Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, cards, plotline, or anything else.
Author's Note: Thanks to Blue-Red-Ninja, WhiteAsukaLover, Maxim and Knight, and Taiwan-chan for their reviews – they mean a lot. Enjoy the next chapter!
Kaiba walked through the dazzling city of concrete and skyscrapers, a land of glittering sidewalks and bright neon signs. No cars passed through the worn streets; no pedestrians strolled along the lonely sidewalks. No birds fluttered through the empty tree branches that rustled in the slight breeze. No barking of dogs or It was all gone. The city of Domino, once bustling and prosperous, was empty. It was as if none of its citizens had ever existed.
Worse, he could not remember a single one of them. He had interviewed and hired every last one of his workers personally – and he could not recall a single one of them. He had made business deals and held board meetings with the most powerful and influential people alive – but he could not recall a single one of their names. Even his own brother, the one person Kaiba really cared about, was nothing but a vague shadow. The only faces he could bring to mind were the faces of the dead, the lucky ones who had passed away before Trueman had gotten to them. Every last person Kaiba had ever known was gone, as if they had never existed.
Save for one. And that one was Yugi Mutou.
Trueman had taken on Kaiba with a deck full of random cards, and he had done quite well with it. But with a deck of real cards and a real strategy, Kaiba knew that Trueman would be virtually invincible.
But he had watched Yugi duel over the years, and he had seen incredible things. He had watched Yugi defeat Slifer the Sky Dragon without summoning a single monster. He had seen him channel the incredible powers of the Egyptian gods against those who opposed him. He had defeated Dartz, even without the gods, when Kaiba himself had failed. He had brought Anubis to his knees when the sorcerer had a monster with over 35,000 attack points. Even Trueman wouldn't be able to defeat Yugi.
But Kaiba still hoped that there would be others, duelists out in the world that were strong enough to defeat Trueman. If so, he would find them all and gather them here. But first, it was time to see just how far Trueman had gotten before he worked up the nerve to challenge Kaiba himself. It could be that it was only regional – at least for now.
Kaiba abruptly ceased his random wanderings and walked into a Starbucks. He pushed his way through the swinging door behind the counter and made himself a cup of coffee, leaving the money next to the cash register. Then he sat down and pulled out his laptop.
Quickly, he logged himself into a KaibaCorp satellite and activated its camera setting, then turned it to face the earth. He saw nothing but brown and green, grey and blue. Fingers flying over the keyboard, he quickly zoomed in and scanned the nearby towns. Every light was off, every house dark, and nothing moved but the trees and the wind. Kaiba scowled and moved on.
Over the next two hours, Kaiba scanned the globe, first visually, then with a thermal scan. He used twelve different satellites, and searched every last continent and country in the world. There was no city untouched. Every last community of humans had been defeated by Trueman.
So Trueman had already taken out the bulk of humanity. So it was just the individual duelists that he was looking for, the talented few with the power to defeat him. The first thing he did was scan the pro league standings. Only two names remained: his own and that of Yugi Mutou. Every other professional, then, had been defeated by Trueman and taken to the World of Darkness. Next, he searched the Amateur League, and found it completely blank. Kaiba's mouth twisted in a grim parody of a smile. He hadn't really expected anything else.
Next, he called up Google News, and, under search terms, entered, "Duelist". There were many articles featuring himself or Yugi; he changed the search to exclude those two names. There were now only three articles remaining: one about a boy named Jesse Anderson receiving a set of cards known as the Crystal Beasts, one about a boy named Atticus Rhodes being found in Duel Academy after many years missing, and finally, an article about a boy named Chazz Princeton returning to Duel Academy after a brief time in North Academy.
Kaiba nodded in satisfaction. Duel Academy. If the records of these people still existed, then Trueman had – for now, at least – been unable to defeat them. But the Academy was another good lead – many promising duelists were sent there, and very few would yet be listed in a news article.
Now Kaiba called up a roster of all students currently attending Duel Academy. There were six: Atticus Rhodes, Chazz Princeton, Alexis Rhodes, Jasmine Nidaria, Mindy Fuhman, and Jaden Yuki.
