bird.
"But yes, we have a deal with Noa, and we intend on fulfilling our end of the business deal. I vote that we compete in a little Duel Monsters. If we win, we get to take over your bodies and your minds are forever trapped here, like ours once were. If you win, then you get to keep your bodies." Crump said. "First thing's first: lets show our guests a little taste of the Virtual World, shall we?"
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"The next time we see those goons," Mai groaned, sitting upright. "I'm going to give them a piece of my mind. . ." The others were sprawled about her, like they had simply been discarded like trash. They were in a clearing in the middle of a primeval forest, palm trees and ferns everywhere. A volcano rumbled in the distance, belching smoke in the otherwise pristine blue sky. The stench of sulfur pervaded all their senses.
"Get in line," Duke added.
"You know, this is really realistic." Tea sniffed the air. "It even smells realistic."
"That would be me," Tristan apologized.
"Oh that's disgusting!" Tea shoved Tristan away. "Get away!"
"Hey!" Mai protested, shoving Tristan back towards Tea. "Not over here!"
"What am I, chopped liver?"
"You sure smell like it," Tea remarked.
"If you would please," Noa's voice rumbled. "A little demonstration of how this will work. There will be a new set of rules, involving what we like to call a "Deck Master"." A hologram of a younger Seto Kaiba appeared, bearing a KaibaCorp duel disk. His opponent materialized on the other side, a monster known as Shogun Master. "A Deck Master is a monster you choose alongside you. They have different abilities that add a new dimension to the game. If your Deck Master is destroyed, or your Life Points tick to zero, you lose."
"I choose my Blue Eyes White Dragon for my Deck Master!" the simulated Kaiba called out. "First I summon my Lord of D in attack mode and I equip him with Flute of Summoning Dragon, which lets me bring two more Blue Eyes onto the field. I finally activate my Polymerization and I fuse my dragons into Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Blue Eyes, attack Shogun Master!"
"I activate my Deck Master ability!" Shogun Master countered. "By sacrificing 1000 of my Life Points, I can negate the attack and destroy the monster." The lightning blast was reflected back on itself, striking the dragon full in the chest. "Since that was your Deck Master, you lose the duel." Like his monster, the hologram version of Seto Kaiba vanished, the pixels blowing away with the wind.
"That is the most ridiculous set of rules I've ever heard of!" Kaiba scoffed.
"For once, we agree on something," Mai agreed. "Like, how on earth are we supposed to know the Deck Master abilities of all the monsters? In the entire game, no less."
"That will all come in good time," Noa laughed. The prehistoric jungle disintegrated all around them, the original chamber reappearing once more. "Now, let's get our little game started." One by one, the floor under their feet gave way to a black tunnel, plunging them through the floor. Mai could feel the ground expanding, nothing for her boots to stand upon. She let out a cry as she fell through, remembering little else after that.
This chapter is shorter because it was an easier point to break up, rather than later, where it would be awkward.
"Into Darkness: Thomas Bergersen. Thomas Bergersen is also known for being one half of the group Two Steps From Hell. I would give their music a listen. It's quite beautiful and epic.