He logged into another satellite and slowly turned it to focus on Academy Island. As the camera lens focused in, he jolted in surprise. There was nobody. On an ordinary evening, the place would be filled with students hanging out in front of the school – but on this evening, it was empty. Nobody was there.
Kaiba sighed in exasperation, then zoomed in even more, examining the dorm rooms. He started with Obelisk Blue, since all but Jaden Yuki were Obelisk Blue members. Although the satellite wasn't positioned well enough to see through the majority of the windows, Kaiba found a window with a mirror in it, and adjusted the angle minutely in order to see the rooms on the far side. Dimly, he could make out a few sleeping figures in one of the rooms on the girls' half, while, on the boys, he couldn't find any people. Then again, there were still several rooms that he hadn't been able to see into from the angle. Chazz and Atticus could still be in there.
He adjusted the angle of the camera and peered into the Slifer Red room that belonged to Jaden. The bed was empty, but, since his name was still on the list, Trueman apparently hadn't gotten to him yet.
Ah, well. The only other duelist, then, was Jesse Anderson – but North Academy, the school he attended, was in the Arctic, and Kaiba didn't have any satellites remotely near there. There never seemed to be much going on up there.
He tucked his laptop back into his briefcase and strode out the door, pulling out his cell phone as he went. He had Yugi's number programmed in his phone, just in case he ever needed it. Like now.
He dialed, walking towards KabiaCorp building as he went; his plane should still be on top. If so, he could fly to Duel Academy and get the students before Trueman found them.
"Hello?" It was the first time Kaiba had heard Yugi's voice in ten years. He hadn't really missed it much. The other duelist sounded a little bit tired and strained.
"Yugi. It's Kaiba."
"Kaiba! Are you all right?" Kaiba rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Let's try to think for a moment. I am talking to you, meaning that something is definitely wrong, because I wouldn't really want to in any other circumstances. On the other hand, I can still talk, so I'm probably not hurt. Does that answer your question?" Beneath his scathing sarcasm, Kaiba felt a little bit touched that Yugi did care what happened to him.
Yugi let out an annoyed hiss. "You haven't lost your tongue or your arrogance, I see. I kept calling KaibaCorp, but the phone just rang. Has Trueman challenged you yet?" Obviously, Yugi was wasting no time. Then again, the situation was urgent enough that they didn't really have time to waste.
"Yes, he's challenged me, and I beat him in two turns. Sorry about the phone – I have the company phone on the ground floor, and my secretary normally answers. Then she disappeared, and I haven't exactly had much spare time since then."
"He'll be back, you know," Yugi warned. "He gets better and better cards each time, and then he is harder to beat every time. We need to meet up. Are you in Domino?"
"Yes," Kaiba replied. "Where are you?" This in itself would be interesting – Yugi had left living with his grandfather and traveled to parts unknown for much of the past ten years, returning only to win a few tournaments here and there. Not even his lapdog, Joseph Wheeler, knew where he had gone.
"Peru," Yugi answered simply.
"Peru?"
"Peru."
"Out of idle curiosity, why Peru?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised," Yugi said, and Kaiba knew the other boy was smiling. "You probably wouldn't be interested in this sort of stuff, but I've uncovered some amazing legends about past battles fought here. You know the Nazca Lines? Well, they were reputably built to somehow contain an evil force by the Incas. Hence Peru. It was where the Incas lived."
"We can worry about the Nazca Lines bringing forth some evil spirit or another later. For now, we have a different evil… thing, for lack of a better word, taking over the world – again – and I think that takes precedent over a bunch of natives drawing in their sandbox." Kaiba grinned as he said the words, knowing how much they would annoy his rival. He turned the corner
A hiss of annoyance sounded through the phone. "Always the mockery. That was one thing I didn't miss. Anyways, we need to meet up," Yugi said. "Do you still have the Blue Eyes jet thing?" His tone was carefully neutral.
"Yes," Kaiba replied, as if that were obvious. "Where are you in Peru?"
"Cuzco," Yugi responded. "Do you know where that is?"
"Of course," Kaiba said. "I know everything, remember? I have to make a stop at Duel Academy; I think some students might be there still. I'll be there in about six hours."
Suddenly, an explosion shook the entire street. Kaiba looked up to see the evening light up as the KaibaCorp building exploded, the glass shattering across the street. The immense dome atop fell, crashing into the street and crushing itself as it burned. For a full five seconds, Kaiba stood and stared at the building that he had virtually lived in for his whole life.
"Yugi? Hang on a second – I'll call you back." Kaiba hung up and slipped the phone in his pocket as he ran towards the tower.
About fifty feet away, he stopped and stared in shock. "No way," he breathed. As the building continued to explode, flames blossoming from every part, a tiny white gondola made its way down the tower's side towards him. As he watched, it broke and swung to the side, wildly out of control – but a dark figure leapt out of it, landing in a second gondola, which instantly began to plummet. Another explosion sent it flying, off its cable and through the open air. The figure – a boy, Kaiba saw – spilled out, falling helplessly towards the ground below. Kaiba sprinted towards him, but he already knew he would be too late.
Then, from nowhere, a white figure, twice the size of any man leapt from the smoke and caught the boy, carrying him towards the ground. About ten feet up, the figure disappeared, leaving the boy to drop hard to the concrete.
"Hey, you!" Kaiba called. "Are you all right?" He ran towards the boy who lay on the ground in front of Kaiba's burning building. As he approached, he noticed that the boy was wearing the Slifer Red jacket of Duel Acadamy. He had long brown hair falling across his face. Feebly, he stirred and climbed to his feet. Kaiba recoiled instinctively – for a moment, the boy's eyes burned green and orange. Then they faded back to brown, and he began to walk towards a red motorcycle parked on the street.
"Hey! I'm talking to you! What are you doing here? What just happened?" The boy seemed not to hear. Abruptly, he doubled over, eyes closed as if in agony. Then, slowly, he started towards the motorcycle.
Kaiba recognized his face from the files he had been looking at earlier; this was Jaden Yuki, probably the best duelist at the Academy and the one of the few to survive Trueman's attack. Chancellor Shepherd had said he was a good kid and a good duelist. So what was he doing in the KaibaCorp tower, and why was he ignoring Kaiba now?
"Jaden!" Kaiba stepped in front of the motorcycle. "Stop. I'm Seto Kaiba, and I'm trying to help you. What are you doing?" Jaden slipped the helmet over his head and gunned the engine. It was almost as though he couldn't see him or something.
Then he noticed the darkness hovering around Jaden's deck and his eyes, and the haunted, pained look in them. Somehow, Trueman's power was affecting him, in ways that apparently didn't allow him to see properly
"Jaden, there's something wrong. Just stay still." Kaiba had little hope of the boy actually hearing him. He seemed in his own world, cut off from seeing things as they really were. Jaden gunned the engine, and Kaiba threw himself aside to avoid the motorcycle as it shot forward. The boy wheeled it around and shot off towards the docks.
Kaiba growled in anger and picked himself off the hard pavement. He had a chance to save someone, and he had failed. Hopefully, Jaden was good enough to beat Trueman again. But without his jet, Kaiba couldn't get to Duel Academy. The place had no runway, no place for him to land.
However, if he… borrowed… another plane from the airport, he could still get Yugi.
Duel Academy would have to fend for itself for now. Hopefully, Kaiba could be back before anything horrible befell the remaining students.
He picked up his phone and dialed again. "Yugi."
"Kaiba. What is it? Are you coming?"
"There's been a bit of a complication. I'll have to appropriate another plane. Give me seven hours or so."
Then, with a crackling like that of burning wood, cards of darkness flowed together to form Trueman once again. He smiled grotesquely at Kaiba, the ridges around his mouth protruding. He raised his arm, and darkness pooled and reshaped into his dueldisk. "Seto Kaiba," he said. "We meet again.
Kaiba frowned in annoyance, and then put the cell phone on speaker mode and tossed it to the ground, allowing Yugi to hear everything that was going on. "Make that seven and a half hours," he commented. "One other little, tiny, insignificant thing I should probably deal with first."